Matt McMahon breaks down what went wrong on game-losing shot against Kentucky

On Wednesday, Kentucky freshman Malachi Moreno drained a buzzer beater from just inside the 3-point line to boost the Wildcats to a 75-74 win over LSU. After the game, Tigers head coach Matt McMahon reflected on the final play of the game.

“We wanted to have a man on the ball, which we had one of our long athletes there on the ball. We wanted to keep everything in front of us,” McMahon said. “They threw the home-run pass and unfortunately maybe we mistimed our jump a little bit there and the ball got over us and they hit a tough shot at the buzzer there to win it. That’s how it closed.”

In the opening moments of the second half, LSU boasted an 18-point lead over the Wildcats. However, Kentucky flipped a switch in the final 20 minutes of action, scoring 53 points, compared to their mere 22 points in the first half.

With the loss, LSU fell to 0-4 in conference play. In fairness, the Tigers were without leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr., but the loss stings nonetheless.

Max Mackinnon tied Marquel Sutton for the team-high with 16 points. Alas, Mackinnon shot a poor 4-16 from the field and committed two turnovers compared to three assists.

Meanwhile, Kentucky star Otega Oweh racked up 21 points on 6-13 shooting. Matt McMahon revealed his message to his team after the game.

“Really proud of their preparation and their response coming off the difficult week we had last week,” McMahon said. “I thought their performance was a reflection of the way we practiced on Monday and Tuesday. There’s going to be an emotional toll here that we weren’t able to finish the deal, but we have a quick turnaround and we’ve got to start our preparation for Missouri and build on all the good things and all the improvements that we did here today.

“I thought Marquel Sutton’s response was fantastic; he really got us off to a good start with the three-point shooting and he was overall aggressive, made free throws, and was who we needed him to be. Jalen Reese and Rashad King were fantastic at the point position by combining for 23 points and five assists. … We harped on those things and as I said, disappointed we didn’t get across the finish line at the end.”

LSU will look to bounce back when it squares off against Missouri on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will air live SEC Network.