No. 9 seed Kentucky men’s basketball opened its 2026 SEC Tournament with a 87-82 victory over the No. 16 seed LSU Tigers in the first game of the five-day tournament. 

Kentucky was able to return sophomore guard Kam Williams, who was sidelined with a foot injury just over six weeks ago, bringing some extra comfort to the rotation that has been shortened a ton since the beginning of the season. 

Head coach Mark Pope rolled out his usual starting lineup: Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, Andrija Jelavic and Malachi Moreno.  

LSU was able to take control first, leading 4-0 after Michael Nwoko sank back-to-back buckets from the get-go, and on the other end, Oweh was UK’s first point scorer, making a layup to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Tigers.

The pace of the game was rapid from the start as both teams combined for 21 points by the time the first media timeout was called; Kentucky started 5-10 from the field while LSU started 4-11. 

At that point, Kentucky held an 11-10 advantage while Jelavic had seven points. 

Williams made his official return to the court with just over 14 minutes to go in the first half, and in his first stint he recorded three points over a six-minute span. 

With around 10:30 to play in the first half, Oweh scored and hit a pretty hefty career milestone, passing former Wildcat Antonio Reeves for the second most points by a Wildcat over the course of a two-year span. 

Chandler was able to score a quick five points for UK, courtesy of a step-back triple and a tough mid-range floater. At that point, UK held a 30-26 lead with 7:06 remaining. 

Ignited from Chandler’s buckets, the Cats were able to mount a strong wave of offense which gave them a 37-28 advantage.

However, LSU punched back and went on a 5-0 spirt, making the score read 37-32, still in favor of Kentucky with 4:52 remaining. 

LSU got within two points, 41-39, with less than 1:30 remaining in the first half after five successful field goal attempts on its last six field goal attempts. At that point, Nwoko led the Tigers with 12 points and six rebounds.

Kentucky closed the first half with a small 46-43 lead, shooting 18-34 (52.9%) from the field and 4-12 (33.3%) from deep. LSU was shooting 16-33 (48.5%) from the field and 5-11 (45.5%) from downtown. 

Oweh led UK in first half points with 13 points while Aberdeen had eight. The bench totaled 11 points while the team produced 22 points in the paint. 

On UK’s first try down in the second half, Jelavic missed a 3-point attempt, and on the other end, LSU’s Max Mackinnon opened LSU’s second half scoring with a made mid-range jumpshot.

Building off the momentum from its opening sequence, LSU was eventually able to grab a 54-53 lead with 15:12 remaining in the game, which was its first lead since the score was 17-16 with 12:30 to go in the first half.

UK was able to strike back and boost its lead to two possessions after Mo Dioubate finished a layup through contact, which he then followed up with a made free-throw. 

With just under 10 minutes remaining in the first round contest, UK owned a 71-64 advantage after big man Brandon Garrison drained back-to-back 3-point field goals, causing a vocal eruption from those members of Big Blue Nation that were in attendance and a timeout by LSU head coach Matt McMahon. 

Out of the timeout, Aberdeen picked the momentum back up for the Cats by making a layup, and from there, the Cats defense had a strong defensive stand, holding LSU to no field goals over the span of nearly four minutes. 

With five minutes to go, the Wildcats owned a nine-point, 77-68 lead, but shortly after, they allowed the Tigers to close the gap to seven points, forcing a timeout by Pope. 

With 0:48 remaining, Kentucky’s lead was squeezed to just five points following a made layup by LSU’s Jalen Reece, however, following some late free-throw’s, UK was able to walk out of the first round with a victory.

Oweh finished with a team-high 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists, shooting 8-19 from the field and 0-3 from downtown. 

Sitting behind Oweh in total points scored for the Cats was Garrison, who reached 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.

Wednesday marked Garrison’s first time achieving double-digits since Feb. 4, back when he scored 20 points against Oklahoma inside of Rupp Arena.

The Wildcats will return to action tomorrow, facing No. 8 seed Missouri (20-11, 10-8 SEC) at 12:30 p.m. EST in the second round. The game will be aired live on the SEC Network.