LSU wins handily over No. 9 Kentucky, 85-67

BATON ROUGE – All LSU needed was for Southeastern Conference play to start.

After five questionable losses in non-conference action, unranked LSU is undefeated in SEC play following an 85-67 victory over No. 9 Kentucky in front of 13,000 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and an ESPN national audience on Tuesday night.

And the Tigers (9-5, 2-0 SEC) did this with star freshman forward Ben Simmons in only a supporting role as he sat out more than half of the first half with two fouls and scored just two points. He finished with 14 points as he scored three straight baskets in the final moments to ice the game and added 10 rebounds.

Guard Tim Quarterman led LSU with 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers along with 10 rebounds and seven assists. Forward Craig Victor picked up the slack for Simmons inside with 15 pints and a team-high 12 rebounds. Guard Keith Hornsby scored nine.

Kentucky (11-3, 1-1 SEC) led just one time at 2-0 on two free throws by guard Tyler Ulis 24 seconds into the game. A layup by Quarterman and a jumper by Victor put the Tigers up 4-2 with 17:15 to go in the first half, and LSU never trailed again.

The Tigers led by as many as 14 in the first half at 36-22 and led at the break by 37-27. Then it opened up another 14 point lead early in the second half before taking its biggest lead at 83-65 in in the final moments.

It was LSU coach Johnny Jones' second home victory in three home games over the Wildcats, who had won five straight over LSU before an 87-82 loss here in January of 2014.

Ulis led Kentucky with 23 points, and guard Jamal Murray added 21. No one else was in double figures. LSU had much more balanced scoring as seven players scored six points or more as forward Aaron Epps of Ball scored eight, and guards Antonio Blakeney and Jalyn Patterson each had six.

Patterson hit a 3-pointer just as the 30-second clock expired for a 73-61 lead with 4:28 to go, but replays showed he put it up too late so it remained 70-61. Patterson responded with a steal and was fouled. He hit one of two free throws for a 71-61 advantage with 4:15 left.

LSU began pushing Kentucky away for good at the 5:24 mark of the game when Patterson rebounded an LSU miss and turned right back around to drive in for a layup and an 11-point lead at 70-59.

An off balance putback by Quarterman put LSU up 47-33 at the 15-minute mark of the second half. But Kentucky would not go away. The Wildcats hovered within six and five points through the first 10 minutes of the second half before finally getting within 58-54 at the 9:35 mark on a layup by forward Alex Poythress, who scored four points.

The Tigers came out on fire before the ESPN national television audience and took an 11-4 lead at the 14:56 mark on a free throw by Victor. Simmons scored his only points on his only shot of the half on a short jumper for a 10-4 lead with 15:23 to go. He drew his second foul with 9:15 to go on Mychal Mulder and went to the bench for the rest of the half with four rebounds, an assist and one turnover.

Mulder made both free throws to get the Wildcats within 17-10, but Kentucky would get no closer than five three times the rest of the way as LSU kept scoring with a varied cast. Epps hit one of his two 3-pointers in the first half for a 21-13 lead with 6:59 to go.

A 3-pointer by Hornsby put LSU up 33-22 with 2:26 remaining. With Simmons still on the bench, the lead grew to 14 at 36-22 when Hornsby stole the ball and fed Quarterman for a fast break dunk at the 1:12 mark. Kentucky managed to go to the locker room down by 37-27 when Ulis hit a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining.

Six Tigers other than Simmons scored in the first half with Epps and Hornsby each getting eight as Hornsby also had two 3-pointers. Sampson had seven, Victor had six, Blakeney scored four and guard Josh Gray had two.