When LSU ended their non-conference schedule with a home loss to the perennial A-10 bottom dwellers, Rhode Island, the mutters from Tigers fans began to be heard all around Baton Rouge. The LSU faithful started to dread that what was supposed to be a great and competitive team heading into the season would join the other recent LSU teams in SEC mediocrity. The loss to the URI Rams was mainly disappointing because up until that point, the Tigers had experienced moderate success and with a win would have been heading into SEC play with a 10-2 record with wins over Butler and St. Joes. Instead they were now 9-3 (looks a heck of a lot worse then 10-2) with a glaring loss on their resume, and Tigers fans could not help but feel like they've seen this story before. After all, LSU's surprising Final Four run, lead by Glen "Big Baby" Davis, is now 7 years removed and only one tournament appearance since then has fans longing for another winning basketball team.
LSU would start their SEC campaign off with a 3-3 record, again to the dismay of people who thought LSU could be a dark horse SEC contender in a down year for the league. The good news for LSU was that Monday night's home game against #11 Kentucky was a chance for people to forget about their lack luster start in league play. The beauty of college basketball in a power six conference is that even though a team may struggle for a few weeks, they will always have a chance to redeem themselves.
Junior Johnny O'Bryant saw an opportunity to get a much needed win for his squad and he wasn't going to let it slip away. The Tigers would accomplished what they failed to do against Rhode Island a few weeks ago and would secure the home win over Julius Randle and company. O'Bryant, who is undoubtedly an NBA talent, decided he was over the Julius Randle hype and went out and was the best player on the court. His 29 points on 12-20 shooting, 9 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks was a stat line that would result in a basketball game where the hyped Wildcats were rarely even in it.
O'Bryant does not do it all alone though. He has a partner in crime in freshman Jordan Mickey who is flying under the diaper dandy radar and is quietly being one of the most productive freshman in the country. He would contribute 14 points and 6 boards himself in the win over Kentucky but more importantly his 5 blocks against a Julius Randle led front court was enough to keep Kentucky's offense at bay. LSU is a team oozing with talent that, besides that unwarranted loss to URI, has a formidable resume now after their win over Kentucky. There is still plenty of basketball left to play and while LSU sits in the middle of the SEC pack currently they still have another contest with Kentucky in Lexington and the showdown at #3 Florida in Gainsville in order to separate themselves into the upper echelon of the Southeastern Conference.
On the other hand there has to be some red flags appearing for John Calipari and his young Kentucky team. This game was a prime example of a major concern that the Wildcats should have moving toward the stretch of the basketball season.
When Julius Randle has a disappointing game, can Kentucky still win?
Randle was held to only 6 points Tuesday night, well below his 16.6 points per game average, and got to the line an atypical 1 time the entire game. Freshman James Young did his part putting up 23 points and a team high 7 rebounds all from the 3 spot. As a team the Wildcats shot a respectable 45% from deep but it just was not enough as a few of their trey balls came from Aaron Harrison in the final minute when the game was already out of reach.
No one is going to repute the notion that the SEC is a relatively weak conference compared to the other "Power 7". Kentucky, who was considered by many to be the preseason SEC favorite, now sits at 15-5 with 2 early losses in the conference to teams not in the top 50 RPI. Kentucky is still a relative shoo-in for the NCAA tournament despite their loss Tuesday night, while this win helps LSU get a much needed top 25 win to enhance their chances at dancing come March. Kentucky will look to bounce back with a tough road matchup against another Tigers team in Missouri this Saturday, while LSU will look to continue their winning ways at home against a desperate Arkansas team.