How to Watch LSU Tigers Basketball vs. Kentucky Wildcats in Critical SEC Showdown

BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team opens a two-game homestand on Wednesday night against the Kentucky Wildcats at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers and Wildcats will tip just after 6 p.m. on the SEC Network with Dave Neal and Rodney Terry on the call. The contest will air on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (including local Guaranty Media flagship Eagle 98.1 FM) with the “Voice of the Tigers” Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady on the broadcast.

Tickets can be purchased online at LSUTix.net and at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center beginning one hour prior to tip. All LSU students are admitted free with valid ID. It is also Beat the Buzzer night as selected food and drink items will be discounted during the hour prior to tipoff.

The first 500 LSU students will receive a free black LSU Basketball shirt.

The Tigers come into the game 12-4 overall and 0-3 in the Southeastern Conference, while Kentucky is 10-6 and 1-2 in the league. Kentucky won its first league game on Saturday, 92-68, at home against Mississippi State.

LSU Coach Matt McMahon visited with media on Wednesday and discussed the game and point guard DJ Thomas’ status as of Tuesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.

“We are excited to be back home. Great opportunity to change our season. We’ve got a really good Kentucky team coming in here (Wednesday). I’ll preview them in a minute. DJ Thomas update, making good progress. (Update on SEC Status Report Available at 7:10 p.m. CT).

"Again, not giving any coach speak here. It’s a day-to-day injury. He’s making tremendous progress. He wants to be on the floor more than anything. We’re certainly not going to risk putting him on the floor too early, but we’ll see how he responds (Tuesday at practice).

“Kentucky is a really talented team. I think their defense and their ability to turn their defense into points has been fantastic, and quite frankly, that’s been a weakness of ours over the last week.

"So it’s an area we’ve got to be a lot better with our ball security and offensive execution, so we don’t allow Kentucky to excel out in the open floor. It’s a great opportunity for us to be back home, playing against Kentucky here in the PMAC.”

LSU is coming off an 84-73 loss at undefeated Vanderbilt on Saturday. For the second straight game, the Tigers were unable to get going in the first half while the Commodores posted 52 points and led by as much as 20 in the half. LSU got its offense in gear inside in the second half and closed the game to as close as seven on three occasions.

Max Mackinnon continued his fine play of late, hitting three treys and 6-of-6 at the free throw line in scoring a season high 27 points for LSU.

“I’ve been really proud of him,” Coach Mc Mahon said of Mackinnon. “I think when you lose two of your best players to injury, you need players to step up and do more. Max has done that, and then some. He’s averaging over 20 a game in league play. He’s scoring in a variety of ways. He’s also another guy who’s been very positive in his assist to turnover ratio.

"I think Max has created some shots for himself by screening and impacting winning in different ways. I would assume he’s probably rising on the scouting report of the opponent, so the attention to detail and efficiency that he has to play with offensively is going to be important for us, because he’s carrying a lot of our scoring load right now.”

Otega Oweh led Kentucky in its win, scoring 22 points with five assists and five steals. Freshman Malachi Moreno made 8-of-10 from the floor on his way to 17 points. He added eight rebounds and six assists. Kentucky also got 16 points from Denzel Aberdeen and 14 from Kam Williams.

For the season, Oweh is averaging 15.5 points with Aberdeen at 11.3 and Mouhamed Dioubate 10.4 points.

The Tigers will also be at home on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. matinee game against Missouri. That game will be also on the SEC Network and the LSU Sports Radio Network. The 1986 NCAA Final Four team will be honored as part of Alumni Day for former players and coaches.

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