Welcome everyone to another edition of #3OT!
1st OT: Defense Stifled Kentucky
The Kentucky Wildcats up to this point in the season scored between the mid 70s to mid 80s in their wins. But much like in their loss against Ohio State, they were held to 67 points. LSU’s defense played a huge role in this. The Tigers shut down the Kentucky in the first half, only making 9-of-28 from the field. Put that together with eight steals and four blocks for the Tigers, it showed that even a team like Kentucky that only had one loss last season has its flaws.
2nd OT: Team Effort
Ben Simmons was absent for most of the first half after getting into some foul trouble early, but the rest of the Tigers stepped their game up in his absence. When the Tigers are leading by double digits at the half against the ninth-ranked team in the nation despite their top star only playing nine minutes, you have to be doing something right.
3rd OT: Where Was This Team to Start the Season?
The Tigers had their best performance of the season against one of the toughest teams they have faced so far. Which brings up a question: Where was this team earlier in the season? If the team that was out there in front of a packed PMAC performed like they did tonight, we wouldn’t be talking about them possibly not making the postseason and Johnny Jones job being in jeopardy. It’s kind of infuriating that it took the team airing their grievances last week to turn things around. But the Tigers aren’t out the woods yet with Florida on the road on Saturday afternoon, so the Tigers will have to start stacking wins up and make sure the momentum is on their side.
-Clint Domingue