It’s been a rough go of things here at KSR HQ to open the SEC Tournament — at least for me. My laptop crashed right before tipoff, so we were stuck writing articles and message board posts on a phone until we got things figured out with the MacBook. Fortunately, there’s an Apple Store right across the street from Bridgestone Arena, so, unfortunately, I’m broke in a town that knows how to milk you for all you’ve got with drinks and food before even accounting for liquid damage to electronics. Kentucky would have needed to win by a hundred to make me feel peachy coming out of the No. 9 vs. No. 16 seed matchup, considering the struggle bus we’ve been riding.
But, hey, the Cats survived and advanced, defeating LSU 87-82 to move on to the second round for a rematch vs. Missouri on Thursday. It’s all that matters this time of year.
Today, it was Otega Oweh leading the good guys with 23 points on 8-19 shooting and 7-10 at the line while adding eight rebounds, three assists and a steal in 39 minutes. Denzel Aberdeen was pretty sensational, too, adding 16 on 6-13 with three assists, two rebounds and a steal in 37 minutes. They were constants, as we’ve come to expect. Collin Chandler added eight and three dimes to make up a solid day for the three-headed GOAT.
This one was about the other guys, though. KSR has the takeaways from the five-point win, led by some unexpected heroics from a couple of Wildcats off the bench.
Brandon Garrison wins it for Kentucky
The Wildcats die in Baton Rouge without Malachi Moreno, who knocked down a game-winner at the buzzer for the 75-74 victory. They also die in Nashville in the LSU rematch without Brandon Garrison, who put together arguably his most impactful performance at Kentucky — especially in a too-close-for-comfort game with major implications — with 17 points on 7-9 shooting and 2-3 from three while adding five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals in 26 minutes.
The timing of his production was just as crucial as anything, stepping up when Malachi Moreno took two early fouls for six first-half points, three boards and two blocks in 13 minutes. Then he went for nine points in just over three minutes between the 13:19 and 9:56 marks of the second, a stretch that included back-to-back threes to push the lead to seven and bring down the Bridgestone Arena roof.
He added another rim-shaking slam a few minutes later to push it to 12 for the largest lead of the game, showing up in all of the biggest moments. It wasn’t a perfect day — his offensive foul to give LSU the ball down five with 2:10 to go was a potential back-breaker — but, man, Garrison was something special and undoubtedly the difference in the win.
The clock said 11:30 AM at the opening tip on Wednesday, but that point forward, it was BG Time in Nashville. Run it back again tomorrow?
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Seven weeks ago to the day, the sophomore wing misstepped vs. Texas at Rupp Arena and broke his foot, leading to surgery and a recovery process that could have easily knocked him out the rest of the season. Nobody would have blamed him for shutting things down, considering it was late January as is and the window — while technically possible — was extremely tight with real risk of another serious setback if he rushed back too quickly.
Pope kept the positive updates coming every step of the way before cracking the door open to a return going into the home finale vs. Florida, Williams actually confirming after the LSU win his plan was to suit up in that one. Then at the 14:10 mark of the first half, he jogged over to the scorer’s table and checked in for his long-awaited return, earning a well-deserved pop from Big Blue Nation.
It wasn’t just some quick cardio to complete the feel-good story before sitting him back on the bench. You can’t even say he played spot minutes, helping out here and there as a break-in-case-of-emergency piece. The dude walked in ice-cold after seven weeks away from the game and played 17 minutes, drilling his first 3-pointer without hesitation and adding two rebounds, an assist and a steal. With all of the rust and nerves, he was a serious bench contributor.
“He has a unique ability to have a positive impact on the game, especially defensively with his length. He’s pretty assignment sound,” Pope said. “He gave up one today. He was pretty good. Banged a three for us, which is super helpful. … It’s great to have him back. I’m very hopeful that his foot will respond well tomorrow. We’ll just see.”
Mo Dioubate and Andrija Jelavic balance production at the four
Andrija Jelavic scores seven of the team’s first nine, aggressively attacking the basket and knocking down a catch-and-shoot look from the left corner. That was the tone-setter — a welcome development, considering Kentucky scored just one basket in the first 10 minutes of game action in the first matchup at LSU. Instead, they had six field goals in the first 5:24 to open the SEC Tournament.
In the second half, it was Jelavic’s counter-punch at the four stepping up to do the heavy lifting alongside Garrison. Mo Dioubate was ready to do the dirty work, finishing some hard-earned buckets at the rim and pulling down some tough rebounds for seven points and five boards in the second half alone.
Those two would combine for 14 and 10 at the position with a one-two punch finesse and physicality.
“Him and Mo are working out a pretty good dynamic. We need massive production from this four spot. We need it,” Pope said afterward. “They both bring very different skill sets to the table. But it’s nice to be able to maneuver between the two of them.”
Looking ahead to the Missouri rematch
No time to obsess over a Wednesday win at the SEC Tournament — these Cats have bigger fish to fry, starting with a revenge opportunity against the Missouri Tigers on Thursday.
Kentucky led by eight with 4:37 to go, only for Dennis Gates’ group to end the game on a 15-2 run to earn the 73-68 victory. It was one of the more frustrating performances of the season for Pope and this group. Oweh had 20 as the only double-figure scorer while Mark Mitchell (21) and Jayden Stone (20) combined for 41 in the upset.
“They’re really good. They’ve been playing great basketball,” Pope said when previewing Thursday’s matchup. “They have tremendous size on their front line. They’re so physical and so big and so skilled actually, can hurt you in a lot of different ways. They made shots against us when we played them at home. Made some plays late that really hurt us.
“They’re a good team. Really well-coached. Coach does a great job. It will be a great challenge, just like every game in this tournament is going to be a challenge.”
These Cats need to have a chip on their shoulder entering that one.