Tale of Two Halves for LSU as Tigers Fall 71-66 to No. 6 Kentucky

It was a tale of two halves for the purple and gold as the Tigers blew a halftime lead and couldn't recover in Rupp Arena, falling 71-66 to Kentucky.

The Wildcats have now won 18 straight on their home court while LSU (19-9, 7-8) falls below .500 in conference play as offensive rebounding and inefficient second half shooting caught up to the Tigers Wednesday night.

A late push from LSU, highlighted by phenomenal full court press play, ultimately fell short as the team dug itself to big a hole to climb out of.

"A tale of two halves. It's the fifth or sixth straight game we've given up 40 plus in the second half," Will Wade said. "We can't sustain that, our offense is not good enough. I thought we did a nice job with the turnovers, gave ourselves a chance, better from the free throw line. They were very aggressive in the second half and we didn't match it."

With Kentucky down two lead guards in Sahvir Wheeler and Tyty Washington, Pinson got LSU off to the right start, dictating the pace and making his presence felt on both ends of the floor. He'd score 16 of his 26 total points in the first half and dish out eight assists for the game as well.

FEELIN' IT.

12 points for X through the first ten minutes pic.twitter.com/zmdKDwCwfo
— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) February 24, 2022

LSU was solid in a number of key areas, including a dramatic dropoff in the turnover department, committing just eight on the evening in a hostile Rupp Arena.

Defensively LSU did a solid job of making life hard on the Wildcats without their lead guards in the first half, holding Kentucky to a season low 23 first half points as the Tigers built an early double digit lead. LSU was disciplined in its on ball defense and rotations as Kentucky shot 33% from the field in the first half.

But as well as the first half went for LSU on both ends, it went equally bad to start the second half. With LSU taking an eight point lead into the break, Kentucky would go on a 20-7 run to start the final 20 minutes.

The offense really had a difficult time creating good looks, going nearly five minutes without a field goal as the Wildcats built its run and a five point lead. Oscar Tshiebwe absolutely dominated the glass, creating second chance opportunities and completely breaking apart the Tigers' interior defense, finishing with 17 points and 16 rebounds.

"In my opinion it was clear. In the first half we imposed our will on them and in the second half they imposed their will on us," Pinson said. "It sucks to say but they played harder and stayed locked in. You could tell they really wanted to win."

One area that kept LSU in the game was its constant pressure in the full court, something it just wasn't able to do much because of the rough shooting in the second half. Late in the game, the press gave Kentucky fits, cutting the lead down to four at one point but was just too big a hole to overcome.

LSU shot 10-of-29 in the second half in a half thoroughly dominated by Kentucky, who shot 15-of-25 and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second chance points.

"We missed a bunch of wide open shots. We had some really good looks and didn't make them," Wade said. "It's a make or miss game."

Forward Tari Eason fouled out with just under 10 minutes to go which really limited what LSU could do offensively as Pinson went ice cold in the second half after the strong start.

The Tigers are back to below .500 in conference play and with three games remaining, all of them feel like must wins down the stretch.