If there’s one thing to take away from Tuesday night, it’s that the LSU Tigers (9-14, 1-10 SEC) kept fighting until the final buzzer. It doesn’t make the bitter pill easier to swallow as they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats (19-5, 9-2 SEC) 92-85.
The Wildcats were able to dominate from the start, getting out to an 11-4 lead with 15:09 left in the first half. They continued to control the rest of the first half, getting out to a 16-point lead at halftime.
Kentucky was able to get out to a twenty point lead early on in the second half, but LSU was able to fight back and get the deficit down to 11 points with 15:56 left in regulation. The Wildcats were able to get back out to 20 points with five minutes remaining but the Tigers didn’t give up and went on a tear in the final minutes, but it was too little too late as they lost by seven.
LSU will try again to snap their losing streak when they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (12-2, 6-4 SEC) with tipoff set for 7:30 pm.
By the Numbers:
31: Number of points that Antonio Blakeney had on the night. It was another very strong night from the sophomore guard, ending up with a board, five assists, and one steal. The more intriguing aspect is that he and Sampson were the only players that scored double digits.
18: Number of points that came off the bench for LSU. Going back to that last point, the bench for LSU was needed especially in that late turnaround and was good solely for keeping players fresh.
80: Kentucky’s free-throw shooting percentage. The Wildcats shooting was good from the field, but it all came down to a strong performance from behind the charity stripe.
-Clint Domingue