Here Comes LSU in a Baby Carriage

ATLANTA — Tyrus Thomas did a boogie, a two-step and a little polka all at once. Glen Davis shook and shimmied and draped himself in a yellow feather boa because, after all, this was as good as Mardi Gras here at the Georgia Dome. His Louisiana State Tigers are going to the Final Four.

Thomas, a precocious redshirt freshman with springs in his legs, and Davis, an emotional sophomore who carries his 310 pounds and his “Big Baby” nickname as easily as he wore that boa, led fourth-seeded LSU to a 70-60 overtime victory Saturday over second-seeded Texas in the final of the NCAA tournament’s Atlanta Regional.

Louisiana State returns to the Final Four for the first time in 20 years and the fourth time in history. The Tigers made it in 1986 by also winning a regional in Atlanta where they defeated the top two seeded teams -- No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 Georgia Tech. This year’s team did the same, beating No. 1 Duke on Thursday.

Louisiana State will play UCLA in the national semifinals on Saturday in Indianapolis.

The Tigers (27-8) celebrated in front of Bob Pettit, who led Louisiana State to its first Final Four in 1953, and Collis Temple, the father of freshman Garrett Temple and the first African American basketball player at LSU in 1971.

Davis, whose nickname comes from his rotund body and penchant for whining when he was a youngster, grabbed a microphone at the end of the game and shouted, “Big Baby gotta say something. We still got tapeworms in our bellies. We still hungry. We not finished yet.”

The irrepressible 6-foot-9 sophomore earned the right to talk loud because he scored a game-high 26 points. Most of his baskets were pure muscle. Sometimes with two Longhorn defenders hanging on his shoulders, Davis would shrug and shoot anyway. And in the overtime Davis squared up and made a three-pointer, only his sixth of the season.

“That’s called thinking without thinking,” said Davis, whose basket gave the Tigers a 59-52 lead and stunned Texas.

But if Davis did the heavy lifting, Thomas provided the sparkle. He had 21 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots Saturday and was named the regional’s most valuable player. Twice Thomas collapsed and left the game as his legs were consumed by cramps, but he came back both times.

“I’m feeling great,” Thomas said as he danced on the court.

Thomas, who lives with Davis, searched the stands until he found his mother. He screamed, “Go buy your plane ticket to Indianapolis now, Mom. Buy it now!”

In the first half neither team led by more than seven points. Texas led, 9-2, before the Tigers rid themselves of their nerves and played with aggressiveness. For the first 15 minutes of the second half, no more than four points separated the two teams, but with 4:43 left LSU freshman Tasmin Mitchell, who hadn’t made any of his six shots, made a three-pointer to put the Tigers ahead, 50-45.

Louisiana State was ahead by three when, after a frenzied sequence of missed shots, blocked shots and fumbled rebounds, two Tigers were unable to grab a loose ball near midcourt. Texas’ Kenton Paulino picked it up and then pulled up for a three-point attempt, which was blocked from behind by Temple. The ball bounced to the Longhorns’ Daniel Gibson, who found himself unguarded, squared up and knocked down a three-pointer to tie it, 52-52, with 32 seconds left.

The Tigers used two timeouts and missed three shots in the final 30 seconds, so the game went to overtime.

The thing about Louisiana State, which starts three freshmen and a sophomore, is that it never gets put on its heels. The blown chances in regulation were forgotten by the time the Tigers reached the huddle. Mitchell started overtime by hitting a jump shot and Davis passed out of a triple team to Temple, who made a layup. Davis followed that with his unlikely three-pointer and Texas would never get closer than five points.

While Louisiana State’s two stalwarts, Davis and Thomas, were superb, Texas’ two leading scorers were held in check. LaMarcus Aldridge, who is being projected as an NBA draft lottery pick, was two for 14 from the field and scored four points, and forward P.J. Tucker, who was averaging 16.2 points a game, scored only 10 on four-for-11 shooting. Paulino, whose three-pointer at the final horn beat West Virginia on Thursday, shot four for 14 and scored 10 points.

“I didn’t make the shots I usually make,” said Aldridge, who refused to answer a question on whether he would come back for his junior season. “Most of the shots I took tonight were shots I make often. But Davis has that big body and is a big guy. He wants to keep his body on you all the time. It was hard.”

LSU Coach John Brady had said that the teams matched up evenly inside and predicted the game would be decided by the guards. But the Tigers outscored Texas, 38-10, in the lane.

At one point this season, Louisiana State was 8-5 and looking like one of those bubble teams for the tournament. But the young team kept its poise and its hope. The Tigers ended up winning the Southeastern Conference Western Division and finished with the best record in SEC play, 14-2.

“We believed in our team,” Davis said. “We went through a lot of trials and tribulations. Tough losses, tight situations. So it’s not new to us to get back up and fight.”