FINAL: Kentucky survives with 87-82 win over LSU, advances to Thursday in SEC Tournament

You know what they say in March: Survive and Advance.

During Wednesday afternoon’s SEC Tournament opener in Nashville, 9-seeded Kentucky came out with an 87-82 win over the 16-seeded LSU Tigers. Otega Oweh paced the Wildcats with 23 points and eight rebounds, aided by a huge game off the bench from Brandon Garrison, who finished with 17 points (including two three-pointers!) and five rebounds. Denzel Aberden rounded out UK’s double-digit scorers with 16 points.

It was far from an impressive defensive performance from the ‘Cats, which allowed LSU to shoot 50 percent from the field while watching Max Mackinnon drop 28 points, but Kentucky posted 15 assists to just five turnovers on the other end. UK also shot 50 percent from the field. Sophomore Kam Williams took the floor for the first time since Jan. 21 against Texas after recovering from a broken foot, chipping in three points and two rebounds in 17 minutes.

With the win, Kentucky advances to play on Thursday against 8-seeded Missouri in the second round of the tournament. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.

Andrija Jelavić set the tone out of the gate for Kentucky, scoring seven quick points to get the Wildcats rolling. Malachi Moreno picked up a pair of early fouls that sent him to the bench for the rest of the first half, but Williams soon checked in and made an impact with his outside shooting. Oweh poured in seven early points, as well, before Williams knocked down a triple during a long LSU field drought.

Kentucky’s offense was in a groove throughout the first half, but the same couldn’t be said for the defense. Mo Dioubate picked up a flagrant foul on a call that could have easily been an LSU travel. UK had a chance to bury the Tigers by taking a nine-point lead with five minutes left in the half, but LSU went on its own run and hit a big triple before the half to make it just a three-point edge, 46-43, at the intermission. The Tigers were shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 5-11 from deep through 20 minutes.

It didn’t take long out of the break for LSU to tie the game up, although the tying basket resulted in a flagrant foul on the Tigers after Pablo Tamba’s forearm smashed down on Moreno’s head. A couple of minutes later, LSU took its first lead since it was 17-16 in the first half. Kentucky was able to jump back out in front, but couldn’t balloon its lead. Then it turned into Brandon Garrison time.

Back-to-back threes from the big man gave the ‘Cats a 71-64 lead and forced LSU into a timeout. A tough layup from Oweh gave Kentucky a 10-point lead with under eight minutes to go. UK then took its largest lead of the afternoon at a dozen after a Garrison dunk, but the Tigers managed to make it just a seven-point game at the final media break.

With two minutes to play, it was still a five-point Kentucky lead until Oweh hit a massive mid-range jumper with just 70 seconds on the game clock. That would serve as the killshot for the ‘Cats. It became a free-throw game from there, and UK hit enough of them to sneak out the win. Just keep winning, baby.

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