Kentucky point guard Lamont Butler with fans after UK's win. (Vicky Graff Photo)
LSU coach Matt McMahon not surprisingly was disappointed with his team’s overall play in Tuesday’s 95-64 loss at Kentucky.
The Tigers’ defense was overwhelmed by UK and LSU had no offensive flow in the first half.
However, McMahon was quick to credit Kentucky for a lot of his team’s issues.
“I thought they had just a fantastic performance on their senior night here tonight. It’s really hard to simulate their pace of play and in transition they were fantastic. They’re pushing the basketball, getting easy 3’s in the open floor,” the LSU coach said.
“Thought they really shared the basketball well. Twenty-two assists and just eight turnovers and, then in the first half, I thought some poor shots on our end led to some easy baskets for Kentucky, and they just took off and left us there. So credit to them for a strong performance here tonight.”
Former Kentucky player Daimion Collins had five rebounds, three blocks and two points for LSU in his return to Rupp Arena. McMahon said he was not surprised that UK fans gave him a warm welcome, especially since his father passed away while he was playing for the Cats.
“Always a classy crowd here. Everyone you talk to who ran into Daimion throughout his two years here speaks very highly of him,” the LSU coach said. “I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to coach him.
“I’m really proud of the progress and development he’s made both on and off the court. And thought that was, once again, a real classy move by the Kentucky fans to give him a big ovation when he was announced in the starting lineup.”
While McMahon thought his team’s shot selection was better the second half, he admitted LSU never had any real answers for UK’s transition offense.
“We missed and we missed badly. It led to those transition opportunities that Kentucky made us pay every time,” he said. “I really thought (Otega Oweh) was phenomenal tonight (24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals).
“I thought he really set the tone tonight for the game on both ends of the floor. His physicality defensively but then he was so efficient on the offensive end tonight and I thought it really dominated the game from the wing position.”
Kentucky Basketball Senior Night
Photos by Vicky Graff
2 Responses
This has been a Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde team all season. We beat most of the higher rated teams sans Alabama and Auburn and lose to or struggle against the lesser teams sans LSU, our first SEC rout. Injuries have played a big part in this roller coaster season as we have only had a full roster for 7 games. This has allowed for the freshmen to get more experience. Last night shows what we are capable of. Can he duplicate that effort in Columbia, MO? We can if we can get everyone on the same page at the same time. Almonor, Garrison, and Chandler had big games last night while Carr, Williams, and Brea failed to reach double figures. We are definitely better with Oweh and Butler in the game together as long as Butler aims to be a pass first point guard. Perry and Noah have faded recently, it would be nice to see both of them catch fire now. If we win in Columbia, we play on Thursday in the SEC tourney; lose and we play on Wednesday, Missouri is tough at home as the whistles go silent when they are on defense, but win or lose, we have had a pretty good season with all things considered. Let’s see where we land in Nashville and the Big Dance where 2 wins each would be a huge step up from what’s his name. Go CATS!!!
A great home win on home court, and the passion and energy is what it should have been on senior night. Almondor and Garrison show when they are capable of, and if we could have seen that with more consistency during the year might have picked up another W or 2. Also a big shout-out to Chandler and his play will hopefully pay some dividends as we try and advance. Wish Noah and Perry could have taken a little more advantage of their opportunity. Hopefully we can get Carr to increase his production to minimum 15 pts a game. I am a little in fear that we might have our energy on the floor though because we don’t do well when we hit the road after a big W. I am glad to see that Damion was well received and did want him to have a bigger game but not at our expense.
Comments are closed.