Tyler Nunez, Assistant Editor of Tiger Rag
The No. 10 LSU basketball team showed up in front of a raucous Pete Maravich Assembly Center that spent about as much time booing as cheering and defeated Vanderbilt to earn sole possession of the Southeastern Conference regular season championship.
The Tigers (26-5, 16-2 SEC) defeated the Commodores (9-22, 0-18) by a dominant score of 80-59 with head coach Will Wade (suspension), guard Javonte Smart (precautionary measures) and forward Naz Reid (injury) in a game that saw more stories unfold off the court than on it.
Most of the boos showering the PMAC weren’t directed at Vanderbilt or even the officiating crew, but at LSU administrators, most notably and directly athletics director Joe Alleva amid Wade’s suspension after a Yahoo Sports report emerged Thursday that cited a conversation wiretapped by the FBI which seemingly contained LSU’s second-year head coach discussion benefits for Smart’s commitment to the program.
Chants echoing in the PMAC included “Free Will Wade” and “Free Javonte” and “Joe Must Go,” referring to LSU athletics director Joe Alleva, who co-signed the original statement announcing Wade’s suspension along with LSU president F. King Alexander.
Wade has seemingly denied any and all allegations that he participated in improper recruiting, saying in a state me that the reports and recorded conversations “do not begin to tell the full story.”
As a result of the swirling controversy, LSU opted to sit Javonte Smart in the season finale citing an “abundance of caution,” in a news release Saturday afternoon.
If things seemingly couldn’t get any worse, Naz Reid also missed the game due to an injury sustained at the end of LSU’s 79-78 overtime victory against Florida, an LSU official told Tiger Rag prior to the game.
Despite all the whirlwind of headlines and controversy, LSU came out and played one of its most complete games of the season to clinch sole possession of the SEC crown.
It all started with a first half in which LSU’s biggest playmakers came off the bench.
Forward Darius Days hit four 3-pointers and Marshall Graves — who didn’t even have a scholarship until December — hit three more to help lift the Tigers to a 43-28 lead at the halftime break.
The second half followed suit, as the Tigers kept the Commodores from scoring for nearly four minutes to start the half, and LSU coasted to its championship-clinching 16th SEC win of the season.
Darius Days finished the game with five 3-pointers for a team-high 15 points. Tremont Waters helped the Tigers in scoring with 14 points to go with three assists and four rebounds, followed by Mays with 13 points. Graves finished the game tallying 12 points apiece.
Kavell Bigby-Williams also had a solid senior-night performance, tallying four dunks in a 10-point, 11-rebound performance in his seventh double-double .
LSU will enjoy a double-bye in the SEC Tournament as the top seed, and it will play its next game Friday at noon in Nashville, Tenn.