The Alabama men’s basketball team defeated the LSU Tigers, 70-46, Saturday night in Coleman Coliseum.

The Crimson Tide did so with another dominating defensive performance, forcing LSU to commit 18 turnovers. Alabama also out rebounded the Tigers, 43-24. The Tide has held seven of its last nine opponents under 60 points.

“It’s been consistent all year, and we figured out as a basketball team that we have to defend,” Alabama head coach Anthony Grant said. “We struggled in the first half shooting the ball and executing from an offensive standpoint. We have been able to hang our hat on defense. Our guys understand that and they understand who we are as a basketball team.”

Another huge spark for the Tide was the play of sophomore guard Andrew Steele. Steele came off the bench and had seven points in the second half that helped start a 22-4 run for Alabama.

“I think I just took advantage of opportunities that they gave us,” Steele said. “Our defense played a big part of that run. They wanted to slow the game down, but we wanted to play at a faster pace. They couldn’t keep up with us and we started to wear them down. We played in transition a lot more and once we were able to control the pace, we were able to get the job done.”

LSU (10-11, 2-4 SEC) lost its fourth straight game. The Tigers were led in scoring by freshman guard Andre Stringer, who had 13 points. Freshman forward Matt Derenbecker was the only other Tiger player with double figures with 10 points.

The Tide was led by junior forward JaMychal Green, who had 20 points to go with seven rebounds. Sophomore forward Tony Mitchell and freshman point guard Trevor Releford also scored double figures for the Tide with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Alabama (13-7, 5-1 SEC) is off to its best conference start since the 2004-2005 season. That was the last year the Tide made the tournament.

“We are excited to be in a position were we can control our own destiny,” Grant said. “We understand that we have to take it one game at a time and we understand the league that we are in and how competitive it is and how difficult it is to get wins. The word for us is perspective. We are going to try to stay focused on the task at hand and understand who we are and what gives us a chance to win.”

Up next for the Tide will be the Mississippi State Bulldogs at home on Wednesday. After that, Alabama will have tough road games against Tennessee and Vanderbilt.