Bubble Bursting? UK loses to LSU 73-70

It was another heartbreaking loss for the UK Wildcats, one that saw their coach bench his starting point guard and starting power forward to start the second half, for the more defensive minded Ricky Galloway and Darius Miller. Perhaps frustrated with our inability to shut down more athletic point guards we have encountered at South Carolina and now LSU, BCG went with the taller, quicker, Galloway and he and Miller immediately made their presence felt. Playing a team that is ranked 18th in the land; and looking much better than that, UK battled back from a first half deficit and ALMOST pulled it out…But alas, it was not to be.

The first half found UK trailing and in danger of getting blow out like they did at SC…Patrick Patterson came up big in the first half to keep it closer than it should have been. Even at that, UK again suffer a 1^st half scoring drought of over 4 minutes that would ultimately doom them.

UK let a 10 point second- half lead get away, that they had build on the strength of a stiff defense led by new starters Galloway and Miller. UK came out on fire defensively, and their offense began to click. The newly minted defense seemed to inspire the Cats, as they mounted a second half lead that saw them seemingly take the game in hand…But the guys from LSU hung tough, and riding the hot hand of Marcus Thornton tied the game up in the final seconds with possession. Thornton milked the clock to seven seconds before passing Tasmin Mitchell who hit the game winning shot.

For the most part in the second half, the fans were treated to some inspired basketball by some players that wanted to win…Alas; they just came up 3 points short; Jodie Meeks missing an off-balance 3 that would have tied it at the buzzer.

For UK, it was another disappointing finish, now losers of 6 of their last 9 SEC games, and needing a super effort in the SEC tournament, not to mention finishing the season with two wins.