Baton Rouge, La. – After extending its winning streak to 10 games, the LSU men’s basketball team has been named the BASF Team of the Month for January.
The Tigers went 7-0 in the month of January marking only the second time since 1954 that they have maintained an unblemished record in the month of January. The other team to achieve the feat of remaining unbeaten in January was the 1981 Final Four squad. The 10-game winning streak by the Tigers is the longest since the 2009 squad reeled off 10 wins in a row against SEC opponents in a one-month span. The Tigers haven’t lost a home game in over a year and their home winning streak is currently at 18 games, the second longest in the history of the Maravich Center.
The 10-game winning streak has moved LSU up to No. 19 in both the AP and Coaches poll and it is the highest they have been ranked since 2009. The month started off with an 88-79 win over Alabama at the Maravich Center with Tremont Waters leading the wasy with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 2-of-2 from the arc to go along with five free throws.
The Tigers broke their nine-game road losing streak with an overtime triumph over Arkansas in Fayetteville by a final tally of 94-88 on Jan. 12. Naz Reid came up big in that one with 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting and he collected seven rebounds. The Tigers’ Jan. 15 83-69 road win over No. 18 Ole Miss was historic in the sense that it was the largest true-road win over a ranked opponent in program history. LSU followed that win up with an 89-67 thumping of South Carolina on Jan. 19; it was the second win in program history over an opponent which was undefeated in SEC play.
After handling Georgia in a 92-82 home win at the Maravich Center on Jan. 23, the craziest win of the month came against Missouri on the road. Finding themselves down by 14 with over two minutes left, the Tigers unleashed a furious comeback effort that saw the Purple and Gold outscore Missouri 15-1 in the final 134 seconds of the game. A free throw by Emmitt Williams with 2.2 seconds left in regulation forced overtime with the teams tied at 71, and after that the Tigers asserted their will and outscored Missouri 15-10 in the overtime stanza to pick up the dub in Columbia.
The Tigers closed out the month of January with a 72-57 win over Texas A&M on Jan. 30 in College Station. Waters poured in 36 points, the second highest tally of his collegiate career, on 11-of-18 shooting. He made a career-high six three pointers in the contest and had season highs in rebounds (seven), free throws (8-of-8) and field goals 11.