BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team knocked off its second straight Top 25 opponent as the Tigers defeated No. 17 Kentucky 75-74 at the buzzer inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Kentucky scored first with a Ugonna Onyenso fast-break dunk and followed that with an Adou Theiro layup. LSU answered with a Will Baker free throw and layup but Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves immediately hit a jumper. LSU would tie it seconds later on a Tyrell Ward three-pointer.
Kentucky pushed its lead back up to five with a three by Reeves but LSU responded with a Derek Fountain three and then took the lead on another three by Ward. After going back and forth for the next few minutes, the Tigers took the lead again with a three by Jordan Wright.
Neither team would run away with the lead during the remainder of the first half, as the lead didn’t exceed three points for either team until under two minutes to play.
Kentucky’s Reeves hit a three, then Mike Williams III committed a turnover and that turned into a fast-break layup by Reeves. The Wildcats ended the first half on a 12-1 run and led 36-27.
Kentucky kept its foot on the gas to start the second half with a three-pointer by Justin Edwards. After an air ball by LSU’s Wright, the Wildcats quickly came down the court and Reeves hit another three-pointer to extend the lead to 15 points.
After cutting the lead down to 11 twice, LSU made it a single-digit deficit with a Ward three-pointer, followed by back-to-back threes by Wright. With 16:12 left in the second, the Tigers trailed 44-42.
A few moments later, layups by Jalen Reed and Hunter Dean gave LSU a 48-46 lead but Kentucky answered with a three-point play by Reed Sheppard. The Tigers retook the lead with a pair of free throws by Reed.
LSU pushed its lead to five after a Reed layup but Kentucky came right back down with a layup by Rob Dillingham. After free throws by Williams, the Wildcats cut it down to two points again with a three by Dillingham.
LSU made it a three-point game again on a Reed layup and a goal-tending call on Kentucky. With 7:25 left in the second, the Tigers held a 61-58 lead.
The Tigers kept that lead until Dillingham hit an off-balanced three-pointer to tie the game at 67 all with 2:32 to play. LSU’s Reed made a layup but then Kentucky’s Dillingham made two free throws.
The Tigers seemed to take control with a three-pointer by Will Baker, followed by a block by Ward and Reed making one of two from the free-throw line. The Wildcats answered with a Dillingham layup and free throw. With 35.2 seconds left, LSU led 73-72.
Wright drove to the basket but had the ball stolen by Thiero. With 20.8 seconds left, Kentucky took their final timeout and had the ball with a chance for the go-ahead bucket.
Dillingham hit a tough corner jumper but left 13 seconds on the clock for the Tigers. LSU brought the ball up and Wright’s jumper was blocked but Wright grabbed the board and gave it to Ward who hit the floater as time expired.
BIG NUMBER 29
Not only did LSU snap a two-game losing skid to Kentucky, the Tigers also picked up a rare victory in the series that dates back to 1933. The victory was LSU’s 29th against Kentucky and only the 20th won to take place in Baton Rouge
PLAYER OF THE GAME: TYRELL WARD
Ward came up huge with a team-high 17 points, including going 3-for-4 from three-point range, but no shot was bigger than his floater at the end to win the game.
UP NEXT: LSU (14-12, 6-7 SEC) returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Texas A&M. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m. and you can listen to the game live on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.