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Matthew Mitchell has to be upset for the plane ride home from Louisiana. I know I would be. Anytime you let an inferior opponent with a seriously dilapidated bench beat you at your own game, it is going to cause some headaches and some heartaches. This game left UK with quite a bit of both.
A'Dia Mathies had a less than stellar first half with only 3 points. When she came out in the second half on fire, it looked for a moment that Kentucky was going to be able to overcome the 13-pt deficit they managed to amass for themselves. And they did cut it out completely by late in the second half, however, then, the bottom dropped out.
The Kentucky squad had no one but themselves to blame for this loss as they shot themselves in the foot so many times they will probably need crutches come morning. DeNesha Stallworth and Samarie Walker didn't play badly, but they didn't come to play either. They combined for 18 points while allowing LSU's Theresa Plaisance to put up 20.
The Cats could probably have survived that all by itself. However, the guards allowed a hobbled Jeanne Kenney to have a career game with 22, including 5-5 from downtown. For a team that prides itself on defense, UK looked a lot like my Jr. High football coach when he played basketball -- always a day late and a dollar short on whomever he guarded.
This game will impress nobody on the NCAA selection committee, and at a time when UK knows that they are playing for seeding, you would think that they knew what was at stake here. As it is, they drop into a 3rd place tie for the SEC, and put their #2 seed in some jeopardy.
UK shot an abysmal 6-22 from behind the arc for a whopping 27%, and looked lost for the most part on the floor, making rookie mistakes on passes, putting their hopes for a strong finish in the regular season on the razor's edge. This was not the game that everyone expected from the team that put Texas A&M away at College Station. However, for some reason, LSU has found kryptonite against Kentucky on the bayou, and that continued today.
LSU had four players in double figures and a very balanced scoring attack, yet when the chips were down, it was Kenney who sealed the deal each and every time.
There are going to be times each and every year that you get handed a golden opportunity on a silver platter, and this was one of those times. All Kentucky can now do is win out and hope for the best.