Post-game notes, quotes and thoughts

Posted at 9:37 p.m. ET – Eric Lindsey, UK Media Relations

There is no telling where Kentucky will be headed two Sundays from tomorrow or any indication if Saturday’s loss could be the ultimate pop to the Wildcats’ bubble status.

But it was very evident after the game that this one might have hurt a little worse than the previous losses. The loss stung for so many reasons.

The UK players spoke Friday about the do or die situation they faced heading into the matchup with the nationally ranked Tigers. The stakes weren’t quite that high Saturday, but it was certainly a missed opportunity for the Wildcats to steal a signature win to add to the tourney resume.

After trailing nearly the entire first half, UK went up by as many as 10 points with 11 minutes remaining in the second half. With Patrick Patterson absolutely dominating (I thought it was his best all-around game of the season), Jodie Meeks scoring his typical 24 points per game and the infusion of Darius Miller and Kevin Galloway in the second half, it looked like there was no way the Wildcats could let a double digit lead slip away at Rupp Arena.

Against any other team, that likely would have been the case. But if there is one difference between the two teams, it was experience and court savvy. LSU had it; UK didn’t.

With a senior-laden roster, LSU never panicked when it got down 10 points or in the late-game situation. There was a sense of confidence around them like they never knew they weren’t going to lose.

“I think the experience of this team has been very important,” LSU Coach Trent Johnson said. “There are a lot of guys on this team that are experienced and have been in some of these situations before so you have to give them credit for knowing what to do in these types of situations.”

The difference was UK isn’t used to handling those tight situations yet. The infusion of Miller and Galloway undoubtedly gave UK the lead in the second half when the Wildcats picked up the tempo a bit, but the inexperience of some of the players also came back to haunt them.

“We started disrupting them and got a big lead but then we relaxed too much,” UK Coach Billy Gillispie said. “We aren’t mature enough to be a team that stays composed. We didn’t play smart enough.”

A couple of miscommunication problems led to two LSU 3-pointers in the final 1:19, but none was bigger than Tasmin Mitchell’s trey from the top of the key with 9.8 seconds remaining.

Mitchell rolled off a screen at the top of the circle, but Galloway and A.J. Stewart didn’t switch over and Mitchell was wide open for the straightaway jumper.

“I was supposed to switch off but I got caught up in the motions and wanted to guard the ball and didn’t switch,” Galloway said.

Meeks had a chance to tie it at the end of the game – a highly contested 3-pointer at the top of the key – but it never touched iron.

“Last year we had Joe (Crawford) and Ramel (Bradley), and last year in key situations we would always look for those two,” Patterson said. ‘This year we have Jodie and I, but I don’t think that we are doing as good of a job that they did as seniors last year. It’s probably an experience issue Ramel also wanted the ball in his hands and was able to pull things out down the stretch. Jodie and I haven’t been able to close it out like we were able to last year.”

But Galloway and Patterson taking the blame isn’t the point. The point is what Patterson said: it’s an experience issue.

Wildcat fans never want to hear excuses and losing a second straight game given the possible ramifications is a tough pill to swallow, but the experience issue was really the difference in the game.

LSU had been there before and could finish it off. UK simply couldn’t.

It’s a lesson UK is still learning, unfortunately it might be too late in the season to be experiencing those growing pains.

- One other note: Gillispie was quick to take the blame for the loss after the game. He wouldn’t give the player’s name that he was talking about, but he said he made a substitution around the 10-minute mark that he said cost them the game.

“I made a critical, critical, critical substitution in that time when we had a 10-point lead and played the wrong guy,” Gillispie said. “Ramon (Harris) knocked his shoulder out of place or something. He looked like he was really hurting so I subbed. That’s what got us in that position in the first place and what got us beat in the end. Bad mistake by me.”