Shortly after his team’s upset win against Kentucky, LSU star freshman Ben Simmons took to Instagram to do a bit of trolling at the Wildcats’ biggest celebrity fan, Drake. It was the Tigers outrebounding Kentucky by 14 and outscoring the Wildcats 44-24 in the paint.
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On Saturday, it was a convincing road win against Vanderbilt, the preseason pick to finish second in the SEC race. “Johnny (Jones) has a good team and he has them playing well”. “We are gelling. Everyone got sick of what was happening and we all laid it out”.
Simmons added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers (9-5, 2-0 Southeastern Conference), who never trailed after tying the game at 2 and kept their lead at or near double digits for much of the game to the delight of a packed and energized Pete Maravich assembly Center.
Kentucky (11-3, 1-1) was led by Tyler Ulis with 23 points and Jamal Murray with 21.
Getting improved play from their frontline is most important, but putting Tyler Ulis in a position where he isn’t a primary scoring option would have to come just behind that.
Simmons racked up a modest 14 points and 10 rebounds, however, his minutes were limited to just 27, after early foul trouble saw him riding the bench for a considerable portion of the first half. He’ll play great against us.
“Great job by LSU”, Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “We weren’t ready to compete at the level they competed at, especially our inside people”.
“I believe in my team-mates and we are working hard to get to the top”, Simmons said. Quarterman added a jumper and tip-in during the spurt.
“Everybody’s making sacrifices for one another for a win now, no matter what”, said Quarterman, who also had 10 rebounds and seven assists. He comes in and he gives us some girth and some toughness. The Tigers will have chances to win at Florida (Kenpom.com No. 22), at Texas A&M (No. 21) and against Oklahoma. Andrew Chrabascz added 16 points, Roosevelt Jones scored 15 and Kelan Martin had 12 points, including a poster-worthy dunk over DePaul’s Darrick Wood in the second half. The Sooners took Kansas to triple overtime on Monday at Phog Allen Fieldhouse and Cousins managed just four points.
Mike Gesell had 22 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double with the surging Hawkeyes (12-3, 3-0 Big Ten).
On if he really knew they’d get everybody’s best game early on … He did the same against Kentucky’s Marcus Lee, whose strength couldn’t match Simmons’s when he drove the lane. He had a stretch where 1) he went to the perimeter, blew by his defender and made a right handed floater then 2)caught the ball in the post and with his ultra quick first step, faced up and blew by his defender and lastly 3)followed up a missed shot with a right handed put back slam. Kentucky needs his defense and rebounding, but the free-throws may begin to keep him off the court.
The Hoosiers (13-3, 3-0 Big Ten) have won eight straight, beating the Badgers for only the second time since 2007.
Quenton DeCosey led Temple with 15 points. This one was directed at rapper and Kentucky fanboy Drake. Lee has a tendency to give too much space when switched on a three-point shooter, this could lead to a lot of made jump shots from Simmons. Remember, the 2013-14 team struggled before a famous pre-NCAA Tournament “tweak” did the trick.
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Jackson had 16 points and seven assists for Akron (12-2). The Cats’ leader was clearly perturbed after the LSU loss, and who could blame him?
