LSU Basketball Drops Second Straight SEC Game 82-69 at Kentucky Behind Poor Execution
LSU coach Will Wade didn't want the Alabama loss to bleed into the team's performance against Kentucky. But on Saturday night in Lexington, it was much of the same as poor defense and inefficient offense led to a second straight SEC loss at the hands of the Wildcats 82-69.
It's the first time LSU has lost back-to-back games since Feb. 15 and 18 of last season, coincidentally against Alabama and Kentucky. The 82 points scored was also a season high for the Wildcats.
Nine minutes into the game, LSU players and its fans alike probably were thinking the same thing, "here we go again." The Wildcats started a blistering 9-of-14 from the field to build out a 26-11 lead on the Tigers as open looks because of poor defensive breakdowns continued to be a common theme for the purple and gold.
"I thought their length bothered us a little bit and we didn't finish some things around the rim that we needed to," Wade said. "We were a little bit late in our rotations, we must've given up six or seven lob dunks. We can't leave the rim on the back end of the press."
"We're coming out slow, I don't think there's anyway around it," forward Trendon Watford said. "This has happened the last two games and as the leaders, me Javonte and Darius, we've gotta hold everybody accountable. From the start we can't dig ourselves a hole."
For the season, Kentucky came in scoring at an inefficient level at just 41% but by game's end against the Tigers, the Wildcats had shot 42% and converted on 21-of-26 free throws.
The Wildcats killed the Tigers at all levels in the first half as a team that came in averaging just 67 points a contest, posted 49 in the first half. Driving to the basket was all too easy on the perimeter and it continuously got LSU out of position with its rotations, leading to six first half Kentucky threes.
Kentucky built out a 16-point lead at one point in the first half but unlike the game against Alabama, the Tigers were able to keep it reasonable. After starting an abysmal 7-of-22 from the field, the Tigers were able to knock down 6-of-11 to finish the half and keep the haltime deficit at 49-36.
LSU looked like a completely different team right out of the halftime break. A dedication to pounding the paint on offense and solid defense in the paint helped LSU immediately churn out a 13-5 run to cut the Kentucky lead to 54-49.
Pounding the paint needed to become the theme of the second half as 22 of LSU's 40 points in the paint came in the final 20 minutes with Cam Thomas, Trendon Watford and Darius Days all having moments of brilliance. Watford finished with a team high 26 points and 10 rebounds but nobody else was able to get going. As the score dwindled in favor of the Tigers, LSU inexplicably went away from what was working.
Shot selection was poor and a five minute scoring drought with six straight empty possessions kept LSU from getting closer than five. LSU went 1-for-11 during that stretch and as a result, Kentucky was able to build out its lead to double digits and never look back.
"Our offense has let us down these last couple of games and we could never get ourselves over the hump," Wade said. "Early on we did excatly what we were supposed to do, getting to the paint and make some things happen. We got good looks, our shot quality chart was good we just didn't knock them in."
"We were just taking what the defense gave us," Watford said. "We're a team that shoots a lot of three balls with Cam and Javonte and today we couldn't get those to fall. We did a good job of getting to the paint but didn't hit the shots we needed to."
In addition to the poor shooting down the stretch, Kentucky was able to grab 13 offensive rebounds, 10 of which came in the second half which resulted in 19 second chance points. The Tigers shot just 38% from the field for the game and have a laundry list of issues to fix before their next outing on Tuesday.
LSU will next travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M Tuesday evening at 8 p.m.
"We've gotta pick ourselves up here. We've gotta play a complete game, we haven't played a full 40 minutes and it's on us to fix it," Wade said.
