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Regular season capped off in style

Kentucky’s regular season finale against LSU was a celebration of the career of lone senior Alex Poythress, and although the 6-foot-8 forward dunked LSU into oblivion, freshman frontcourt teammate Skal Labissiere stole the show in the No. 22 Wildcats’ 94-77 win over the Tigers.

Labissiere knocked down open jumpers all afternoon en route to 18 points—the most he’s had in a game since Nov. 27 against South Florida—and he also provided a key defensive presence by grabbing nine rebounds and blocking six shots.

“Here's a kid that's taken a lot of grief and goes for 18 and nine and six blocks,” Head coach John Calipari said. “Like he looked really good in that game, and he's getting better.”

Labissiere wasn’t the only player to star in the game, however. Five Wildcats scored in double-figures for the second straight game. Jamal Murray led UK in scoring with 22 points, making it his 10th straight game with at least 20 points. Tyler Ulis dished out 14 assists and also scored 14 points, while Marcus Lee and Poythress both pitched in 12 points.

The frontcourt has been inconsistent for seemingly the whole season, but Poythress, Labissiere and Lee combined for 42 points, 22 rebounds and six blocks against LSU. Junior forward Derek Willis also returned against the Tigers and knocked down two 3-point shots in 14 minutes of play.

With everyone back and fully healthy, Poythress believes now is the time for the Wildcats to play their best basketball.

“It’s tournament time,” Poythress said. “It’s the time you want to click. It’s when you want everyone healthy and everybody at their best. It’s what you work for all year.”

LSU’s Ben Simmons scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double, but the Tigers were subpar on defense and allowed UK to score a season-high 94 points in the game. The Wildcats also outrebounded LSU 45-29, which is the opposite of what happened in the prior matchup in January.

“The difference in the way that they played today then how they played at our place was that we were plus 16 on the boards and we out rebounded them by 16 points, and we had second chance opportunities,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said. “Today there the aggressor and did a great job of getting second chance opportunities.”

The win gave the Wildcats a share of the SEC title with Texas A&M and also marked the fifth time in seven years that UK finished the season undefeated at home. UK will play again at 7 p.m. on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.

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