Wednesday Quickies: Basket Interference Edition

The Wildcats lose to LSU at Rupp on a missed basket interference call

By Zac Oakes@ZacOakes Feb 13, 2019, 6:40am EST

Understandably so, folks in the Big Blue Nation are still upset over the ending of last night’s game against LSU.

After Keldon Johnson hit two free throws to tie the game at 71, LSU’s Skylar Mays drove straight through the Kentucky defense and was able to put up a layup while being contested by three Wildcats, leaving LSU’s Kavell Bigby-Williams open for a tip-in that beat the clock by half a second.

Even though it was clear on review that the ball was still in the cylinder and should have been basket interference. Nonetheless, that call is non-reviewable and since it beat the clock, the Tigers came away with their first win in Rupp Arena in a decade and Kentucky likely misses their chance at a 1-seed barring the chance they win out.

Will Wade, man....

Losing to LSU isn’t a “bad” loss in the same vein as earlier losses to Seton Hall and Alabama. LSU will be in contention to win the conference and could end up being a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But now the Wildcats trail Tennessee AND LSU in the conference standings. LSU has arguably the easiest remaining schedule of those three teams which leaves the possibility of Kentucky being the 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. That means the late game on Friday night with an early start on Saturday.

Kentucky has to quickly put this game behind them. The concern is that with such a controversial and emotional ending, they could carry that into Saturday when they will need to be as focused as ever with Tennessee coming to town. Kentucky needs to leave this game in the past because Saturday’s game just became that much more important.

Tweets of the Day

John Calipari compares final play to late shot clock violation against Wisconsin in 2015 Final Four. “This one’s easy to check. Go check it.”
— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) February 13, 2019