Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 82-69 win over LSU
Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 82-69 win over the LSU Tigers in an SEC college basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington:
1. The Brandon Boston revival has legs. After playing his best game of the season (18 points, seven rebounds) in UK’s excruciating 63-62 loss at Georgia on Wednesday, Boston came back with another quality effort.
The 6-foot-7, 185-pound freshman finished with 18 points, six boards and three assists. Boston scored 13 of his points after halftime and helped UK stave off an early LSU second-half rally that cut Kentucky’s 13-point halftime lead to five with a 13-5 run to start the second half.
Twice, Boston completed old-fashioned three-point plays by finishing through contact, which has been a problem for the freshman this season.
Boston still needs to be more efficient offensively (7-of-17 field goals due to some late misses) but this was a second straight encouraging performance.
2. Tis better not to give. Kentucky came into the game in a horrid run of turnovers. UK committed 19 (Alabama), 18 (at Auburn) and 17 (at Georgia) turnovers, respectively, in its prior three games, all losses.
For those of you counting at home, that’s 54 turnovers in three games.
The ball security was much better Saturday night.
Kentucky turned it over only nine times. Freshman point guard Devin Askew, who lost the ball five times in the loss at Georgia, had only one vs. LSU (with four assists).
3. An amazing Isaiah Jackson stat. Kentucky dominated the boards, 46-31. That entire margin was owed to Jackson, the 6-10, 206-pound freshman from Pontiac, Mich.
In one of the more remarkable statistical lines you will ever see, Jackson had 15 rebounds — in 16 minutes of playing time.
4. Kentucky foul shooting — really — propelled the Cats. It has been an adventure for UK at the free-throw line in 2020-21.
The Cats missed 13 in their 12-point loss to Richmond. Missed 12 in a 12-point defeat vs. North Carolina. Missed eight in a three-point loss at Louisville. Missed seven in a seven-point setback at Auburn.
So it was notable that UK hit 21 of 26 at the line Saturday night. Making 12 of 15 in the second half helped the Cats survive their 10-of-32 shooting from the field in the second half.
Especially notable was the foul shooting of Kentucky’s bigs — Olivier Sarr 7-of-8, Keion Brooks 4-of-4, Isaiah Jackson 2-of-2 and Lance Ware 1-of-1.
5. The college hoops all-time wins race. Kansas lost to Oklahoma on Saturday, the Jayhawks’ third straight defeat, and now stands at 10-5 in 2020-21.
North Carolina defeated North Carolina State 86-76 and is also 10-5.
Duke lost 70-65 at Louisville and is now 5-5.
With UK’s win, the all-time wins standings updated through Saturday’s games: 1. Kentucky 2,323; 2. Kansas 2,312; 3. North Carolina 2,285; 4. Duke 2,206.
KU has gained five games on UK (5-9) so far in 2020-21.
This story was originally published January 23, 2021 at 8:25 PM.
