The LSU Tigers got their first taste of SEC blood against the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats, but fell short despite a valiant effort, 74-71.
A missed three ball with 0.8 seconds remaining by junior guard Brandon Sampson was the dagger to the heart, but coach Will Wade’s bunch proved it could hang with the big guns of the SEC.
It was the first time in their respective careers Kentucky coach John Calipari and Wade went head-to-head. Calipari said this is a dangerous LSU team and had high praises for freshman guard Tremont Waters.
“They’re going to beat some people,” Calipari said. “Tremont was somebody we recruited hard.”
“We should’ve been up more at halftime,” Wade said. “We were tougher in some spots but we gave a lot of critical mistakes. Against a team like Kentucky you have to play 40 minutes.”
The offense early was centered around senior big-man Duop Reath and at times became one-dimensional. Setting up offensive sets was difficult for the Tigers to execute. 
On one particular possession, the Wildcat defense forced sophomore guard Skylar Mays to hold the ball for 27 of the 35 second shot clock.
It was the Reath and Waters show early and often in the first half. Reath finished with 24 points on 17 shots while Waters poured in 18 of his own with 11 rebounds.
Waters said the second to last play was not performed correctly resulting in a forced shot from the freshman.
“We screwed up the play call at the end so I tried to draw a foul off the three,” Waters said. “Coach told us what to do but we didn’t execute.”
Reath was still disappointed in the loss despite perhaps his best performance of his career.
“It doesn’t matter,” Reath said. “If you lose it doesn’t matter.”
After a 2-for-11 start to the game, LSU found a way to shoot 47 percent for the first half, giving them the 36-31 edge.
The second half contained multiple missed opportunities. A block by Waters that erupted the crowd resulted in a turnover 10 seconds later.  A near-mirror 3-for-11 start from the field allowed Kentucky to make its pounce.
A stretch of seven straight made field goals gave the Wildcats a 56-52 advantage with 11 minutes to go.
Crowd noise with an attendance of 11,952 was at an all-time high which both the players and coach appreciated.
“They gave us great energy,” Waters said. “It was a great atmosphere. I had never played in an atmosphere like that.”
A put-back dunk by senior forward Aaron Epps with 4:15 to go, followed by a Reath three didn’t register an earthquake but it could’ve as it gave the Tigers a 65-64 lead. 
“He played great tonight,” Waters said of Reath. “That’s the start to our team, becoming more aggressive.”
“I had a good feeling he was going to have a good game,” Wade said.  “If we could get Duop going early I thought it would get our team going.”
LSU will travel to College Station for a Saturday matchup with No. 11 Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m.