But that’s SEC basketball, a league with some brilliant individual talent playing on mediocre teams, a conference that doesn’t deserve more than three NCAA tourney bids – A&M (24-7), Kentucky (23-8) and SC (23-6 before Saturday’s game vs. Arkansas). Freshman guard Jamal Murray hit the technical free throw, which was the beginning of a 12-3 run by Kentucky to build its biggest lead of the day at 16 points, 53-37.
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Aside from freshmen Ben Simmons, who had 17 points, 11 rebounds, 7 steals, 4 assists and 6 turnovers vs. the Wildcats, and Antonio Blakeney who added 18 points, LSU hasn’t had enough players delivering that effort every game.
· Next for the Wildcats: UK plays in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville on Friday, March 11 at 7 p.m. EST (6 p.m. CST in Nashville).
It is his 16th game this season with at least 20 points, his 10th game in a row.
· Trailing 21-20, United Kingdom went on a 10-0 run for a 30-21 lead.
Kentucky: Derek Willis returned from a sprained right ankle injury to score six points on two 3-pointers.
However, the 7-foot Haitian is the most important player going forward for the Wildcats. The only win in that stretch came in a 73-70 decision over Kentucky on February 28, 2009, in Trent Johnson’s first season as coach.
Kentucky improves to 22-8 with the victory, winning a share of the regular season SEC title.
“Today, I thought they were the aggressor”, LSU head coach Johnny Jones said, according to the Courier-Journal’s Kyle Tucker.
Calipari said Friday he might not start Labissiere because he had a bad practice Thursday.
· Kentucky went 17-0 at home this season, its 13th undefeated home season in the 40-year history of Rupp Arena. The Tigers have won their last two games after a three-game slide.
A win over Kentucky would give LSU the second seed.
LSU fought back from a rough start to the second half and closed the gap to 10 points on a Jalyn Patterson three-pointer with 10:27 remaining, but that was as close as the game would get.
· Junior Marcus Lee collected 12 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season. He tied Tubby Smith for second on the Rupp Arena wins list. But with this LSU team, you nearly wish it would decline an NIT invite just so this season can rest in peace.
Freshman Jamal Murray had 22 points, including 4-of-8 on 3-pointers, adding seven rebounds and four assists.
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Beyond Simmons’ inability to convert open looks from outside the paint, the Tigers struggled to knock down threes as Kentucky extended its lead behind Ulis, Labissiere and Lee’s playmaking ability.
