Hopkins, headbands and Skinny Jeans

Oscar Tshiebwe wore a headband for the first time this season in Wednesday's win. (UK Athletics Photo)

There was nothing pretty about the Kentucky win Wednesday night. It was ugly, ugly from the tip. It was somewhat less ugly in the middle and ugly, ugly at the end. However, it was a win. LSU had the same start as Alabama draining 3’s from the tip and Kentucky struggled to make 2′. The offense was stagnant, in fact almost non-existent at times, and trailed LSU by eight at the half.

The headline of the game has to be the play of freshman Bryce Hopkins. The absence of TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler once again had coach John Calipari going to the bench for options.

Enter Hopkins who scored nine of Kentucky’s next 11 points in the second half. His 16 minutes provided 13 points and four rebounds to help Kentucky seal the win over LSU. He received a standing ovation from the Rupp Arena crowd and his teammates. His energy was relentless and proved “next man up” can be any player.

Oscar Tshiebwe was Oscar Tshiebwe. He finished the game with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Just a typical night for the machine from the Congo.

Perhaps the most talked about element of his game was the wearing of the white Nike headband. It is safe to say that children (and adults) will be scurrying to sporting goods stores to purchase white headbands today. The inventory will be depleted but remember a Nike swoosh can be drawn on a white headband with a permanent marker.

 It is safe to bet that Rupp will be full of white headbands when the Cats close out the home season against Ole Miss Tuesday.

The hot shooting of LSU cooled off in the second half and Kentucky’s defense seemed to kick itself into high gear. Kellan Grady took it to the basket inside of relying on the 3-pointer and Davion Mintz was relentless on defense.

The Cats were up by 15 in the closing minutes and the Tigers closed the score to within two. The Cats hung on to win 71-66 keeping their Rupp winning streak alive.

Hopefully TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler, or at least one of the two, will return to the starting lineup at Bud Walton Arena on Saturday as the Cats play at Arkansas. However, coach John Calipari said UK might again be without both players for the SEC road showdown.

Note:  The fashion (mis)take of the game was the assistant coach from LSU in the white skinny jeans. Something this person hopes to never see again.