Malachi Moreno talks game-winning shot against LSU

Kentucky basketball completed one of the best comebacks in recent memory, tying for the biggest comeback of the Mark Pope era, as they were down as much as 18 points in the second half. The Wildcats put on a very familiar product of basketball, as what fans saw against Mississippi State, Indiana, and St. John's happened on Wednesday at LSU. Kentucky had one of its worst showings of the season, before storming back from an 18-point deficit, where Malachi Moreno saved them at the last second.

The Wildcats shot 8-30 in the first half. At halftime, it was going about as bad as you would expect. A very doom-and-gloom first half quickly turned into hope in the second half, as Kentucky went on a 9-0 run to take the game from an 18-point deficit to single-digits with 17:06 left. They came out of the second-half on a mission, but they didn't stop there. Just when it looked like Kentucky just couldn't get enough stops to pull off the win, the Wildcats took their first lead of the game in the final minutes with 3:55 left before an instant-classic of a finish happened. In the final seconds, Kentucky was down by one point coming out of a timeout with 1.6 seconds left. Then. Malachi Moreno saved the day for Kentucky after catching a full-court heave from Collin Chandler before turning and making the game-winning jumpshot.

After the big 75-74 road win, the man of the hour, Malachi Moreno, talked about what was supposed to happen on that last play. It might surprise you, but that was not supposed to happen. But, Moreno just made the best of the moment: "The last play was not drawn for me. It was for Otega (Oweh) to get the shot at the middle of the court, or for DA to at least get it on the run, to get one bounce and to get a shot off. (Collin Chandler) overthrew it and then to LSU, I became Odell Beckham."

Mark Pope added his praise for Moreno's big confidence to be able to 'own the shot' in the final seconds: ""How about a kid executing with poise? He didn't run away from the shot. He owned the shot." Pope added that Moreno's shot was an embodiment of the team's attitude to not quit, no matter how bad things get in the game. "It was 100 times in this game where the guys could've been like, man, this has gotten away from us. Still, with 1.4 seconds left, Malachi was totally locked in. He's like, 'I'm only thinking about winning this catch.' That type of focus with all the baggage from the game is impressive."

Kentucky will look to use not just the big win, but back-to-back wins in the conference as confidence moving forward, especially with the tough, but crucial stretch coming up. This win may be what will have kept the Wildcats' tournament hopes alive when selection sunday comes, and it's all thanks to the Kentucky kid, Malachi Moreno. Check out the beautiful play for yourself below.

MALACHI MORENO FOR THE WIN 😼😼😼😼😼😼😼 pic.twitter.com/6fXGVwMNBA
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 15, 2026