By TODD HORNE, Executive Editor
BATON ROUGE, La. — Destiny, it seems, has a cruel sense of humor when it comes to Matt McMahon.
For 39 minutes and 58.6 seconds Wednesday night inside the roaring cauldron of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, the LSU Tigers looked every bit the team on the verge of breaking free from their season-long chains.
They had built a 16-point fortress by halftime, smothered Kentucky under waves of second-chance points and contested shots, and held firm through every furious rally the Wildcats could muster.
The scoreboard glowed with promise: LSU 74, Kentucky 73. Just 1.4 seconds separated the program from its first Southeastern Conference victory of a winter that had already felt cursed.
Then came the final, agonizing twist.
Pablo Tamba stepped to the line with a chance to ice the game.
Two free throws.
Two misses.
The ball caromed off the iron twice, and the air left the building.
Kentucky called timeout, gathered under its own basket, and drew up one last desperate prayer.
The inbound sailed the length of the floor.
Collin Chandler’s outlet pass found Malachi Moreno streaking through the chaos.
The freshman big man pulled up just inside the arc, released the jumper, and the buzzer sounded in the same frozen instant.
The shot hung—then fell through.
Officials huddled at midcourt, reviewed the replay frame by frame, and eventually raised their arms: good.
Kentucky 75, LSU 74.
The Tigers stood motionless on the court as the Kentucky bench erupted and the visiting contingent roared.
Another lead evaporated.
Another close call slipped away.
Another night when everything that could go wrong did—at the very last possible second.
McMahon, whose team has battled through star guard Dedan Thomas Jr.’s prolonged absence, season-ending injuries to key pieces, and a merciless early SEC schedule, watched the final sequence unfold like so many others this winter: agonizingly close, yet heartbreakingly out of reach.
LSU had dominated the first half, leading 38-22 behind Marquel Sutton’s bruising interior work, Max Mackinnon’s relentless drives, and a cascade of 3-pointers from Jalen Reece, Mackinnon, and Tamba.
The Tigers owned the glass, forced Kentucky into cold spells, and looked ready to turn the page on a winless conference start that had placed McMahon squarely under the microscope following athletic director Verge Ausberry’s pointed comments about NCAA Tournament expectations.
But Kentucky refused to die.
The Wildcats unleashed a second-half inferno—53 points in 20 minutes—powered by Otega Oweh’s fearless 3-point barrages, Denzel Aberdeen’s steady perimeter fire, and Chandler’s timely dunks and free throws.
Turnovers became transition buckets.
Contested shots found nylon.
The 16-point hole vanished, the game tied at 72-72, then tilted one way, then the other, until that final, reviewed shot decided everything.
For LSU, the numbers told one story: strong rebounding, aggressive drives, multiple leads in the 70s.
For McMahon, the narrative told another: if not for injuries, if not for missed free throws, if not for one reviewed jumper at the buzzer, perhaps the luck that has eluded him all season would finally arrive.
Instead, the Tigers remain 0-4 in the league, 12-5 overall, still searching for the win that would quiet the growing whispers.
Kentucky (11-6, 2-2 SEC) leaves Baton Rouge with a signature road triumph and a freshman center forever etched into highlight reels.
In the locker room afterward, the silence was thick.
Another game, another near-miss, another reminder that in college basketball’s most unforgiving conference, sometimes the difference between relief and regret is measured in tenths of a second—and a single, reviewed shot that just won’t fall the right way.
Be the first to comment