GAMEDAY BLOG: Men’s BB vs Kentucky

Live from the PMAC as the Cats invade

By BEN LOVE
Tiger Rag Acting Editor

Welcome to the House that Pete Built as LSU takes on No. 3 Kentucky.

The Wildcats, under Coach John Calipari, come in once-beaten on the season at 21-1, 6-1 in the conference. The Cats’ only setback of the season came a week and a half ago in Columbia when Devan Downey and the Gamecocks snuck up on Big Blue. UK had just been dubbed the No. 1 team in the country, and the loss set them back to third and fourth in most polls.

LSU has been on the other end of the SEC spectrum, losing all eight of its conference tilts so far.

Suffice to say, this one is a mismatch on paper. But, fortunately for the Tigers, they don’t play games there.

To start the game, LSU trots out the Big Three of Tasmin Mitchell, Bo Spencer and Storm Warren along with Chris Bass and Aaron Dotson (cleary, a small line up for Trent Johnson).

Kentucky counters with freshmen John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins along with Patrick Patterson and Darnell Dodson.

First Half, 8:48 Remaining
Kentucky 18 - LSU 10

The Tigers started out well, primarily as the beneficiaries of poor shooting from the opposition again. Much like Tennessee two days ago, the Cats had a tough time finding the range at the onset. Poor shot selection coupled with a few out-of-control drives by John Wall have kept the Bayou Bengals close.

On offense for LSU, it’s been a heavy dose of Spencer. The LSU guard has showed up with the same intensity he did vs. UT, a good sign for Tiger fans. When he has that extra spark, Taz usually has the help he needs.

For UK, offense has centered around, well, its big center. Frosh DeMarcus Cousins has been an animal on the offensive glass and in the post. His most impressive play? Taking a baseline drop-step on Storm Warren then cocking back a vicious dunk on the LSU sophomore.

LSU will have to make more shots - and hope for continued Wildcat inefficiency on offense - to keep this one close. It’s slowly beginning to get away.

Halftime
Kentucky 42  - LSU 14

And in a three-minute swing toward the end of the first half (between the 8 and 5 minute marks), this one got out of hand.

Cousins (15 points, 9 rebounds) has continued to be the ringleader on O for the Cats while fellow diaper dandies Wall and Bledsoe sprung to life. On back-to-back plays, Bledsoe rose above all the timber inside and threw down a put back right before John Wall stole an LSU pass then went behind his back - faking Spencer out of his shoes - then laying the ball in smoothly.

Kentucky enters the half with swagger and a massive lead, thanks in large part to its defensive prowess as well. LSU mustered only 10 points in the game’s first 16-plus minutes. Whoa!

UK has proved to be worth every penny of admission so far with some dazzling dunks, great passes and unselfish offensive play. Of course the packed arena is still crowded at this point because people want to see RUDY!

At halftime, LSU will retire the No. 40 jersey of Rudy Macklin, one of the all-time Tiger greats and a trailblazer who helped many athletes after him think twice about LSU as a basketball school. Now only if he had some more eligibility …

Interesting Stats: Kentucky is 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from the floor while LSU is only 6-for-32 (18.8 percent).

Chris Bass’ three points are the only LSU points outside of Taz’s five and Spencer’s six.

Kentucky has attempted 14 free throws compared to LSU’s two.

DeMarcus Cousins has nine boards. LSU as a team has 15.

Second Half, 12:42 Remaining
Kentucky 54 - LSU 28

Tripled up at the half (42-14), the Tigers came out with a bit more fight to start the second stanza. Trent Johnson’s men actually outscored UK, 9-7, in the half’s opening four minutes.

Chris Bass has showed some good speed with the basketball, attacking the rim with reckless abandon on several occasions. It’ll be interesting to see if he wins the backup PG race which seems to have heated up between himself and walk-on Daron Populist. Both have played this game. Bass has played more.

LSU has begun to feature a zone defense (primarily 2-3), daring the Cats to beat them from outside. It’s been relatively effective despite the fact that Johnson hates switching out of man defense. Wall has taken the bait on several instances and thrown up errant threes.

To counter the zone, Kentucky has continued to try pushing the ball and initiating fast breaks and secondary breaks. Even when LSU makes a bucket, the ball is inbounded and run up court in a hurry. When you have someone with the speed of Wall running the show, why not?

The fast break paid off for UK, however, right before this break. Ramon Harris was able to slam one home, forcing Johnson to call for time. This is a smart plan for LSU, so that they can get additional rest soon once the under 12-minute time out pops up. Johnson has become the master of this tactic in his two years on the Bayou.

End of Regulation
Kentucky 81 - LSU 55

If Kentucky tried it on this day, it worked. 

PF/C Patrick Patterson knocked down a 21-foot three in the second half. Cousins scored lay-ins and half-hooks with both hands. Wall threw spinning, thread-the-needle passes at full speed for fastbreak conversions. The Wildcats just flat out overwhelmed the Tigers with their collection of speed, strength and impeccable timing.

As far as this one being competitive, that waved bye-bye sometime near the five-minute mark of the first half. You know it’s over early when Cousins got his farewell clap from the fan gang in Big Blue near the 6:30-minute mark of the second half.

For LSU, this one unfortunately turned into a three-point shooting affair when the purple and gold frantically tried to catch up to the Cats. As that’s not this LSU team’s forte, you can imagine how effective that strategy was.

Thankfully, Rudy Macklin was honored properly and in-style at the half, otherwise it’d be an all Blue day for LSU.

In the introduction of Macklin, there was one fact given which sent the crowd into a frenzy thinking of the past: LSU beat Kentucky six times while Macklin was on campus. Those days are truly decades away when you see final scores like this one.