COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Minutes after freshman Tremont Waters gave LSU a victory by sinking an off-balance three-pointer with 1 second left on Saturday, he was asked if he revels in the pressure of such moments.
Before the 19-year-old could answer, his coach Will Wade jumped in.
"Yes, he does," Wade said as both the coach and his star player smiled.
Waters scored 21 points, capped by the game-winner, to lift LSU to a 69-68 victory over No. 11 Texas A&M.
The game was tied before the Aggies used an 8-3 run, capped by four points from Tyler Davis, to take a 68-63 lead. But Waters, who finished with five three-pointers, made a three-pointer for LSU to get the Tigers (10-4, 1-1 SEC) within three points with 12 seconds left.
Davis missed two free throws on the other end before Waters launched his winner under heavy defensive pressure to give the Tigers the victory.
"He's got it, guys," Wade said. "When the game's on the line, you either have it or you don't. It's genetic makeup and he's got it."
Waters gave himself a little pep talk as he walked onto the court after a timeout before making the shot.
"After he drew it up, I talked to myself ... and I just said to myself I was going to make it," he said.
Leading scorer D.J. Hogg returned for the Aggies (11-4, 0-3) after a suspension, but it wasn't enough to stop them from dropping their third consecutive game after lopsided losses to Alabama and Florida.
"You could tell he hadn't played [in a while]," Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy said. "Our chemistry is just different because we haven't had guys in the lineup."
Hogg was back after missing three games for an unspecified violation of team rules. But the Aggies still weren't at full strength with starters Admon Gilder and Duane Wilson out with knee injuries and Robert Williams, who is projected to be an NBA lottery pick, out with an illness.
"We can build off of this, off the toughness that we showed ... or we can go the other way and I really expect us to build off of it," Kennedy said.
Davis led the Aggies with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Hogg added 12 points with six rebounds.
NO. 23 TENNESSEE 76,
NO. 17 KENTUCKY 65
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Admiral Schofield had 20 points and nine rebounds and No. 23 Tennessee rallied in the second half to beat No. 17 Kentucky and ended a two-game skid.
This marks the third consecutive season that Tennessee (10-4, 1-2 SEC) has beaten Kentucky (12-3, 2-1) in Knoxville. Kentucky entered the night leading the overall series 153-69, but no team has beaten the Wildcats as often as Tennessee.
The Volunteers had blown leads of at least nine points in each of its four losses this season -- including its first two SEC games -- while Kentucky had rallied from halftime deficits to beat Georgia and LSU in its first two SEC matchups.
This time, it was Tennessee staging the second-half comeback.
Grant Williams scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half as Tennessee erased an eight-point halftime deficit. Lamonte Turner added 11 points and five assists.
Quade Green scored 14 points to lead Kentucky.
FLORIDA 77, MISSOURI 75
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- On the game's decisive play, Florida's Chris Chiozza was assigned to guard Jordan Barnett, who was standing in front of the Missouri bench. But when a soft pass from the opposite wing was directed toward Kassius Robertson at the top of the key, Chiozza sprang into action.
The senior guard stepped in to steal the pass from Jordan Geist and then coasted to the other end for a layup just before the buzzer to the give the Gators (11-4, 3-0) a victory Saturday over the Tigers (11-4, 1-1) at Mizzou Arena.
Jalen Hudson led Florida with 16 points, Egor Koulechov added 15 and Chiozza and Keith Stone each scored 13.
Barnett led Missouri with 28 points, and Robertson added 12 points.
GEORGIA 65, ALABAMA 46
ATHENS, Ga. -- Yante Maten had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Rayshaun Hammonds scored 13 points and Georgia cruised to a victory over Alabama.
Stegeman Coliseum hosted a rare capacity crowd of 10,523, with many Bulldog fans getting in some early cheering against Alabama before the football team's national championship game against the Crimson Tide on Monday in Atlanta.
In a matchup of the SEC's two leading scorers, Maten used his size, length and speed to make the game tough on Alabama, while Crimson Tide freshman Collin Sexton scored 23 points but couldn't get the rest of his team involved on offense.
Georgia (11-3, 2-1 SEC) has won four of five. The Crimson Tide (9-6, 1-2) has dropped two consecutive and three of four.
OTHER SEC GAMES
Breen Tyree scored 16 points, including two tough layups at the rim in the final minute, to lead Mississippi (9-6, 2-1) to a 64-58 victory over Mississippi State (13-2, 1-1) in Oxford, Miss. Deandre Burnett led the Rebels with 21 points. ... Chris Silva scored 27 points to lead South Carolina (10-5, 1-2) past Vanderbilt (6-9, 1-2) 71-60 in Columbia, S.C. Wesley Myers had 17 points for the Gamecocks, who forced 19 turnovers. Saben Lee led the Commodores with 17 points.
Sports on 01/07/2018