No. 23 LSU Overcomes Sloppy First Half to Avoid Upset, Knocking Off Nicholls 75-65

First career double-double for Darius Days helps LSU survive feisty Nicholls team

After a sloppy, turnover-ridden first half, LSU was able to grab control early in the second half against Nicholls and win a tough-nosed battle in the PMAC 75-65.

Sophomore forward Darius Days' intensity on the offensive boards, particularly in the second half, helped guide LSU to a 10-0 run in the second half. The lead would hover around that eight-12 point range, as the Colonels prove to be a fierce opponent.

Days was the driving force for LSU, grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with 17 points for his first career double-double. 

“I thought I did fine but none of that is possible without my teammates looking for me," Days said. "Javonte looked for me, Skylar looked for me, Trendon looking for me. I’m just happy we got the win."

"It was awesome. We need a bunch of guys that will play that hard," Wade said. "That’s what we need and Days does it. When he’s not in foul trouble, you see what he can do. He fouled only three times today. When he’s not in foul trouble we put him at 35 minutes. He did a really nice job.”

Freshman Trendon Watford had his best day from a scoring perspective, dropping 17 points against the Colonels while Skylar Mays added 18.

Turnovers continue to be a problem for the freshman Watford. After having five turnovers against VCU on Wednesday, Watford had seven more against Nicholls.

"Some of us get sped up and unfortunate stuff happens," Watford said. "A pass is a little too high for someone, fumbling the ball, stuff like that. We have a lot of people that can handle the ball and we just have to clean it up. That’s one of the things were focusing on right now, 25 turnovers are almost as much as we had versus VCU, so we just have to clean that up.”

The only word to define LSU's play in the win was sloppy as the Tigers turned the ball over 13 times in the first half and an additional 13 times in the second half, unable to find any rhythm on offense as a result.

On the other hand, LSU forced 19 Nicholls turnovers the team was able to turn into 19 points on the offensive end.

LSU was able to get into the bonus with 9:32 to go in the first half, something it would need to capitalize on as clean looks from the field were hard to come by.  One of the pillars to a win according to coach Will Wade is making more free throws than the other team attempts.

Mission accomplished as the Tigers would capitalize, going 16-of-23 from the charity stripe on the afternoon.

Nicholls led by as many as eight in the first half, at one point going on a 13-2 in the middle of the half that forced a Wade timeout. A 10-3 run by LSU in the final 3:12 of the half cut the Colonels lead to one at the break, trailing 39-38.

LSU will host UMBC on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the PMAC before leaving Wednesday for the Jamaica Classic,where the team will take on Utah State and Rhode Island.