Kentucky takes care of business in SEC tournament opener, beats LSU to advance

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Mar 11, 2026

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kentucky got the first one out of the way Wednesday afternoon.

It was looking dicey for much of the game, but the Cats finally put away LSU in the second half, defeating the Tigers 87-82 in the first game of the SEC Men’s Basketball tournament in Bridgestone Arena.

Kentucky (20-12) will play 8-seeded Missouri (20-11) in the second round at 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday on SEC Network. The Tigers beat UK 73-68 in Rupp Arena on Jan. 7.

The Cats led the SEC’s last-place team by only three points at halftime and were actually trailing with 13:30 to go, before Brandon Garrison gave them the lead for good with a layup to put Kentucky ahead 59-58.

LSU cut UK’s lead to 65-64 a couple of minutes later, and Garrison connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to extend that advantage to seven points.

“Their big was sagging back on us, and I’m a pretty good shooter, even though it didn’t show this year,” Garrison, who hit 2 of 14 3-pointers in the regular season, told SEC Now following the game. “But I had the confidence to knock it down.”

Denzel Aberdeen followed Garrison’s 3s with a driving layup to make it a 73-64 score. Aberdeen stuck his tongue out at an LSU defender who fell to the ground on the play — drawing a technical foul for the celebration — but the Tigers made only one of two free throws at the other end.

Otega Oweh’s driving layup gave Kentucky its first double-digit lead of the afternoon at 75-65 with 8:10 remaining. Garrison threw down a slam dunk shortly after that to make it 77-65.

That brought out a “Go Big Blue!” chant in Nashville, and the Tigers never got any closer than five points after that.

Oweh tallied 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 39 minutes. Garrison had 17 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. Aberdeen added 16 points and three assists.

Kentucky committed just five turnovers for the game, and no Wildcat had more than one.

Kam Williams made his much-anticipated return to the court Wednesday, playing for the first time in nearly two months after being sidelined with a broken foot. Williams scored three points and played 17 minutes for the Cats.

LSU (15-17) was the 16 seed in the league tournament and finished all alone in last with a 3-15 record in conference play. The Tigers’ most recent victory in regulation came on Jan. 17. Max Mackinnon led the Tigers with 28 points Wednesday.

The game remained relatively close in the early going.

LSU got out to a 4-0 lead, then Kentucky scored the next six points, and it remained a one-possession game until Williams hit a 3-pointer to give the Cats a 23-17 lead with 10:09 left in the first half, triggering the first “Go Big Blue!” chant of the day.

Williams, who had not played since suffering a broken foot in a win over Texas on Jan. 21, checked in with 14:10 left in the half to a loud ovation from the pro-UK crowd in Nashville. He played nearly six minutes in his first shift on the court Wednesday, and the Cats outscored LSU 11-5 during that stretch.

Kentucky built its biggest lead of the first half — a 37-28 advantage — after Aberdeen hit a 3-pointer, then picked off an LSU pass and took it the other way for a dunk with 5:21 left. The Tigers cut that lead to two points on three separate occasions in the closing minutes of the period.

UK also got positive contributions from Andrija Jelavic — seven points before the first TV timeout — and Garrison (six points, three rebounds and two blocks) in the opening half, but Oweh led the way.

The Cats’ leading scorer had 13 points, five rebounds and two assists — all team highs — in the first half. UK took a 46-43 lead into halftime.

Kentucky will still need to win three more games to advance to the SEC tournament title game and four to claim the league championship. The Cats have not even made it to the SEC title game since 2018, which was also the last time they won it.

If UK can beat Missouri on Thursday, it would get a rematch with the top-seeded Florida Gators at 1 p.m. ET Friday. Florida beat Kentucky in both regular season games this session, including an 84-77 victory over the Cats in the finale at Rupp Arena on Saturday.

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