By Ashley Scoby
Special to NKyTribune
If a team goes on a 21-2 run during the latter part of the second half, and if it shoots 54 percent in that half, it probably should win.
But only if that performance comes this year against a team not named Kentucky.
The Wildcats, now 24-0 and possessors of the second best start to a season in program history, had a 13-point lead turn into a 66-60 deficit at LSU Tuesday night. But they – wait for it, you’ve heard this before – found a way to turn it into a win.
Add this game to the list of scenarios that Kentucky has seen – all before postseason play starts. But it also can be added to the list of scenarios that Kentucky has escaped, on its way to a still-perfect record.
Just about everything has been thrown at the 24-0 Wildcats: overtime and double-overtime conference games, top 10 opponents, sold-out crowds wanting nothing more than for them to leave with a “-1” on the end of their record, and free tee shirts. Seemingly every scenario has popped up during this season’s quest for perfection, and the Tigers simply added another: “team makes monstrous run in second half, steals all the momentum and has a last-second shot attempt to win.”
In a lot of ways, fans could say LSU deserved to win that game. The Tigers dug down and absolutely ripped momentum away from Kentucky, right after Karl-Anthony Towns was called for a technical because of hanging on the rim too long. Kentucky made lazy passes and was lethargic and slow on defense at times. With this trip to LSU coming just three days after a trip to Gainesville, Fla., it’s hardly surprising Kentucky looked a bit tired.
But in the same way you could argue LSU deserved to win, a case can be made for Kentucky deserving it just as much. The Wildcats made plays when it counted the most. Even though Towns’ technical foul may have been the spark for LSU’s run, he dug down and saved the game for Kentucky. His hook shot gave UK a one-point lead, and after a defensive stop, then an Andrew Harrison miss, Towns muscled down perhaps the most important offensive rebound of his career.
That rebound allowed UK to build on its tiny lead (Devin Booker made 1-of-2 free throws), and by the time LSU got a shot off, a three by Bruce Hornsby’s son, Keith, who finished with 17 points, it was too late for the Tigers to grab their own offensive rebound and try again.
Towns finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Willie Cauley-Stein added 15 points and seven boards. Booker had 14 points and Andrew Harrison chipped in with 13 points and four assists.
The score stuck at 71-69, and Kentucky took one more uphill step towards perfection.
If Kentucky were blowing through the competition in the SEC, make no mistake about it: The Wildcats would lose in postseason play. And hanging its first L after the regular season is over is still a distinct possibility for Kentucky.
But after this kind of conference slate, what scenario would Kentucky see that it hasn’t already beaten?
Ashley Scoby is a senior journalism major at the University of Kentucky and a KyForward sports writer. She has reported on the Wildcats for wildcathoops.com, vaughtsviews.com andkysportsreport.com as well as for newspapers in Danville and Glasgow. She will begin a summer internship with Sports Illustrated magazine in New York this June.