Kentucky freshman guard John Wall came to the PMAC as a headliner and left as a sidekick. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the headliner honor went to Kentucky freshman forward DeMarcus Cousins, whose 19 points and 13 rebounds led the No. 4 Wildcats (22-1, 7-1) in a 81-55 rout of LSU (9-14, 0-9) on Saturday. “They’re for real,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “Basically, what I told our guys is that I’ve been on that end of the deal. I’ve had a couple of teams like that — big, strong, very mature. I say this as a positive: They were nasty.”Junior guard Bo Spencer led LSU with 25 points, while senior forward Tasmin Mitchell was shut down for most  of  the  game.  Mitchell was held to 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting      and tied a season low with three rebounds. LSU hung with the ‘Cats early. The Tigers, behind stingy defense on Cousins, raced out to a 6-1 lead. The lead wouldn’t last long. “I thought we had really good energy to start,” Johnson said.Kentucky’s  size  was  too much for the undermanned Tigers. The Wildcats are one of the tallest teams in basketball, with Cousins standing 6 feet 11 inches, freshman forward Daniel Orton standing 6 feet 10 inches and junior forward Patrick Patterson measuring 6 feet 9 inches. LSU sophomore forward Storm Warren — who is 6 foot 7 inches — garnered the tough assignment of guarding Cousins. “They’re animals on the glass,” Spencer said. “I’m so impressed with Cousins because he’s just a freshman. He plays like he’s been here forever.”Mitchell agreed. “I give their interior the utmost respect,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t the perimeter that really shocked us. It was their inside game. They play real physical.”Kentucky went on a 41-8 run after that — including a 22-0 run sandwiched in — to close out the half. LSU trailed 42-14 at the break. Halftime might have been the best part of the afternoon for Tiger fans. Former Tiger great Rudy Macklin had his jersey retired at intermission. Macklin’s No. 40 jersey joined the likes of Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit and Seimone Augustus in the rafters. “I feel bad for Rudy,” Johnson said. “He’s everything we want this program to be. I just wish we would have put him in the Hall of Fame like I begged for last year when we were playing Kentucky twice. That would have been more appropriate. I don’t like it to be like that when you have former players who are still involved in the program and still give their all and are still good role models for the players.”Things got a little better for LSU in the second half. The Tigers managed 41 points in the second after only putting up 14 in the first period. “I thought in the second half we did a good job of trying to run our offense, trying to take good shots,” Johnson said. “We still struggled at times. I thought Bo showed a lot of courage. At times there were bad shots, but at times it was probably the best shot we could get in those situations.”He logged 25 points, but Spencer struggled to a 2-of-12 performance from the 3-point distance. Spencer didn’t get much help. Patterson corralled Mitchell, who averages 17.3 points per game, for most of the night. “Pat did an incredible job,” Cousins said. “He’s an incredible defender. A lot of people don’t know that. He had a tough task and did a great job with it.”With the loss, the Tigers remain winless in Southeastern Conference play. The loss marks their ninth consecutive defeat and 12 losses in the last 13 games. “You lose nine games, and guys are going to get down, get frustrated,” Johnson said. “But I’ve always said that kids are more resilient than, not necessarily coaches, but adults. As down as I get, I’m going to go watch video tape, and I’m going to go back to work as soon as I can.”Kentucky coach John Calipari had nothing but praise for Johnson’s effort and resolve amid the Tigers’ current losing streak. “I look at what Trent’s doing here, undermanned, that they have a chance to win every game they’ve played is incredible,” Calipari said. “I was sick when I watched Auburn. I don’t know how they lost. He’s giving these kids a chance to win almost every game.”
 
 
 
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