LSU Tigers Blow 18-Point Lead As Kentucky Wildcats Win On Wild Buzzer Beater

The LSU Tigers have had a nightmare start to their SEC schedule, and that is no different on Wednesday night as the Kentucky Wildcats came back from down 18 points to win at the buzzer 75-73.

Two missed free throws from Pablo Tamba with less than two seconds left in the game left the door open for the Wildcats to heave the ball down the court. Malachi Moreno came down with the ball just inside the three-point line and he hit a clutch jumper to win the game.

This is the fourth straight loss for the Tigers, who have not won a game since getting into conference play. After the strong start to the year, this is a very disappointing stretch of basketball for Matt McMahon's squad.

LSU was dealt a crucial blow right before SEC play began when point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. went down with a lower leg injury. Thomas had this offense humming. He was averaging 16.2 points and an SEC-best 7.1 assists per game, which is a lot of production to replace.

The star still has no exact timetable to return, but the Tigers will clearly need it to be soon if they want to save their season. They have been competitive at times in these games, but clearly have a Thomas-sized hole in their team.

LSU led by 18 points at one point in this game. They held the lead for over 35 minutes. Had they had their offensive centerpiece, it would have been much harder for Kentucky to actually close the gap.

The defense also had no answer for the Wildcats in the second half. They shot 65.4/72.7/78.6 splits as a team after the break. 12 of their 17 made shots came off of assists.

It was that ball movement and decision making that the Tigers offense just didn't have. They made 11 shots as a team and only four of them were assisted in the same timeframe.

Marquel Sutton disappearing from the game plan hurt. He got off to a hot start, with 14 points on 3-of-4 beyond the arc in the first half. In the second frame, he had just two points on one shot.

LSU will return to the court on Saturday against the Missouri Tigers, as they hope to break this losing streak. Missouri won't be a slouch as they have already beaten this Kentucky team and are off to a 3-1 start in SEC play.