The LSU men’s basketball team gave No. 1 Kentucky everything it could handle during a wild, back-and-forth game Tuesday night.
The Tigers also gave the Wildcats more than any other team has this season.
Though LSU coach Johnny Jones said he doesn’t believe in moral victories after his team’s 71-69 loss to Kentucky, he couldn’t help but recognize how close his Tigers battled the nation’s premier squad.
“It’s tough to play a flawless game and a mistake-free game,” Jones said. “I thought our guys did a tremendous job of making plays throughout the game.”
No team in the nation has played the unbeaten Wildcats closer than LSU did. The two-point win was Kentucky’s slimmest margin of victory this season. Entering Tuesday’s game, the Wildcats were leading the nation in average margin of victory at plus-22.1 points per game.
Not only did the Tigers play Kentucky close, they nearly matched the output of the Wildcats’ plethora of talented, NBA-type big men.
Kentucky boasts four players 6-foot-10 or taller who play at least 18 minutes a game. With so much depth in the front court, Kentucky has bullied opponents down low, outscoring the opposition by 10.1 points per game in the paint (30.6-20.5).
But the Tigers showed they weren’t intimidated by the big Wildcats. Kentucky did outscore LSU inside, but it was only by two points (42-40). The Tigers’ 40 points in the paint were the most the Wildcats have given up all season.
LSU attacked the lane from the start. Five of the Tigers’ first six field goals came inside the paint, including three thunderous slams by sophomore forwards Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey.
The Preseason All-Southeastern Conference duo finished with a combined 37 points on 14-of-23 shooting against the Wildcats’ bigs, drawing praise from Kentucky junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein.
“They are two good players,” Cauley-Stein said. “This is the SEC. It’s going to be tough. You know that coming into the game. They are two of the best in the SEC.”
LSU junior guard Keith Hornsby also delivered an efficient performance. Hornsby hit a pair of pull-up jumpers, a couple of timely 3-pointers and one fast break layup en route to 17 points on 50 percent shooting.
The Wildcats won a few of the major statistical categories, but LSU kept them closer than most. Kentucky outrebounded the Tigers by just five (40-35), outscored them by four on points off turnovers (12-8) and three on second-chance opportunities (17-14).
The Wildcats’ bench also outscored LSU’s 29-7, and Kentucky ended the night with one less turnover (8-9) and one more assist (14-13) than the Tigers.
However, LSU’s nine turnovers tied No. 9 Louisville for the fewest against Kentucky all season. Heading into Tuesday night, the Wildcats had forced opponents into 15.3 turnovers per game.
The Tigers’ 13 assists nearly doubled what Kentucky has given up per game (7.3) this season, and LSU’s starters outscored the Wildcats’ by 20 points (62-42). The Tigers also outshot Kentucky from the field, 47.5 percent to 45.6.
LSU refused to go out quietly.
“[The Tigers] never went away, and they never stopped,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari.
LSU’s big run in the second half was also another anomaly in the Wildcats’ historic season.
Prior to Tuesday, Kentucky had led by at least 13 points in the second half in 18 of 23 games. The closest a team rallied was Georgia, which trimmed an 18-point deficit to five before the Wildcats pulled away with an 11-point victory.
LSU was the first team to comeback against Kentucky after trailing by at least 13 points in the second half, and the Tigers’ 16 unanswered points were the most against the Wildcats this season.
Calipari said he knew LSU would be a tough challenge, but he was shocked that the Tigers — who mainly rotate between just seven players — kept up with his squad until the end.
“You have to give [LSU] credit,” Calipari said. “They way they played, the way they fought, they never stopped. They were playing six guys, and I did not think they could stay up with us for 40 minutes.”
Despite keeping up with the nation’s top team for most of the game, the Tigers ultimately couldn’t pull off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. That made the loss that much worse, Hornsby said.
“That is what makes this loss so much more disappointing,” Hornsby said. “We had a lead, too, and they made some good plays when it counted. We didn’t seize the moment.”