NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDRB) – Kentucky’s basketball team, which once treated the SEC Tournament the way Elvis treated Las Vegas — arriving late, singing a few hits and leaving with the trophy — was instead scheduled for the early show against LSU on Wednesday.
And for a while, it looked like the audience might get a surprise ending.
LSU came out firing like a man who had found a loose slot machine in the corner of the casino. Jumpers fell. Three-pointers splashed. Kentucky’s lead never quite felt safe, and when Max Mackinnon banked in a three at the halftime buzzer, the Tigers trailed by only three points and the large midday crowd in blue had reason to feel uneasy.
But the final 10 minutes of the game were some of Kentucky’s best basketball in more than a month.
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The Wildcats didn’t panic. They simply tightened the screws to pull out an 87-82 victory.
The threes LSU lived on in the first half vanished. The Tigers kept looking for them, but they weren’t there anymore. Kentucky answered with body blows — drives to the rim, post layups and the slow work of a team that sensed the fight had turned.
An 11–1 run turned a nervous afternoon into a 12-point Kentucky lead.
Otega Oweh did his thing, attacking the rim and finishing with 23 points, while Denzel Aberdeen ran the offense and picked his spots despite an off day from outside, still finishing with 16.
But it was inside where Kentucky turned the game.
Brandon Garrison, who had been listed as questionable before the game, came off the bench and played one of the best games of the season, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting to give the Wildcats the interior punch they had lacked much of the afternoon.
Mo Dioubate also gave Kentucky a lift. Playing during Ramadan, his numbers weren’t overwhelming — seven points and seven rebounds — but their timing was. A rebound when LSU threatened, a defensive stop when the game wobbled, the small plays that helped Kentucky steady itself as the momentum shifted.
Meanwhile, Kam Williams returned from his broken foot like a character who had been written out of the play and suddenly wandered back onto the stage. He didn’t dominate the script, but his presence reminded everyone Kentucky suddenly had another actor available for the run ahead.
LSU, which stayed close by hitting five threes in the first half, never found that rhythm again after the break.
By the final minutes, the Tigers were still fighting, but the ending had already been written.
Kentucky had come to Nashville looking a little less like a heavyweight than usual.
But on this afternoon, the Wildcats still knew how to close a show.
And in tournament basketball, that’s the difference between an opening act and a team planning to stay all week.
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