TAMPA — One look at the stat sheet and you know why the Kentucky Wildcats are NIT-bound. When Jodie Meeks can get only nine shots in a game, the Wildcats are in deepest and darkest, which might adequately describe the coaching future of Billy Clyde Gillispie after LSU eliminated Kentucky, 67-58, in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Kentucky (20-13) will have a reality kick in the butt Sunday when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee just says no and the NIT says come on down and while the official posture of the university is that Gillispie has one more year to prove himself, the boosters whose dollars grease the wheels of the program are dissatisfied and calling for a new head coach. The economic reality of the NIT will hit home next week if the Wildcats are slated for a first round game in the NIT. Rupp Arena is booked for the high school state championships starting Wednesday which would force the game to be played at old Memorial Coliseum, which has a seating capacity reduced to 8,000 since it was refurbished a few years ago.
Kentucky’s loss and the long range implications almost overshadow what LSU did Friday. The Tigers (26-6), who won the regular season SEC championship, advance to the semifinals to face the winner of Friday afternoon’s Misssissippi State-South Carolina game.
This game was all about shot selection as in who’s selecting to shoot and who’s not. When Michael Porter is taking almost as many shots as Jodie Meeks, who came into the game averaging 25 points per game, there is something wrong with the equation. Porter took six shots and finished with nine points while Meeks had a season-low eight points on 3-9 shooting.
Another area where Kentucky came up short was in the middle where Patrick Patterson got no help at all. Patterson was swarmed by the LSU defense every time he touched the ball, but there was no one willing to either take or make shots when he passed the ball out of the double team. Patterson finished the game with a warrior-like 15 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. Stevenson, who might be the skinniest post player in America, was good for five points and two more rebounds than a dead man.
For LSU, this win was sheer relief. After losing their final two regular season games, there were plenty of concerns that the Tigers had either peaked too early or perhaps were exposed for all their weaknesses. The Tigers alleviated those concerns with a terrific defensive performance and just enough on the offensive end to win and move on.
SEC Player of the Year Marcus Thornton had a workmanlike 21 points, hitting 8-17 from the field while contributing five rebounds and three assists. He got help from Tasmin Mitchell, who gave the Tigers 14 points and eight rebounds, and Bo Spencer, who shot poorly from the field (3-13) but was good for 7-8 from the foul line and 16 total points.
LSU led by as many as seven points in the first half and took a 28-23 lead into the locker room despite shooting only 30.6 percent from the field. The Tigers didn’t have to shoot well, however, because Kentucky kept turning the ball over. The Wildcats committed nine first half turnovers that were converted into 11 points.
LSU expanded its lead from five points (39-34) to 16 (58-32) over a seven-minute span in the second half to put Kentucky out of its misery. What was curious during the LSU run was that no effort was made by Kentucky to isolate Meeks and get him untracked. Meeks squeezed off five shots in the first half and only four in the second half including just one in the first 12 minutes of the half.