Second-Half Shooting from No. 10 Kentucky Fuels Wildcats to 79-76 Win Over LSU
With Jesus Christ actor Jim Caviezel sitting front and center next to former LSU coach Dale Brown, not even his prayers could've figured out a way to slow down Kentucky's second half shooting, particularly from three.
The Wildcats went 7-for-8 from three and shot 73.9% in the second half to help fuel a 79-76 win over LSU (18-8, 9-4) in Baton Rouge. For a team that came in No. 243 in the country in three-point percentage it was an unexpected turn of events that left LSU disheartened with each one made down the stretch.
Some of it was Kentucky hitting its shots but for the most part, particularly in the second half, LSU found itself surrendering way too many wide open looks from beyond-the-arc.
"We keep making the same mistake, the same guy keeps making the same mistake over and over again," coach Will Wade said. "It gets frustrating, hopefully it'll be improved but if not we'll be playing home games in the NIT."
The first and second halves were near mirror opposites of one another. LSU and Kentucky traded blows much of the first half with neither team able to create much separation. Both led by as many as four points in the opening 20 minutes and both struggled to shoot from the floor.
Kentucky made five of its final 22 shots of the half and shot 31% from the field yet still managed to take a 29-28 lead into the break. Even Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the game he was stunned his team was up at the half despite shooting the ball that poorly.
This was in large part due to LSU getting sloppy with the ball over the final three minutes and shooting just 31% from the field themselves.
The Tigers went scoreless the final 3:11 and committed four atrocious turnovers in that span. Holding a four point lead at the start of the turnover issues, it was really a missed opportunity for the Tigers to expand on the lead.
"That hurt us, I was trying to call a timeout but I couldn't get the timeout in before we turned the ball over," Wade said.
Not only did Kentucky force 12 LSU turnovers but it also gave the Tigers fits at the rim, an area that LSU has had success with all season. The Wildcats blocked 11 shots on the evening, six coming from junior Nick Richards alone.
“We haven’t seen a rim protector as good as Nick Richards," guard Skylar Mays said. "He did a great job of controlling the paint and it made it tough for us. That’s kind of our bread and butter, and he definitely made it a lot harder for us today.”
LSU's frontcourt of Darius Days, Emmitt Williams and Trendon Watford went a combined 9-of-33 from the field and struggled with rotations to expand the problems to the defensive side of the ball. Wade said Kentucky used the same script that's been plaguing LSU during its recent string of losses.
“It’s the same script. Give Kentucky credit. He (Coach Calipari) usually comes in here and runs all his pin downs and all that stuff. We were hoping he was going to run all that because we can defend that," Wade said. "Second half he just said, the hell with that, we’re just going to spread them and drive them. He ran all that over-under stuff, got the mismatch and then drove the hell out of us to the front of the rim which was very, very smart. That’s why he’s in the hall of fame.”
The script completely flipped in the opposite direction for the final 20 minutes as Kentucky drilled eight of its first 11 shots from the field to grab a six point advantage with 11:29 to go. LSU didn't fare much worse, starting the half 7-of-11 but was primarily a one man show.
Mays scored 13 of his 17 total points in the second frame, making nine of the first 15 LSU points to open the half. Unfortunately Mays, along with junior guard Charles Manning, were the only two players providing consistent production throughout the night.
Manning’s 11 points off the bench was a major reason why LSU was able to keep the game close in the first half and his perimeter defense was elite on guard Ashton Hagans.
“I felt good, but I felt like I still could have contributed a little bit more on the defensive side," Manning said. "Kentucky is good team and they played great.”
Kentucky's hot shooting wouldn't slow down as the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run with 5:14 to go to take a 67-52 lead, sending many fans to the exits. The Tigers would make a valiant late game push with a 22-10 run to close the game but the deficit was jut too large to overcome.
LSU is back in action on Saturday with a road matchup against South Carolina.
