COLUMBIA, S.C. -- It wound up not being as pretty as it could've been and it required a spark from some different faces, but LSU turned things around Saturday. And no matter how harrowing it might've gotten in the closing minutes, there was still an audible sigh of relief as the Tigers walked off the court at South Carolina.
LSU broke up a back-and-forth battle with the young and feisty Gamecocks by cranking up its defense from start to finish and finding some timely touch from 3-point range in a 71-68 victory at the Colonial Life Center.
The Tigers (10-4, 1-1 SEC) weathered a late charge from USC (7-8, 0-2), which scored 9 unanswered points after falling behind by 14 points to claw within 64-59 with 2:12 to go.
Survival became the key after that, and LSU did by making just enough free throws - 7 of 13 in the last 1:10 - and not letting up defensively or on the backboards, where the Tigers seized 42-32 advantage."It was a grinding game," LSU coach Johnny Jones after his team avoided an 0-2 SEC start for the second year in a row.
"I thought it was a great team effort."
A different-looking team for sure.
Following a 68-50 blowout loss to Tennessee last Tuesday, Jones spent the week tweaking his team and making players re-establish their roles. The result was a new-look starting five, with senior Shavon Coleman and sophomore Malik Morgan stepping in for Jarell Martin and Andre Stringer.
Those two combined for LSU's first 9 points and were also tone-setters on defense and on the backboards.
Late in the game, Morgan connected on 2-of-4 foul shots in the last 22.9 seconds to finally secure the victory. Carolina's Brenton Williams hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final difference.
The loss snapped a two-game swoon and put the Tigers in the SEC win column for the first time this season."It was a little early to say this was a must-win for us," said Morgan, who scored 8 points, snatched 6 rebounds, recorded a team-high 4 assists and even blocked a pair of shots. "But we also knew it was big for us to get headed back in the right direction."
Martin led LSU with a career-best 18 points, and the inside tandem of Johnny O'Bryant and Jordan Mickey came alive in the second half with 9 and 8 points, respectively.
Getting that inside duo revved up was what finally triggered the burst when the Tigers grabbed control.
Eight minutes into the second half, the game was deadlocked, 42-42 as both teams grappled with turnovers and poor shooting - a result of stingy defense on both ends of the floor.
Right after Williams made a pair of free throws, LSU's backcourt players started feeding the two big men inside.
Morgan fed Mickey on a back-in move when he simply overpowered South Carolina's Michael Carerra. Then O'Bryant scored on a nice baseline drive. Mickey grabbed a pass from O'Bryant on a high-low feed and scored inside. Moments later, the talented freshman swished a jumper from the lane. And finally, O'Bryant finished off a 10-3 haymaker by facing up and nailing a 12-foot shot.
"It's good when we have that kind of success because it opens things up for Andre and Shavon on the outside," said Mickey, who scored 13 points, buoyed by 6-of-10 shooting from the floor."
Did it ever.
With the Gamecocks unable to contain Mickey and O'Bryant (13 points, 4-of-9 FG, 7 rebounds), Carolina coach Frank Martin put his team in a 2-3 zone - which made sense because the Tigers were 2-of-12 from 3-point range at that point.
Finally, though, LSU's shooters connected from deep to complete the turnaround.
Stringer sprinted to the left corner on a set play, gathered in a spot-on pass from Morgan and jacked in a trey to give the Tigers their first double-digit lead, 55-45 with 8:10 to go. Moments later, O'Bryant handled a double-team perfectly and fed Tim Quarterman and Stringer on back-to-back possessions for 3-pointers to swell the lead to 63-50 and the Gamecocks never climbed completely back.
Not that they faded quietly in front of a spirited crowd of 12,071.After falling into a 64-50 hole, Carolina kept chipping away - aided by LSU's inability to hit shots from point-blank range and from the foul stripe. The Tigers went 4:34 between scoring and didn't make a shot from the field in the last 6:01.
Meanwhile, Sindarius Thornwell kept attacking and scored 4 of his season-high 25 points to fuel the 9-0 surge. Moments later, Williams buried a 3-pointer to slice the Tigers' lead to 66-62 with 54 seconds to play.
Unlike several games earlier this season, LSU held on, this time with sticky defense and offensive rebounding as the difference-maker. Mickey and Morgan came up with two of the Tigers' 14 steals in the closing minute and O'Bryant corralled a pair of key offensive caroms on missed free throws.
"We weren't great offensively after we got the big lead," Jones said. "Shots didn't go, but we were able to make it up on the other end of the floor with hustle plays on defense and getting stops when we needed them."
Which added up to what LSU needed most of all.
"We had to get back on the right path," Coleman said. "We're too talented and have too many goals to reach to not play better than win games."
The Tigers are back in action Wednesday when they travel to Ole Miss.
New-look lineup lights the fuse early
BOX SCORE: LSU 71, South Carolina 68