The SEC tournament got what it wanted. Whether Kentucky did is another matter.
The tournament got one of its better matchups so far as the Wildcats drew LSU for their opening game Friday in the quarterfinals. Kentucky faced the Tigers twice in the regular season and got all it could handle both times. They split, with LSU winning 87-82 on Jan. 28 in Baton Rouge and the Wildcats pulling out a 77-76 victory with a last-second basket by Julius Randle in overtime at Rupp Arena on Feb. 22.
The rubber game will be settled beginning at 7 p.m. Friday after No. 7-seed LSU dispatched 10th-seeded Alabama 68-56 in the second round Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.
“Oh, man, I can’t wait. I just can’t wait,” LSU forward Johnny O’Bryant, who scored 11 points Thursday, said of the Kentucky rematch. “It was a great game up there at UK, and we played well at our place. I’s going to be different environment on a neutral court, and we know the Big Blue Nation is going to be there. Should be a great game, a great atmosphere.”
The Crimson Tide had a chance to be there instead. They got within eight points several times Thursday and had a chance to get much closer. But missed free throws stymied the comeback attempt. They were 14-of-26 from the line (53.8 percent) and missed four of five during a critical stretch late in the half.
Instead of Alabama getting closer, LSU stretched its lead. A 3-point basket by Shavon Coleman at the 5:26 was followed 34 seconds later with one by Andre Stringer and the Tigers led 65-50.
LSU (19-12) cruised home from there. The Tigers got 15 points from Coleman, an unexpected dozen from freshman Tim Quarterman and 10 from Jarell Martin. They out-rebounded Bama 38-31.
The loss ended a difficult season for the Crimson Tide (13-19), who are in their fifth season under coach Anthony Grant. Playing the No. 2-rated schedule in the country — including games against Duke, Wichita State, Oklahoma, UCLA and Xavier — Alabama failed to record a win over an RPI top-50 team.
“I believe in what we do and how we do it,” Grant said. “We challenged ourselves tremendously this season. The results weren’t what we wanted, but we’ll continue to do that. We just have to raise our level of play.”
LSU, meanwhile, still has postseason goals to achieve. The Tigers came in with a .500 conference record and an RPI of 73. A victory over Kentucky would improve their resume, but that’s not the motivation.
“We knew they were there (ahead in the bracket),” O’Bryant said of Kentucky. “But we knew we had to focus on Alabama. Now we can focus on Kentucky, and we’re going to be ready to play.”
It was mostly a back-and-forth affair in the first half, with Alabama forging a 21-18 lead over the first 11 minutes of play. But the final 8:21 of the half belonged to the Tigers, who outscored their opponent 17-3 to go into halftime with a 35-24 lead.
An unlikely player was in the middle of LSU’s surge. Quarterman, a guard from Savannah, led the Tigers with nine first-half points. That matched his previous season high for an entire game (vs. UAB on Dec. 21). Quarterman’s slam dunk off a missed 3-pointer gave the Tigers a 33-24 lead with 2:16 to go.
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