The Auburn men's basketball team won 68-63 in the team's first SEC game of the season Wednesday, Jan. 9 at home against LSU (9-3), improving the Tigers to a 7-7 record.
"The thing we've been talking about with this team is just continue to fight no matter what is happening," said head coach Tony Barbee. "We've been working on it, we've been talking about it. This group is doing a great job."
The Tigers and junior forward Allen Payne exploded out of the locker room, going on an 11-3 run to begin the game with Payne scoring Auburn's first seven points. He then finished with a team-high 15 points and helped the Tigers come back against LSU in the second half.
Post-game, Payne said, "I got off to a hot start. I was able to get a jumper to go down and a lay-up which is always a good way to get your rhythm going."
LSU then began to play strong physical defense against Payne.
"This is the SEC; it's the most physical league there is," said Payne. "When you got a guy out there like Johnny O'Bryant that's 6-foot-9 and 285 pounds it's going to get physical."
LSU started slow, and its top scorer in Shavon Coleman, who averages 14.1 points per game, was held to a meager four points Wednesday night by the stingy Auburn defense.
After trailing for much of the first half, LSU scored 18 points in the paint and took the lead with 1:49 remaining, ending the half up 28-27. Then LSU came out strong and scored the first five points of the second half.
"They get back into the game in the second half, they took a six-point lead early on and we didn't stop fighting," Barbee said. "I'm so proud of the guys and the way they performed."
To combat the LSU momentum, Auburn instituted a full-court press that caused havoc for the LSU offense in the first 10 minutes of the second half, causing five early turnovers and letting Auburn gain and build a lead on a 24-7 run. Auburn shot 53.8 percent from the field against the 36.1 percent of LSU in the second half and never looked back, coasting to the win.
Along with the success of the team, Auburn freshman Shaquille Johnson scored nine points in the second half, and his nine rebounds in the game were a large part of why the Tigers were able to combat LSU's six-point lead. After the game, Johnson said it was his best as an Auburn Tiger.
Auburn's number-two scorer, junior starting guard Chris Denson, missed his second straight game for Auburn due to a stress fracture in his left foot.
After the win the Tigers are 1-0 in conference play and are looking forward to competing against South Carolina (10-4) on Saturday, Jan. 12 and Arkansas (9-5) next Wednesday, Jan. 16.
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