Kentucky pulled their season back from the cliff with a two good wins. Defensively, the Cats have stacked two good showings in a row and now have an opportunity to get their season fully back on track with two more wins. First up is a road trip to Baton Rouge to take on LSU.
When: Wednesday, February 21st, at 9:00pm ET
Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Channel: ESPN
LSU So Far
The Tigers were hoping to take off in Matt McMahon’s second year but things haven’t really been smooth. They have improved from his first season though as LSU is 13-12 overall and 5-7 in the SEC. Barring a miracle end of season run LSU is not a tournament team. They sit 88th in the NET (so no Quad 1 opportunity for Kentucky) and 78th in Kenpom.
LSU is coming off their biggest win of the season as they got a 64-63 win on the road against 11th ranked South Carolina. The metrics hate the Gamecocks so the win didn’t do much for LSU but the Tigers do have some momentum.
How Does Kentucky Matchup
LSU is about as average as a CBB team can be. They do shoot the ball decently as a team, hitting 35% from three. They also can draw fouls with guys savvy veterans like Jordan Wright (a familiar name for Kentucky fans). They are prone to long scoring droughts and that has usually cost them in the few games they have played high-level opponents.
Defensively, LSU has a lot of length but haven’t quite found the right way to use it. They seemingly put it together against South Carolina but the Gamecocks are far from an excellent offensive team. The Tigers gave up 109 points to Alabama, 93 points to Auburn, 89 points to Ole Miss, and 88 points to Tennessee in SEC play. Kentucky should be able to put up points if they handle the physicality and don’t panic against the length.
Player To Watch
Vanderbilt transfer Jordan Wright. Kentucky fans will remember Wright from last year as he lit up the Cats twice in a span of 9 days (including hitting the game-winner in Rupp). Wright has played Kentucky 10 times in his career and has scored in double figures 5 of those (he’s 2-8 all-time against Kentucky though).
He’s a big guard that can create a lot of matchup problems. He is able to get into the paint and create a lot of problems for opposing defenses for kick-outs to open shooters and draws a lot of fouls. Kentucky will have to try and keep him out of the paint and Ugo’s rim protection will be important again.
He’s also a plus defender which makes sense considering the size. He has quick hands and good lateral movement. Kentucky will be a different challenge because it has multiple guys who can create but LSU will use him to disrupt whoever initiates offense for the Cats.
Who Wins
If Kentucky wants to really turn their season around they need to win this game. Cal was strutting around like a peacock in the post-game after beating Auburn, which I’m fine with. But you can’t do that then lose this one. Kentucky is 5-3 in Baton Rouge under Cal and of those 5 wins only the first two were comfortable (Wall and Davis teams both win by 20+). Weird things seem to happen in Baton Rouge but Kentucky can’t let that happen tomorrow night. I expect there will be an emotional hangover after a huge win but Kentucky just has to find a way to win.
Kentucky wins 82-73.
Go Cats.
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