Kentucky vs LSU......A Preview

Lwcat
WT Administrator

Kentucky vs LSU 2/28/09
Saturday 4PM....CBS

Location: Baton Rouge, LA.
Enrollment: 29, 815
Arena: 13,215

Coach: Trent Johnson
Career Record-159-121 (56.8%) in 9 seasons
At LSU-This is his first season

2007-08 Record: 13-18
2007-08 SEC Record-6-10 (4th-West)

2008-09 Record-24-4
SEC Record-12-1

LSU 79 Jackson St. 65
LSU 77 Alcorn St. 45
LSU 91 Northwestern St. 60
LSU 64 Centenary 58
LSU 92 Troy 57
LSU 84 Cal State Fullerton 63
LSU 87 Grambling St. 41
LSU 68 Nicholls St. 56
Texas A&M 72 LSU 61
LSU 62 McNeese St. 59
LSU 64 Washington St 52
LSU 81 LouisianaLafayette 79
LSU 90 Southeastern Louisiana 61
Utah 91 LSU 61
Alabama 65 LSU 59
LSU 85 South Carolina 68
LSU 83 Mississippi 51
LSU 81 Mississippi St 57
Xavier 80 LSU 70
LSU 79 Tennessee 73
LSU 79 Arkansas 69
LSU 80 Georgia 62
LSU 76 Alabama 62
LSU 97 Mississippi St. 94
LSU 73 Mississippi 66
LSU 79 Auburn 72
LSU 81 Florida 75

LSU STATS | UK STATS
Scoring-77.0 | Scoring-76.1
FG%-46.0% | FG%-48.5%
3 Point FG%-37.9% | 3 Point FG%-35.6%
3 Point FG Per Game-5.7 | 3 Point FG Per Game-5.9
FT%-72.3% | FT%-77.7%
Rebounds-39.8 | Rebounds-38.0
Assists-15.9 | Assists-16.2
TO’s-12.4 | TO’s-17.8
Steals-8.0 | Steals-6.5
Blocks-6.2 | Blocks-6.9

LSU Probable Starting Lineup

Marcus Thornton-G-6’4” Sr…....PPG-20.9
Tasmin Mitchell-F-6’7” Jr……...PPG-16.6
Bo Spencer-G-6’1” Soph……….PPG-11.6
Chris Johnson-C-6’11” Sr………PPG-8.4
Garrett Temple-G-6’6” Sr………PPG-7.4

Terry Martin-G-6’6” Sr…………PPG-4.7
Quintin Thornton-F-6’8” Sr…….PPG-3.0

Coach Trent Johnson is LSU’s new head coach this season….having served as head coach at Nevada and Stanford previously. Coach Johnson inherited a very experienced LSU team with 5 of their top 7 players being seniors…..a starting lineup of 3 seniors, a junior and a soph. The Tigers have utilized their experience and considerable talent to be leading the SEC with a 12-1 record and are now 18th ranked in the nation. The two big guns for LSU are Marcus Thornton and Tasmin Mitchell who lead the Tigers in scoring and rebounding. Thornton is also a terrific 3 point shooter hitting 62-152 for 40.8%. The other Tiger main 3 point threat is Bo Spencer who has hit 44-107 for a nifty 41.1%.Senior Garrett Temple has dished out a team leading 117 assists while also having a team leading 54 steals. The Tigers come into Rupp Arena winners of 12 of their last 13 games….only losing to 13th ranked Xavier. After losing their opening SEC game to Alabama, the Tigers have reeled off a very impressive 12 straight SEC victories. LSU is obviously a very confident team, a very talented team and a very experienced team. The Tigers will be a very tough opponent for the Cats.

UK after achieving a solid win over Tennessee, laid an egg in Columbia where South Carolina totally embarrassed the Cats. This was a big game and for whatever reason, UK simply didn’t show up. Losses are never easy to deal with, but the loss at South Carolina was a bitter defeat, particularly to get completely outplayed and out coached! The terrible loss to the Gamecocks is a definite blow to UK’s NCAA chances. The Cats must find a way to defeat LSU, Florida and Georgia or at least win 2 of the 3 remaining SEC games plus win a minimum of 2 SEC tourney games. Once again, it could be white knuckle time as the NCAA teams are announced.

Hopefully, coach Gillispie and the Cats can regroup and put the South Carolina loss behind them and play a great game against LSU. An LSU win would be huge! The $64 question is which UK team will show up Saturday? UK must play a terrific game to win and they are certainly capable of that…and hopefully the Rupp Arena crowd becomes a great 6th man as the Cats will need all the help they can get.. Keeping my fingers crossed that the Cats come to play and upset the Tigers at Rupp Arena. GO CATS!