Baton Rouge, LA (SportsNetwork.com) - Johnny O'Bryant III and the LSU Tigers led from start to finish and upset 11th-ranked Kentucky, 87-82, in an SEC clash on Tuesday.
O'Bryant finished a point shy of his career-high, posting 29 points on 12- of-20 shooting for the Tigers (13-6, 4-3 SEC), winners in three of four. Shavon Coleman and Jordan Mickey added 14 points apiece while Anthony Hickey had 11 points with a game-high six assists.
James Young led the way with 23 points for Kentucky (15-5, 5-2) while Dakari Johnson made 7-of-8 shots for a career-best 15 points off the bench before fouling out late in the contest. Aaron Harrison contributed 14 points, with nine of those coming on a trio of 3-pointers in the final minute.
"I just tried to be physical, get on the offensive boards and try to get physical with Johnny O'Bryant," said Johnson, "but he's a good player. He was taking a lot of good shots. I felt like I needed to do better defensively. That's on me."
The Tigers were the better team in this one from the opening tip. O'Bryant made his first two jumpers and Coleman potted a 3 to force a Kentucky timeout less than two minutes in. Harrison turned it over out of the timeout and Jarell Martin made it 10-2 with his 3-pointer at 17:44.
"They came out fighting and we were passive," said Kentucky head coach John Calipari.
LSU's lead ballooned to 22-6 6 1/2 minutes in before Young made triples on the front and back end of a 16-5 Wildcats' surge to make it a five-point affair.
Kentucky was within three after Willie Cauley-Stein split a pair of free throws near the four minute mark, but LSU responded with nine of the next 13 points and owned a 42-36 halftime advantage.
The Wildcats missed two shots at the rim while LSU scored four quick points out of the locker rooms, as Calipari called a timeout just 37 seconds into the second half.
It was more of the same for LSU the rest of the way, as its lead hovered between seven and 15 for most of the second half.
Trailing 83-70 with just over a minute remaining, Young drilled his fifth 3- pointer. Martin then missed two free throws at the other end, and Harrison made a 3 for an 83-76 LSU edge.
Harrison made two more shots from deep, the final of which came with 15 seconds to play. Kentucky had more than one opportunity to foul LSU and extend the game, but failed to do so as the Tigers ran out the clock.
Game Notes
This was just LSU's 25th win in 112 meetings between these two programs ... Kentucky's bench outscored LSU's, 28-10 ... Cauley-Stein had one steal and no blocks. He registered six of each in Kentucky's rout of Georgia on Saturday ... Alex Poythress scored 10 points off the bench for the Wildcats.
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