BATON ROUGE - The LSU Tiger basketball team saved their fans the worry, and took control of their Wednesday night game against visiting Alabama early. 

LSU built a 51-33 halftime lead and then maintained that margin for most of the second half as the Tigers won 90-76 to take their ninth straight win and improve to 16-4 overall and 7-0 in SEC play.

The Tigers were led on the floor by Emmitt Williams who booked his fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

“I just tell the team to shoot the ball and I try to get it off the glass. I love it. I just tell them to shoot it and I get the rebound,” Williams noted following his high energy performance.

Freshman Trendon Watford, a Birmingham, Alabama native, also had a big night as he poured in 17 points and netted 15 rebounds for LSU.

“Before the game, Coach (Will) Wade came up to me and told me to just let the game come to me," Watford said on beating his home state team. "That’s what I did. I didn’t try to press anything.”

LSU moved to 16-4 overall on the season and improved to a still league leading 7-0 in SEC play.

The Tigers backcourt did a solid job as well, as Skylar Mays and Javonte Smart combined for six of LSU's 13 turnovers with Mays chipping in 18 points and Smart contributing 12. 

Defensively LSU did a solid job on Alabama's John Petty Jr. who finished 1 of 7 from the floor with only 4 points.

LSU will be back in action on Saturday hosting Ole Miss at 11 a.m. CT in the PMAC.