Kentucky looked like a team in crisis for the first 20 minutes against LSU. Down 16 at halftime, the Wildcats’ offense was stagnant, energy was low, and frustration was mounting. In the postgame press conference, Mark Pope didn’t sugarcoat it.
“The guys were invested, [but] it was nice coming in at halftime after just an abysmal first half,” Pope said. “Credit to LSU… defensively, they were a real problem for us in the first half… our energy wasn’t great.”
But Pope had one critical adjustment up his sleeve — and it flipped the game.
The Turning Point
The Wildcats’ defense was struggling to handle LSU’s ball screens, giving up easy looks and allowing LSU to dictate the pace. At halftime, Pope made a bold change: switching how Kentucky defended ball screens and giving his bigs more freedom to rotate and switch.
“We went to switching ball screens and really being liberal with our ball screens,” Pope explained. “It really helped us a lot in the second half. The fact that our bigs can switch… is great. The game slowed down a little bit. It got them out of the rhythm they were in.”
The result? LSU scored just 36 points in the second half, while Kentucky poured in 53. The energy shift was immediate, and the Wildcats started playing with the freedom and confidence they had been missing.
The Miracle Finish
Even with the defense turning things around, the game came down to the final seconds. With 1.9 seconds left and Kentucky trailing by one, Pope drew up a play—but what unfolded on the court wasn’t exactly as planned.
“There is a bunch of dynamics in there,” Pope said. “We kind of tagged Kam [Williams] as the guy to make that pass… you really have to throw it over half court.
Collin Chandler stepped up and took control. The plan was to get the ball to Denzel Aberdeen for a shot inside the arc, with 7-foot center Malachi Moreno serving as a backup option. When the pass came slightly long, Moreno caught it like a tight end, turned, and nailed the jumper — sealing the 75-74 win.
Kentucky Refused to Fold
Beyond the tactics and the buzzer-beater, Pope was proud of his team’s mindset.
“This has been an incredibly emotionally taxing season for our guys, a lot of it brought on by ourselves,” he said. “There were hundreds of times they could have just said ‘it’s not our night,’ and they wouldn’t.”
It was a night where strategy, resilience, and a little bit of improvisation all came together — and in the end, that one defensive adjustment and a clutch play saved Kentucky’s season.
“Of course, there was some doubt, but the guys refused to go away,” Pope said. “I’ll take the win, baby, let’s go.”
