In its first major test of the season, the LSU men’s basketball team walked into Spokane, Washington, on Saturday and stunned No. 14 Gonzaga 81-80 in Spokane, Washington.

It was the first time the Tigers (4-0) and Bulldogs (2-1) had ever faced off, and the Tigers erased a 13-point second-half deficit to remain undefeated.

With LSU down 80-78, fifth-year guard Donovan Dent drilled a 3-pointer with one second left to secure the win. Dent led all players in both points (23) and assists (10). He was 9-of-20 shooting overall.

"My guy tripped at the half court, and that kind of gave me a running start of momentum," Dent said about his final shot. "(Saliou Niang) gave a little pitch back. We got the switch, and I don't think we wanted to go to overtime there, so I knew I was shooting that no matter what, and it went in. It was a good shot."

It marks the first time LSU has beaten a ranked team since the Tigers topped No. 17 Kentucky 75-74 in Baton Rouge on Feb. 21, 2024.

"We won three bye games, we thought we were pretty good, but you don't know until you get tested," LSU coach Will Wade said. "Some people think you're crazy for coming up here and testing yourselves. Look, we learned a lot about ourselves. Even if the last shot didn't go in, we still learned a lot about ourselves.

"Our guys were really, really connected. I thought when everything was wild around us, we stayed calm and stayed poised. We had some poise in the storm there. You never know until you're on the road, but starting in January, we have two months of road atmospheres like this every night, so this was a good test for us to see where we are."

Early on, both sides struggled to establish themselves offensively, combining for 10 turnovers and shooting under 35% from the field in the first 10 minutes.

The issue for LSU became the sheer shot total it was giving up. In the first half, the Bulldogs took 15 more shots than the Tigers, but LSU still led 39-37 at halftime.

LSU stayed in the contest by getting to the line, going 9 of 11 on free throws in the opening half. Dent led that charge, drawing contact in the paint and tallying three of his team-high 16 points in the first half from the charity stripe.

Dent swung the momentum back toward the Tigers with his long-range scoring to close the first half, firing up a 3-pointer that banked off the glass for the two-point lead.

In the second half, the Bulldogs began to establish their half-court offense and find success from beyond the arc after going 0 of 7 from deep in the first. Isiah Harwell hit two 3-pointers and put his squad up 59-51 eight minutes into the second half.

While the Tigers started the second half cold, offensive rebounds and their own 3-point shooting allowed them to hang around. Mo Dioubate and Michael Ruzic combined for 11 offensive boards, often kicking out to Abdi Bashir and Skyy Clark, who combined for six 3-pointers in the half.

"I thought Ruzic did a great job battling on the glass, particularly in the second half," Wade said. "We were just way more offensive. They're a hard team to rebound against; they had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, seven in the second half. Just to keep it close on the glass — we tied them — it showed some real progress.

LSU eventually cut its 68-55 deficit with less than nine minutes to go to just one point with one minute to play. After a costly turnover by Gonzaga’s Xaivian Lee and a missed free throw by Davis Fogle, Dent had just enough time to make his 3-pointer.

"We're not a finished product, and we're not anywhere near as good as we're gonna be in a couple more weeks or a couple more months, but we got some grit to us, which is good to see," Wade said.

LSU will host UL-Monroe (1-4) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.