It may not have always looked the way Kentucky coach John Calipari wanted, but there was one part of Tuesday’s game at LSU he loved.
His Wildcats played their first true road game of the season and had enough of the “will to win” that the Kentucky coach loves to pull out a 74-71 victory.
Freshmen P.J. Washington and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander both made key plays in the final minutes and then UK survived two desperation 3-point attempts by LSU in the final four seconds to secure the win.
“We are getting that will to win,” Calipari said. “A rebound late … you got to bring that end. But good job.”
Gilgeous-Alexander helped force LSU freshman guard Tremont Waters into a contested 3-pointer that was no close in the final few seconds. However, UK freshman Kevin Knox could not secure the rebound. That gave LSU the ball with .8 seconds left but LSU guard Brandon Sampson misfired on the final shot.
Calipari said three Cats — Hamidou Diallo, Nick Richards and Sacha Killeya-Jones — were battling the flu as well as a LSU team that continues to play much more inspired basketball for first-year coach Will Wade than it did last year.
“They’re going to beat people,” Calipari said. “I’m just happy we don’t have to play them again.”
Kentucky had a sometimes listless first half. Kentucky was called for only two fouls and did not get to the foul line. In the second half, UK came out attacking the basket much more and got 30 points in the paint, shot 58 percent from 2-point range and had just three turnovers after making 11 in the first half. Kentucky also blocked three shots and got to the foul line 13 times.
Washington had 14 of his 18 points in the second half when he was 6-for-6 from the field. He also had six rebounds and two assists in 36 minutes. Alexander continued his superb play and had 13 of his 18 points in the second half. He also had four assists and two rebounds in 32 minutes. He didn’t make a second-half turnover.
Gilgeous-Alexander, coming off two superb games against Louisville and Georgia, did what he does best with 1:16 to play when he got inside and somehow hit a nifty drive from the left side to give UK a 71-67 lead. Then with 23.3 seconds left and UK clinging to a 72-71 lead, Gilgeous-Alexander got the ball and kept it until he was fouled with 16.7 seconds left. He was money on both shots.
Calipari said Washington put the “team on his back” in the second half after LSU built its 38-31 lead to start the final half. He had eight points in a three-minute span midway of the half to get UK back in front. He also had two field goals in the final three minutes, including one on a fast break, along with a blocked shot.
“P.J. is starting to lead the team. He did well,” Calipari said.
“The first half we were shooting too many jumpers. We had to get inside more,” Washington said. “We just had to keep fighting and I feel like we did that.”
They did because in the first half the fight seemed to be missing. SEC Network analyst Jimmy Dykes, a former UK assistant coach, noted that “UK could not guard” LSU. Another SEC Network analyst, former UK player Antoine Walker, noted UK was making it easy for LSU to guard without fouling and playing with much more energy than UK.
Calipari didn’t disagree after the game.
“We were settling (for jump shots) and they were the attack dogs (in the first half),” Calipari said. “We had two fouls in the first half. We didn’t get after it.”
But when it counted most, UK did “get after it” and managed to get out of LSU with what could be a precious road win in SEC play this year for almost any team.
Kentucky has to go on the road again Saturday to play at Tennessee, a game Calipari has said for weeks that is one UK could easily lose.
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