On Saturday in Rupp Arena, a Southeastern Conference regular-season Champion was crowned.
Kentucky reclaimed its customary conference reign as it now shares the title with Texas A&M after its 94-77 win against LSU. With the Tigers’ postseason remaining uncertain, LSU will now have a double-bye as the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament beginning on Friday.
What is certain is that LSU (18-13, 11-7 SEC) will likely have to win the SEC Tournament to gain entry into the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid. The Tigers will play at approximately 2:30 p.m. as the fourth seed.
LSU will face the winner of No. 13 Auburn/No. 12 Tennessee versus No. 5 Vanderbilt. 
A win at Kentucky (23-8, 13-5 SEC) still may not have been enough for the loss-plagued Tigers to enter the big dance, but Kentucky wasn’t lending LSU any slack toward an at-large bid, anyway.
LSU, in the hands of its luminary freshman forward Ben Simmons, won the tip and seemed to be the aggressors early on Saturday. The Tigers led by six with 13:31 in the first half, its largest lead of the game.
Just 72 seconds later, Kentucky shaped a 9-0 streak on its own, settling down the energized Tigers with a dunk from junior forward Marcus Lee, a three-point play from freshman guard Jamal Murray and four-straight buckets from Saturday’s surprise Skal Labissiere.
Kentucky never trailed again.
Labissiere snagged the last-minute nod to start from Kentucky coach John Calipari instead of Lee, who came off the bench and scored 12 points, all of which were dunks, and added 10 rebounds.
Labissiere, who was matched against Simmons most of Saturday, finished with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds and six blocks, and LSU totaled three blocks as a team.
Calipari watched and commended Labissiere against LSU.
“He looked really good in that game,” Calipari said, “He’s getting better.”
Simmons and Labissiere, two highly-recruited, highly-valued freshman, battled. Simmons finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals and four assists against the lengthy arms of Labissiere’s 7-foot-2 frame.
Labissiere struggled adjusting to collegiate game with the Wildcats this season, but the freshman with an abundance of potential shined on Saturday, unlike he could do from the bottom of the ocean.
“I guess he must’ve hit rock bottom,” said senior forward Alex Poythress, who scored 12 points in his final game in Rupp Arena. “You hit rock bottom, you start to fight. You start to swim.”
Labissiere, though, had help.
Murray earned his 10th-straight 20-point scoring game with 22 points against the Tigers, and sophomore guard Tyler Ulis — the frontrunning SEC Player of the Year — added 14 points, 14 assists with only one turnover.
Ulis was remarkable, Calipari said.
“How about Tyler?” Calipari said. “14 assists and one turnover … if there’s a better point guard in the country, you’ve got to show me.”
On LSU’s point guard front, junior Tim Quarterman had a solid day, too.
Quarterman notched a team-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, and five turnovers.
Between Simmons’ 17 points, Quarterman’s 23 and freshman guard Antonio Blakeney’s 19, the trio combined for 59 of LSU’s 77 points.
Craig Victor and Jalyn Patterson added 13 more, combined, and LSU’s bench only knocked in five points compared to 20 from Kentucky’s reserves.