First Scouting Report: Can UK turn the tables on LSU and Will Wade in rematch?
READ MORE
Game day: No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 25 Alabama
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in Rupp Arena.
Expand All
A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 6 Kentucky (22-5, 11-3 SEC) will face LSU (19-8, 7-7 SEC) on Wednesday at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center (capacity 20,545) in downtown Lexington.
The game will tip off at 9 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
Coach Will Wade’s Tigers lost 77-75 at South Carolina Saturday.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with LSU 91-28 but the two teams have split the past four meetings.
Most recent meeting
Tari Eason scored 13 points, Xavier Pinson 11 and Brandon Murray 10 as LSU took advantage of injuries to UK starting guards Sahvir Wheeler (neck) and TyTy Washington (extreme cramping) as then-No. 21 LSU upset then-No. 16 Kentucky 65-60 on Jan. 4 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
Power rankings
Through Thursday’s games, the NCAA’s NET Rankings had Kentucky No. 3 and LSU No. 16.
The Kenpom Rankings rated UK No. 3 and LSU No. 16.
Kentucky stood No. 5 in the Sagarin Ratings with LSU No. 17.
Know your foe
1. Since beating Kentucky, LSU has gone only 6-6. Part of the problem was a knee injury suffered by starting guard Xavier Pinson that sidelined him for five games. With Pinson (9.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists), a transfer from Missouri sidelined, LSU went 2-3.
Since the 6-foot-2, 170-pound senior has returned, LSU has gone 3-3 (entering Saturday’s game at South Carolina).
2. A transfer from UCLA, LSU forward Shareef O’Neal — the son of former LSU and NBA star center Shaquille O’Neal — will play in Rupp Arena for the second time Saturday.
Last season, in UK’s 82-69 victory over the Tigers in Rupp, Shareef O’Neal had had two points, two rebounds and a steal in 10 minutes of playing time.
In eight games for LSU this season, Shareef O’Neal, a 6-10, 220-pound junior, is averaging 3.0 points and 1.1 rebounds.
Shaquille O’Neal played against UK in Rupp two times.
In Kentucky’s 100-95 upset of the No. 12-ranked Tigers in 1989-90, Shaq had 14 points, 21 rebounds and made six of eight field-goal tries.
The following season, as No. 16 Kentucky bested No. 14 LSU 93-80, Shaquille O’Neal had 28 points and 17 boards and hit 12 of 21 shots.
3. LSU head man Will Wade is 2-3 vs. Kentucky as Tigers coach. Wade is 1-1 vs. UK in Rupp Arena, having directed the Bayou Bengals to a 73-71 victory in 2018-19 that propelled LSU to the SEC regular-season crown in addition to last season’s loss to Kentucky in Lexington.
Kentucky Coach John Calipari is 13-4 vs. LSU as top Cat.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 3:09 PM.
