First Scouting Report: At LSU, Calipari and the Cats will face a longtime UK nemesis
A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 22 Kentucky (18-7, 8-4 SEC) will face LSU (13-12, 5-7 SEC) on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (seating capacity 13,215) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The game will tip off at 9 p.m. EST and be telecast by ESPN.
Coach Matt McMahon’s Tigers won 64-63 at No. 11 South Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with LSU 93-28.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 15-4 against LSU.
LSU coach Matt McMahon is 0-1 versus UK.
Most recent meeting
Kentucky senior Jacob Toppin scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the second half and scored five of UK’s final seven points of the game as the Wildcats held off a spirited LSU comeback effort for a 74-71 win at Rupp Arena on Jan. 3, 2023.
UK senior big man Oscar Tshiebwe contributed a double-double, 19 points and 16 rebounds, and Wildcats point guard Sahvir Wheeler just missed one with 11 points, six rebounds and nine assists.
Former Murray State star K.J. Williams led LSU with 23 points, making 8 of 13 shots and 4 of 6 3-pointers.
Power rankings
In the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky is No. 26, LSU is No. 84.
The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 24, LSU No. 92.
Know your foe
1. Before Saturday’s 1-point victory at No. 11 South Carolina, close games had not been the friend of LSU in 2023-24. The win over the Gamecocks improved the Tigers to 2-5 in games decided by five points or less.
LSU has dropped three SEC games by four points or less, falling to Texas A&M (73-69), at Georgia (68-66) and at Florida (82-80).
For the season, coach Matt McMahon’s Tigers are 9-4 in Baton Rouge, 2-6 in true road games and 2-2 on neutral courts.
2. A separated shoulder has helped derail former Kentucky Wildcats forward Daimion Collins in his first season since transferring to LSU. Collins, 6-foot-9, 191-pound junior, has played in only six games this season.
The Atlanta, Texas, product is averaging 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds and is shooting 62.5% on field-goal attempts. However, Collins has not played since scoring two points in an 89-65 win over Northwestern State on Dec. 29.
3. A longtime Kentucky nemesis, former Vanderbilt swingman Jordan Wright, is now a super-senior spending his final season of eligibility at LSU. A 6-6, 230-pound product of Waggaman, Louisiana, Wright has played against Kentucky 10 previous times while at Vandy and has had some huge games against the Wildcats.
Last season, Wright scored 23 points to help Vanderbilt spoil Kentucky’s Senior Night at Rupp Arena with a 68-66 upset win. He was the final-minute hero for the Commodores, driving baseline for a layup with 42 seconds left to tie the game at 66. After UK’s Antonio Reeves missed a jumper with 19.9 seconds left, Wright hit what became the game winner for Vandy on an 8-foot fallaway in the lane with 2.6 seconds left.
Wright followed up his Rupp Arena heroics with 18 points as Vandy bounced UK from the SEC Tournament quarterfinals with an 80-73 win in Nashville.
Two seasons ago, Wright rifled in 27 points, hitting 10 of 12 shots, 5 of 6 treys, in Vanderbilt’s 77-71 loss to UK in the 2022 SEC tourney quarterfinals. Earlier that season, Wright had a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds, in a 77-70 loss to UK at Rupp Arena.
In 2023-24 for LSU, Wright entered Saturday’s game at South Carolina averaging 15.0 points and 5.0 rebounds. He had 63 assists versus 46 turnovers and a team-high 44 steals. Wright was making 38.9% of his shot attempts, 33.9% on 3-point tries and 80.8% on free throws.
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