Down 13 in Spokane, Then Donovan Dent: LSU Stuns No. 14 Gonzaga, 81-80, With a Step-Back 3 in the Final Seconds

For most of Saturday afternoon in Spokane, it looked like No. 14 Gonzaga was going to hand LSU its first loss of the season. Then Donovan Dent took over. The fifth-year guard capped a 13-point comeback with a step-back 3-pointer with about a second and a half left, and the Tigers stunned the Zags on their own floor, 81-80.

Dent finished with a game-high 23 points and 10 assists, according to the Associated Press. Abdi Bashir Jr. scored 15 off the bench and Skyy Clark added 14 for LSU, which stayed unbeaten. Gonzaga fell to 2-1.

Gonzaga built its cushion in the second half. A Braden Huff jumper made it 68-55 with 8:11 to play, the Spokesman-Review reported, and the Zags still led by 10, 75-65, with 4:41 left, according to LSU's own game account. From there LSU outscored Gonzaga 16-5 the rest of the way.

The Tigers chipped away possession by possession, and Gonzaga helped them. The Spokesman-Review described a series of late mistakes as the Zags unraveled down the stretch, and missed free throws and foul trouble hurt Gonzaga throughout, according to Sports Illustrated's Gonzaga site.

With LSU trailing 80-78 in the final seconds, Dent got to his spot, created space with a step-back and buried the 3, The Advocate reported. Gonzaga had no time left to answer.

Huff did everything he could for the Bulldogs, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds. But Gonzaga coach Mark Few pointed to the glass when he explained how the lead slipped away. "The offensive glass was key again," Few said, per Sports Illustrated. The numbers were closer than that suggests: Gonzaga grabbed 18 offensive rebounds of its own and second-chance points finished about even, 17-16, according to the same report, which argued the bigger problem was failing to finish possessions in the final five minutes.

The win was the first marquee victory of Will Wade's return to LSU, Roundtable reported.

The win also carried a personal note for Dent. The Spokesman-Review reported that Gonzaga had recruited him before he chose LSU and Wade's staff. On Saturday he showed the Zags exactly what they missed.

Anybody can play well with a lead. What tells you who a team is, especially this early in a season, is what it does when it's down double digits on the road, in one of the hardest places to play in college basketball, with eight minutes left. LSU did not panic. It defended, it got stops, and it trusted its veteran point guard with the ball in his hands at the end.

That is the kind of steadiness that is built in practice, in film rooms and in a locker room where older players hold younger ones to a standard. Dent is a fifth-year player, and his poise in the final minutes looked like the product of years of work, not luck.

For Gonzaga, this is a loss to learn from, not a crisis. The Zags have built one of the most consistent programs in the country over more than two decades, and Few's teams usually get better as winter goes on. But blowing a 13-point lead at home in November will sting, and Few's frustration with the effort on the glass was clear.

LSU leaves Spokane unbeaten and with a signature win to show the selection committee in March. Wins like this one carry weight long after November, especially for a team that came in unranked. Gonzaga, now 2-1, has time to regroup, and Few's postgame focus on the glass shows where the work starts.

One November game does not make a season. But for a program trying to prove it belongs back among the nation's best, LSU just made a loud first statement, and it came from a veteran guard who wanted the last shot and made it.