The LSU men’s basketball team had an opportunity to win a second consecutive game against a ranked opponent when the Tigers faced No. 17 Kentucky on Wednesday night.
After upsetting then-No. 11 South Carolina on the road Saturday, LSU fought back in the second half to give Matt McMahon back-to-back signature wins in Southeastern Conference play, as Tyrell Ward’s buzzer-beating tip-in stunned the Wildcats 75-74 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
McMahon’s team fought back from a 15-point deficit early in the second half to tie the score at 46 with 13:59 to go, then built a five-point lead on three occasions in the final 10½ minutes before winning on Ward’s buzzer-beater.
LSU (14-12, 6-7 Southeastern Conference) went on a 21-4 run to take a two-point lead and finished down the stretch to prevail, ending a two-game winning streak for Kentucky (18-8, 8-5).
The game featured 12 ties and 13 lead changes, the last when Jordan Wright drove in for a attempt at a game-winning shot. But he was blocked by Adou Thiero, then tried to get off another shot when the ball wound up in Ward’s hands.
Ward floated the ball into the basket just before the final horn went off to finish with a career-high 17 points, prompting fans to storm the court.
Wright and Jalen Reed finished with 13 points each.
All-SEC guard Antonio Reeves scored a game-high 25 points and Rob Dillingham had 23 for Kentucky, including a 3-pointer with 12.3 seconds remaining, setting up Ward’s game-winning tip-in.
There were six ties and six lead changes in a wild, back-and-forth first half before Kentucky finally created some seperation and took a 36-27 lead to the break.
Jalen Cook was unavailable for the second consecutive game and third time in the past five games, which meant that Trae Hannibal and Wright had to carry the load against a deep and fast Kentucky backcourt.
Still, LSU led 26-24 on a Ward runner in the paint with 3:50 to play in the half before Kentucky — which went nearly five minutes without scoring — got going.
The Wildcats came out of a media timeout after making just one basket in 12 attempts and found their footing to make a strong run to end the first half.
They tied the game on a Reed Sheppard basket before Hannibal hit the back end of a two-shot free-throw opportunity with 2:23 left. From that point on, however, LSU committed three turnovers and had got just two shots at the goal.
A 12-1 run to close out the half, which was fueled by 3-point baskets by Reeves and Justin Edwards, gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the night at halftime.
LSU wound up with 11 turnovers in the first half, which Kentucky turned into 12 points. On the other end, the Tigers scored just five points off seven Wildcats’ miscues in the first 20 minutes.
Kentucky came out hot in the second half with Edwards and Reeves knocking down back-to-back corner 3s to build a 15-point lead (42-27) with 19:10 remaining.
It was the fifth game in a row that LSU had faced a double-digit deficit in the second half.
LSU will play the middle game of a three-game homestand against Mississippi State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised by the SEC Network.
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