The Pete Maravich Assembly Center was as raucous as it has been this season.
LSU men's basketball was leading by six points against the second-best team in the country at halftime. The Tigers were unable to maintain that level of energy after a poor second half.
LSU fell 79-65 to No. 2 Florida at Saturday at the PMAC.
Robert Miller had a career-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for LSU (14-13, 3-11 SEC). Curtis Givens had 11 points and four assists. LSU's leading scorer Cam Carter only had seven points on 3-of-13 shooting.
LSU used the same four-guard lineup as last game, starting freshmen guards Vyctorius Miller and Curtis Givens against Florida (24-3, 11-3).
LSU played tense on offense to start as Damion Collins made the only two field goals for LSU for nearly the first eight minutes of the game. The rut LSU was on offense allowed Florida to steadily find good looks inside the paint and on the perimeter.
Robert Miller was the second LSU player to score, making a 3-pointer with 12:11 left in the first half.
Florida's defense was especially alert on Carter who started 1 of 4 and was being run off the 3-point line. The Tigers were forced to create offense late in the shot clock and were shooting over strong contests on most possessions.
LSU's fortunes were completely altered thanks to the final seven minutes of the half. Its defense began to create easy offense right after Robert Miller made a pair of free throws to cut the Tigers deficit to eight with five minutes.
On LSU's following defensive play, Carter aggressively jumped a passing lane to get a steal. He dished it to Dji Bailey who threw a cross-court pass to Mike Williams in the left corner. The sophomore pump-faked a defender into the air and sidestepped into a 3-pointer, making it a five-point game with 4:58 left.
Then Miller had the best sequence of his career with the Tigers. With four minutes left in the half, Curtis Givens passed it to Miller on a pick-and-roll and the 6-foot-10 big man threw down a ferocious one-hand dunk to make the score 29-26 with LSU trailing.
Miller then drained a pick-and-pop 3-pointer to tie the game. Dji Bailey officially gave LSU its first lead, drilling a right-wing 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 32-31 lead with 2:39 left in the game.
Just as remarkably as they found the bottom of the net, the Tigers repeatedly forced Florida to pick up its dribble prematurely. Florida was uncomfortable with the LSU's activity which helped LSU get a 22-2 run to close the final seven minutes. The Tigers entered halftime leading 37-31. Miller had 12 points and made 2 3-pointers for the first time.
Florida regained the lead for the first time after Clayton made a jumper to give Florida a 49-48 lead with 12:16 remaining. The Gators did not relinquish it for the remainder of the game.
Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu imposed their will as 6-9 and 6-10 bigs, respectively. They combined for 35 points and 23 rebounds.
LSU also was looser in its ball security. After only having one turnover in the first half, it finished with seven and allowed 12 points of those miscues.
Florida went on a 15-3 run to take a 75-59 lead with 2:55 left in the game. LSU was outscored 48-28 in the second half.
Jordan Sears scored his 2,000th career point after his first made shot of the game.
This was the fifth time in program history that LSU has faced the No. 1 (Auburn) and No. 2 teams in the same season. The last time was in 2006 when LSU faced No. 1 Duke and No. 2 UConn.
LSU's next game is against No. 6 Tennessee at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the PMAC.