How It Happened: LSU Basketball Falls To Kentucky Wildcats 75-74 on Last Second Shot

BATON ROUGE – Kentucky’s Malachi Moreno hit a 17-foot shot at the buzzer to give Kentucky a 75-74 victory over LSU Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The basket by the Wildcats wiped out one of LSU best efforts in SEC play in the fourth straight game without point guard DJ Thomas, Jr. The Tigers led by as much as 18 points in the first 35 seconds of the second half, but Kentucky shot 65 percent overall and 72.7 percent in the second half from distance to rally for the win.

Kentucky is now 11-6 overall and winners of two straight in the league to go to 2-2. LSU is 12-5 and 0-4 in the SEC.

The Tigers in the first half had things going their way, making 12-of-25 field goals and 5-of-10 from distance while Kentucky was making just 8-of-30 overall and 2-of-12 from the three-point arc. After sluggish opening halves the previous two games, the Tigers had it rolling early, jumping out to an 18-3 lead over the Wildcats with 11:25 to go in the first half and would eventually lead by 16, 38-22, at intermission.

Marquel Sutton had 14 first half points for LSU, hitting three treys in the opening 20 minutes.

Kentucky slowly began to get the long three pointers going and began to slice into the LSU lead, that was at double figures for the last time for LSU at 52-41 with 13:27 to play on a Pablo Tamba three-pointer.

The Wildcats would get the lead down to one point on an Otega Oweh three pointer at the 5:06 mark, 65-64. This started a flurry of three-pointers and buckets on both ends that gave Kentucky its first lead at 69-68 off an LSU turnover with 3:55 to play.

The Tigers held a 72-71 lead on two Mackinnon free throws with 1:40 to play. Kentucky, off an LSU foul, made 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game at 72-72 with 1:32 left. LSU missed a three pointer and Kentucky came down and hit a bucket, but after video review, it was deemed a turnover for a shot clock violation, giving LSU the ball back with 42 seconds left.

Mackinnon drew a foul and went to the line and swished two more free throws to give LSU a 74-72 advantage with 17 seconds left.

After a Kentucky timeout, Oweh was fouled and went made-miss at the free throw line to make it, 74-73. Off the miss, LSU got the rebound and Tamba was fouled with 1.9 to play. Tamba missed both free throws and Oweh’s rebound and timeout gave the Wildcats 1.6 on the clock to draw up a play.

Kentucky threw a three-quarter court pass from the baseline to Moreno who turned just behind the free throw line and hit the shot for the win.

Oweh finished with 21 points to lead Kentucky while Denzel Aberdeen had 17, Andrija Jelavic 11 and Moreno 10.

LSU had five players in double figures, the first time LSU lost this year with at least four in double figures. Both Sutton and Mackinnon finished with 16 points, while Rashad King, getting his first LSU start had 12 points with Jalen Reece 11 and Tamba 10.

Kentucky had a strong second half from the field hitting 65.4 percent (17-of-26) and 8-of-11 from distance. The Wildcats were 11-of-14 from the free throw line. For the game Kentucky shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) and 10-of-23 from the arc. UK finished 15-of-22 from the line.

LSU shot 50 percent in the second half 11-of-22 in the second half (50.0 percent) and 4-of-9 from the arc. For the game LSU was 23-of-47 (48.9 percent), 9-of-19 from distance (47.4 percent) but one of its lowest percentages at the free throw line of 67.9 percent (19-of-28).

LSU out rebounded the Wildcats, 32-29, but Kentucky had a 26-22 lead in points in the paint and 11-8 in second chance points. Kentucky also had a 16-11 advantage in points from turnovers.

LSU led for 35:37 against Kentucky with the Wildcats up for only 1:10 of playing time.

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Maravich Center against Missouri. Tickets are available at LSUTix.net.

Post-game Quotes
LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“Heartbreaking end to the game. I want to start by thanking our fans and students for the atmosphere, especially in the second half, was phenomenal down the stretch. I’m so proud of our players. We had our two best practices of the year on Monday and Tuesday. I thought our physicality returned and got better as a group and you saw that with the start of the game. First half defensive effort from our players I thought was phenomenal.

"We were able to help each other out a lot; we had some combination zone and man looks. In the second half, tremendous credit to Kentucky. They really got going from the three-point line and we could not get enough stops there. All that said, you’re in position to win the game and unfortunately, I couldn’t help get our guys across the finish line there. I’m proud of our players response; I think we got a lot better the last couple days and obviously crushed we weren’t able to finish the deal.”

On what he saw on Kentucky’s game-winning shot…
“We wanted to have a man on the ball, which we had one of our long athletes there on the ball. We wanted to keep everything in front of us. They threw the homerun pass and unfortunately maybe we mistimed our jump a little bit there and the ball got over us and they hit a tough shot at the buzzer there to win it. That’s how it closed.”

On his message to the team after the loss…
“Really proud of their preparation and their response coming off the difficult week we had last week. I thought their performance was a reflection of the way we practiced on Monday and Tuesday. There’s going to be an emotional toll here that we weren’t able to finish the deal, but we have a quick turnaround and we’ve got to start our preparation for Missouri and build on all the good things and all the improvements that we did here today.

"I thought Marquel Sutton’s response was fantastic; he really got us off to a good start with the three-point shooting and he was overall aggressive, made free throws, and was who we needed him to be. Jalen Reese and Rashad King were fantastic at the point position by combining for 23 points and five assists. I thought they did a lot of good things throughout. I thought Rob (Miller III) gave us a huge lift, not only offensively, but defensively, and made so many plays throughout the game. We harped on those things and as I said, disappointed we didn’t get across the finish line at the end.”

LSU Guard Max Mackinnon
On the stagnant offensive spurts in the second half…
“Yeah, sometimes we got stagnant, but we kept moving. Obviously, we were better offensively in the first half, so we’re just going to watch the film, learn, and get better.”

LSU Forward Rashad King
On Kentucky’s improved ball movement…
“I would say they got out in transition well and we let up too many fast-break points, but our momentum was fueled by the stops we made.”

LSU Forward Marquel Sutton
On how to bounce back for the next game…
“We can’t change the past, so we just have to come out Saturday like we did in the first half today. We have to play like that in both halves.”

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