It’s on January, but Mark Pope’s Kentucky squad pulled off a bit of March magic to defeat LSU in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.
The Tigers led the Wildcats by 18 points early in the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center, but Kentucky stormed all the way back to cut LSU’s lead to one point with just over five minutes left in the game. At that point, the chaos was only beginning for what was an unbelievable finish.
Kentucky’s star guard Otega Oweh went to the free-throw line with just four seconds left on the clock and his team down two with a chance to tie the game. He made the first, but missed the second foul shot in a moment that may have caused the Kentucky fans watching at home to switch the channel.
But the game wasn’t done yet, with LSU forward Pablo Tamba at the line following an intentional foul as the Tigers led by one. He missed both free throws, giving Kentucky the ball with 1.6 seconds left to send a prayer down the floor off an inbound from behind the baseline.
That prayer was answered as Collin Chandler sent a hail-mary pass to the opposite foul line which got over an LSU defender and into the hands of Kentucky big man Malachi Moreno. Moreno quickly turned around and got up a midrange jumper which found the bottom of the net and gave the Wildcats an incredible comeback win.
MALACHI MORENO WINS IT IN UNREAL FASHION FOR KENTUCKY
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) January 15, 2026
WOW 😱@KentuckyMBB pic.twitter.com/vi77oopDfi
Shades of Christian Laettner’s iconic March Madness buzzer beater, which was ironically to beat Kentucky.
With the thrilling win, Pope’s Wildcats advance to 11–6 as LSU falls to 12–5 and an 0–4 start to its SEC schedule. We’ll see whether Kentucky has any more magic up its sleeve once the Wildcats next hit the floor Saturday against No. 24 Tennessee.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kentucky Slips Past LSU on Wild Buzzer Beater Off Full-Court Pass.
