BATON ROUGE - Will Wade's first year in Baton Rouge is officially a winning season as the Tigers (16-11) take down Vanderbilt 88-78 on Tuesday night.

LSU led by Tremont Waters with 28 points including a 3-point buzzer beater to end the first half, set the tone shooting and as the Tigers lead for all by :17 seconds on the night.

"We were efficient on offense. That goes without saying. I thought we were more aggressive," Wade said following the win.

"Our main goal going into this game was to make more free throws than they attempted, which we did. We still gave up a few too many offensive rebounds, but we pounded on them in the paint, which was good. All in all, it’s a good win.”

Wayde Sims, Aaron Epps and Skylar Mays joined the freshman point guard in double-figures as the LSU hit 9 three-pointers and dominated down low, putting up 42 points in the paint.

“It was a good win. (Tremont) Waters played well. Obviously, (Wayde) Sims was the difference for us. I thought he was great. He allowed us to play smaller. I thought Randy (Onwuasor) did a good job defensively for us. Those guys played well and allowed us to play a small lineup to match their smaller lineup."

LSU has just 3 games remaining on the schedule along with the SEC tournament as Coach Wade's club looks to make a push towards a likely NIT appearance

If the Tigers can get wins over Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi State while making a strong run in the conference tournament, they'd put themselves on the bubble for an NCAA tournament bid come March.

LSU hits the road Saturday at Georgia at 1 p.m. on ESPNU.