Big Blue Preview: Kentucky at LSU
Kentucky has battled injuries all season long, and on Monday, the Cats found out that starting point guard Jaland Lowe would miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.
Lowe played in just nine games this season. Sophomore big man Jayden Quaintance has played in just four. Forward Mo Dioubate has missed time due to injury as well.
All of this makes it difficult for UK head coach Mark Pope to establish a rotation because the pieces available are continually changing.
“It’s not a unique challenge in the sense of every team is facing, but it is a challenge trying to establish an identity, mostly because those two pieces are very unique to our team,” Pope said of Lowe and Quaintance. “So, it’s not like we’re it’s not like we just move on to the next guy. In the same way we have to retool a lot of things as we move on to the next guy.”
While Lowe has been ruled out for the season, Quaintance is in more of a day-to-day situation, according to Pope.
“We did some more testing,” Pope said. “That’s an ongoing thing, too, that we’re going to probably figure more about in the next couple days.”
With or without Quaintance, Kentucky visits LSU on Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. The Tigers started the season on fire, winning their first eight games and going 12-1 in non-conference play. However, LSU has dropped its first three Southeastern Conference games, falling to Texas A&M, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Kentucky is now 10-6 on the season and 1-2 in SEC play. Pope and the Cats hope that a convincing win over Mississippi State on Saturday can be a springboard for the rest of the season, no matter which pieces are available to play.
Know Your Opponent: LSU
Kentucky begins a week on the road against LSU on Wednesday.
• Kentucky leads the all-time series, 93-29, and is 32-30 in Baton Rouge
• Last year, UK beat the Tigers, 95-64, in Lexington with Otega Oweh leading the way with 24 points and eight rebounds
• Dan Issel owns the scoring record for the Cats in the series with 51 points on Feb. 21, 1970.
• The last time the teams met in Baton Rouge, LSU prevailed on a last-second shot by Tyrell Ward for a 75-74 win
• Dedan Thomas Jr. leads LSU in scoring at 16.2 points per game and is first in the SEC with 7.1 assists per game. He has missed the last three games due to injury
• Marquel Sutton paces the Tigers with an average of 8.8 boards
per contest
Last Time Out
Kentucky won its 20th consecutive regular-season matchup against Mississippi State with a 92-68 result on Saturday.
• Otega Oweh tied his season high with 22 points while also posting a season-best five steals
• Oweh has scored at least 20 points in all three SEC games thus far and has scored in double figures in 19-straight contests dating back to last season
• Malachi Moreno finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. He is the first 7-footer in Division I to post those numbers since at least 1996-97 and just the third Kentucky player, joining Rajon Rondo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Kam Williams was a team-best plus-32 in the win
• The Cats held Mississippi State to just 15.0 percent shooting from 3-point range, the lowest for any opponent since Tennessee shot 14.3 percent on Jan. 14, 2023 (min 20 attempts)
• Kentucky collected 14 steals, the most against an SEC opponent since 16 against Georgia in 2009
• Oweh and Moreno are the first pair of UK teammates to each have at least 17 points, five assists and four steals since Ramel Bradley and Patrick Patterson vs. Texas Southern in 2007
A Skilled 7-Footer
Freshman center Malachi Moreno has quickly developed into a valuable frontcourt piece for the Wildcats this season.
• Moreno scored 17 points and added eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in a statement performance against Mississippi State. He became the first 7-footer in Division I with those numbers since at least 1996-97 and just the third Kentucky player, joining Rajon Rondo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• He posted double-doubles against Valparaiso and Tennessee Tech
• He is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.3 rebounds per game and has led the squad in rebounds in eight games. He also paces the Cats with 42 offensive rebounds, an average of 2.6 per game
• Moreno leads the team with 1.25 blocks per game
• Moreno owns a .651 field goal percentage, the top mark on the team
• He has a team-high 33 dunks this season
