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Lexington, KY 2-23-22 Michael Willis
With revenge in their sights the Kentucky Wildcats took the floor in a late weekday game against the LSU Tigers. Injuries cost the Cats the game in the previous meeting when Sahvir Wheeler and Tyty Washington went out of the game with injuries. Kentucky finds themselves shorthanded again for this game with Wheeler and Washington both out with injuries. The players were not the only ones wanting revenge for the previous loss, the Big Blue Nation filled Rupp Arena and were cheering loudly as soon as the ball was tipped.
The Cats played with lots of energy in the first half, but couldn’t stop the Tigers from scoring. Just like the previous game against Alabama, LSU were fearless from the three-point line hitting 5 of their first 7 threes. The Wildcats found themselves down 10 with 8 minutes left in the first half and did not gain much ground on LSU for the remainder of the half losing 31 to 23. Missing four free-throws negated the Cats a chance to pull closer. Oscar Tshiebwe led Kentucky with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
With help from the BBN the Wildcats took a three-point led on an 11 -0 run with 16 minutes left in the second half and were able to push the led to 7 while LSU shot 1-11. The Cats continued their good play throughout the second half and won the game 71 to 66.
Bryce Hopkins has to be the MVP of the game. He didn’t lead in scoring, but scored a career high 13 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in only 16 minutes play. His energy off the bench gave the Cats the boost that they needed to finally push ahead.
Oscar Tshiebwe had another impressive performance leading the Wildcats in scoring with 17 points and leading in rebounds with 16. Kellan Grady didn’t hit a three-pointer in his five attempts, but had a solid performance with 13 points and played all 40 minutes of the game.
The Wildcats will head to Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks Saturday with a 2pm tip on CBS. Hopefully, the Cats will have either Washington or Wheeler in the starting lineup to help lead the team to a road victory.