AUBURN, Ala. — After being picked last in the league by almost every major publication, John Brady‘s Tigers won the Southeastern Conference Western Division title by beating Auburn, 55-53, in the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Wednesday night in Auburn, Ala.
On senior night in Auburn, the LSU Tigers won their eighth-consecutive game overall and sixth straight on the road to improve to 24-4 on the season and 11-4 in the SEC.
The 24 wins is the fourth-most in school history.
Auburn had won 30 straight games at home before tonight’s loss.
With 16.6 seconds to play in the game and up 52-51, Jabari Smith put back a missed shot and was fouled by Mamadou N’diaye. He made the free throw to put LSU up for good, 55-51.
Auburn hit a layup as time expired to end the scoring.
The Tigers were led by Stromile Swift who had 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven of LSU’s 13 blocked shots. Ronald Dupree came off the bench to have a tremendous game, scoring 16 points to lead LSU in that category.
Jabari Smith had five points and seven rebounds while Torris Bright and Lamont Roland scored eight points apiece.
LSU outrebounded Auburn, 29-20, however, the Auburn Tigers only had eight turnovers to LSU’s 22.
LSU was 22 of 51 from the field (43 percent) including 11 of 28 in the second half (39 percent). Auburn was held to only 20 of 76 shooting for 26.3 percent, including only six of 36 from three-point range.
Although LSU only made seven of 14 free throws, the Tigers made them at key times in the contest to pick up the win.
LSU will play Ole Miss in the season finale Saturday in the Maravich Assembly Center at 1 p.m. before the SEC Tournament begins in Atlanta on March 9.
LSU will play at 2:15 p.m. on Friday, March 10, as the No. 1 seed out of the Western Division against the winner of the Eastern Division fourth seed and Western Division fifth seed.