Malachi Moreno had to make a difficult catch before he hit his game-winning shot at LSU. (Vicky Graff Photo)
As thrilling as Kentucky’s 75-74 win at LSU was for the Wildcats Wednesday night, it was just a “heartbreaking finish” for LSU and coach Matt McMahon.
“In the second half, tremendous credit to Kentucky — they really got going from behind the 3-point line. We could not get enough stops there,” the LSU coach said. “All that said, you’re in position to win the game, and unfortunately, I couldn’t help get our guys across the finish line.”
LSU had an 18-point lead early in the second half and shot 49 percent overall from the field and 47 percent from 3 but still could not hold off UK as the Cats won on a buzzer-beating 15-foot shot from Malachi Moreno after a full-court desperation pass from Collin Chandler.
As bitter as the loss was for LSU, McMahon gave full credit to UK for mounting the comeback.
“They went to a smaller lineup with more perimeter shooting on the floor. We were really helping off the non-shooters, and that’s how we were able to keep the floor tight and put us in really good rebounding position (in the first half). When they went away from the ball screens and had some of those baseline runners for the staggers for shooters, that bothered us some,” the LSU coach said.
“On the defensive end they started switching everything and it disrupted us in some stretches. They made good adjustments. Then guys stepped up for them and hit shots.”
Kentucky went 8-for-11 from 3 in the second half after having trouble hitting any shots in the first half.
“When they added a fourth shooter to the floor, that really bothered us. Credit to them, they stepped up and hit some contested 3’s. Their spacing was much better in the second half,” the LSU coach said.
Spacing had nothing to do with the game-winning shot when Moreno had to make a difficult, contested catch, land, dribble, face the basket and hit the shot in the final 1.4 seconds.
“We wanted to have a man on the ball, which we had one of our long athletes there on the ball. We wanted to keep everything in front of us. They threw the home-run pass and we mistimed our jump a little bit there, ball got over us. They hit a tough shot at the buzzer,” McMahon said.
The LSU coach was familiar with Moreno, a 7-foot center who led Great Crossing to the state title in March. He had 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in his 20 minutes and played the final eight minutes with four fouls.
“When you look at Moreno, he’s getting better every time out which happens with experience,” McMahon said. “He has tremendous size for the position. It gives them great rim presence, both on the glass and with his shot blocking.
“We were able to get him in foul trouble tonight, which was beneficial for us to get him off the floor. He’s a great ball-screener there in the middle of the floor, he created some advantages for them there. He’s just a very skilled five man with great size.”
5 Responses
There are a dozen reasons why we should have lost the LSU game, but the basketball gods smiled on us…many would say had pity on us…and we came away with a much needed win. The rest of the season will be a gauntlet of games that we are not currently favored to win.
Has Pope learned anything from this season to date? We have identified the most effective starting 5…Moreno, Jelavic, Williams, Oweh, and Aberdeen. Will Pope stick with this? Will the others accept their role of being relief players?
Can Pope convince this starting 5 that our best chance of winning comes when we pass the ball from side to side? No standing holding the ball, no more than 4 bounces to a dribble in the halfcourt, take the shot immediately or pass immediately, don't be afraid to shoot the 3…we should shoot a 3 every minute.
Will Pope go to a zone defense in the first half? We should be mixing it up to keep the opponent off balance and there should be a second zone that is saved for the second half.
On defense, we switch everything, every time. Nobody leaks out for a snowbird until we have the ball. On offense, do not rush foul shots…every free throw could be a game winner.
If we do all of the above, we could get the win in Knoxville and again against Texas. We will soon find out.
Very easy to predict a Vol victory tomorrow as Pope not capable of coaching a team for 40 mins and UT one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Add in home court advantage. Pope keeps saying we are still trying to find ourselves and that we have a WART. That may be on his shoulders.
Moreno and Oweh are the best two players on the team. Moreno is really even better than JQ. Look at JQs numbers last year as a freshman and Morenos numbers are better. I don't blame JQ. I blame Pope. To throw that much money at someone who is coming off a huge surgery is beyond preposterous. Instead of getting JQ we should have gotten two of the best point guards in the portal. Can you imagine how great this team would be if we had a real PG. Not a shoot first Jaland Lowe point guard. A point guard who gets everyone involved and who also sets the tone on defense. We are a great PG away from being a good team. Like LSU coach said they pretty much packed it tight in the paint and doubled Oweh when he got the ball. When they double Oweh if he could find the guy who is open off the double team thats how you really score points. Oweh could drive to the basket and take his man with him and when the center slides over to double him in the paint he could throw a lob to one of our big men or kick it out but we have to make the shots. Aberdeen shoots very good from the sides but struggles up top. Jelavic can stroke the 3. Chandler can also stroke it. Williams might be the best shooter on the team. His rotation on his shot reminds me of Tony Delks shot. It has like a side spin on the ball.
Kentucky has toughest remaining schedule in college basketball. The Missouri loss could come back to haunt us.
I think a 50/50 slate in conference will get us in – by the skin of our teeth given our name brand. TV will want to match us with Duke early.
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