Malachi Moreno hits buzzer-beater to give Kentucky win at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. — After falling behind by 18 points with less than 20 minutes to go in the game, Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats staged an almighty rally Wednesday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against the LSU Tigers.

And it ended with an iconic moment.

Freshman center Malachi Moreno hit a jumper at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 75-74 win over the Tigers after UK climbed out of that massive second-half hole.

Buoyed by a sensational second-half scoring effort that featured 17 points from Denzel Aberdeen and 15 from Otega Oweh over the final 20 minutes, the Wildcats (11-6, 2-2 SEC) scampered back for a seemingly improbable victory over LSU (12-5, 0-4).

With less than two seconds on the clock, Collin Chandler inbounded the ball from the baseline all the way to Moreno, who was located near the opposite 3-point line. Moreno caught the pass and sweetly hit his clutch shot to give the Cats a standout comeback win.

UK outscored LSU 53-36 in the second half of the win. The 18-point turnaround was the largest such victory for the Cats since Pope’s first UK team erased an 18-point deficit to beat Gonzaga in overtime in Seattle in December 2024.

The Wildcats were led in scoring by Oweh’s 21 points, followed by 17 from Aberdeen (all in the second half), 11 from Andrija Jelavic in his first UK start and 10 from Moreno.

LSU took a 74-72 lead with 17.4 seconds to go after Max Mackinnon made a pair of free throws following a shooting foul that was called on Oweh.

Pope called timeout with 12.8 seconds to go, and with the game in the balance Oweh drove to the rim and was fouled with 4.5 seconds still on the clock. Oweh hit the first free throw and missed the second, with LSU corralling the loose ball with 1.9 seconds left. At the other end, the Tigers missed two free throws to set up Moreno’s heroics.

The Tigers were led by 16 points each from Mackinnon and Marquel Sutton. Standout frontcourt player Mike Nwoko was held in check by UK. He finished with just three points and two rebounds.

The first half was a horror show for Kentucky.

The Wildcats missed 11 of their first 12 shots from the field Wednesday and fell behind in the contest after that dismal offensive start. LSU led by 15 points inside the first nine minutes of the game and took a 16-point advantage into halftime.

This marked the eighth time in 10 games against quality opponents this season that the Cats were down at half. UK managed only 0.667 points per possession on the offensive end in the first half. Conversely, LSU shot 48% from the field in the opening period and made five first-half 3s. Kentucky had only two assists in the first 20 minutes of action and went 2 for 12 on 3s and a dismal 3 for 10 on layups.

The Wildcats’ spirited second-half surge featured an early 9-0 scoring run. UK reached its first-half scoring total (22 points) in just 8:33 of game time in the second period. It turned into a nip-and-tuck affair from there, punctuated at the end by Moreno’s buzzer-beating shot.

Kentucky was without junior guard Jaland Lowe and sophomore center Jayden Quaintance for Wednesday’s contest.

The game at LSU was Kentucky’s first game since Lowe, the team’s starting point guard, was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Earlier this week, Pope announced Lowe would undergo surgery to address the multiple right shoulder injuries he’s sustained since October.

The Cats were also without Quaintance, a projected NBA draft lottery pick who has now missed the past two games. Pope has said Quaintance is managing swelling in his surgically repaired knee. While Quaintance boasts impressive long-term potential, he’s only appeared in four games for the Cats this season following a dominant freshman year at Arizona State that was cut short due to a torn ACL.

Lowe’s absence meant Pope had shake up Kentucky’s starting lineup, and he did so in a big way. The Wildcats trotted out a first five of Aberdeen, Oweh, Kam Williams, Jelavic and Moreno. This marked the first start of the season for Jelavic and the fifth start for Williams, who is from Lafayette, Louisiana, located about an hour West of Baton Rouge.

Pope left his starters in the game for the first 5:12 of the contest. The results? A 1-for-6 start from the field offensively with two turnovers. LSU only led 6-3 after this segment of play, though. The Tigers took control of the game with a 12-0 run over 3:23 of game time prior to the midway point of the first half.

UK has now trailed by at least 12 points in three of its four SEC games so far.

UK is now 2-5 in Quad 1 games with Wednesday’s dramtic win. That’s an all important NCAA Tournament résumé metric, and the Wildcats still have plenty of work to do on that front.

LSU entered Wednesday, and remain as, the only winless team in SEC play. The Tigers checked in at No. 42 in the KenPom rankings entering the day’s slate, which ranked above six other conference schools.

Head coach Matt McMahon’s squad was also shorthanded for the game: The Tigers were without their top point guard, Dedan Thomas Jr., who leads the SEC in assists with 7.1 helpers per game. Thomas, who also leads LSU in scoring at 16.2 points per game, has missed the team’s first four SEC games with a lower leg injury. LSU has been without junior forward Jalen Reed (9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game) since late November after he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.

Both the Kentucky men’s and women’s basketball teams have won on the road at LSU this season. Both came on buzzer-beating shots. On New Year's Day, Kenny Brooks’ group went to Baton Rouge and won on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior guard Tonie Morgan.

Kentucky’s next game is the first of two regular-season meetings against border rival Tennessee. That one will start at 12 p.m. Saturday inside Knoxville’s Thompson-Boling Arena. The Volunteers (12-5, 2-2) checked in at No. 24 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Tennessee won a double overtime thriller at home over Texas A&M earlier this week. Last season, Pope’s first Kentucky team swept the regular-season series over Tennessee — securing both wins while playing shorthanded — before losing to Tennessee in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.