Kentucky Fans Remain Unconvinced Despite Malachi Moreno’s Buzzer Beater vs. LSU

The Kentucky Wildcats’ trip to Baton Rouge was supposed to be an opportunity. An opportunity to find their rhythm again, to build their team chemistry better, especially after the loss they suffered recently. Instead, what fans saw was a team struggling to keep up with a much lower-ranked team. And while they escaped with a narrow win thanks to Malachi Moreno, their uneven performance only fueled lingering doubts.

For their fifth conference game of the 2025-26 NCAA season, the Wildcats locked horns with the LSU Tigers. But what was supposed to be an easy win quickly slipped into familiar territory for Kentucky fans.

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The warning signs showed up almost immediately, as their offense opened the night flat and disconnected. The Wildcats delivered an ice-cold first half at the Food City Center, and the Tigers made sure to take full advantage of it. By the time the first-half buzzers sounded, the Tigers already built a 16-point lead.

That early collapse dug a hole Kentucky has struggled to escape all season. They trailed by as many as 18 points during the game, tying the largest comeback of the Mark Pope era. The Wildcats entered the game shorthanded once again, playing without their star guard Jaland Lowe, who wasrecently ruled out for the season following shoulder surgery. With him sidelined, Pope has leaned heavily on freshmen in high-pressure SEC games.

Still being winless in the conference, the Tigers controlled the game for more than 36 minutes and had multiple chances to put it away. Kentucky didn’t take its first lead until the final four minutes. The game was clearly in the bag of the Tigers as they went on to secure one point lead at 74-73, but Malachi Moreno’s buzzer-beating jump shot flipped the script and sealed a dramatic victory for the Wildcats.

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“We have to credit LSU. They’re a terrific defensive team. They’ve been a comeback team in their first three games,” coach Mark Pope said in a post-game interview.

“And they switched a…

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Publish date : 2026-01-15 10:31:00

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