Otega Oweh stands out as Kentucky dominates LSU in SEC play.

NASHVILLE – Otega Oweh had 23 points and eight rebounds and Kentucky had just five turnovers during an 87-82 win over LSU in a first-round game of the Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday.

Brandon Garrison added 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Denzel Aberdeen added 16 points for the Wildcats (20-10).

Max Mackinnon led LSU (15-17) with 28 points and Michael Nwoko added 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Kentucky will face Missouri, which beat the visiting Wildcats 73-68 on Jan. 7, in the second round on Thursday.

The Wildcats shot 50.0% from the floor and 73.9% from the foul line against LSU.

Neither team led by more than four points through the first 10 minutes of the second half.

But Kentucky began to pull apart when Garrison, who went 2 of 14 on 3-pointers on Wednesday, hit back-to-back 3s and recorded a steal on the Tigers’ next trip.

That led to a basket for Aberdeen to take a 73-64 lead with 9:29 left.

An offensive foul by Garrison with 2:10 left gave the Tigers some life, losing 81-76. However, Mackinnon threw a pass out of bounds on the Tigers’ next trip.

On Kentucky’s ensuing possession, Oweh rebounded his own fumble and then buried a mid-range jumper with 1:12 left for a seven-point advantage.

The Wildcats led 46-43 in the first half after committing four fouls on the Tigers and six on Kentucky.

However, those accused by the ‘Cats’ hurt them with paint.

Starting pitcher Malachi Moreno picked up his second foul 5 minutes, 11 seconds into the game and stayed out the rest of the first half, while Mouhamed Dioubate was charged with a flagrant 1 for his second foul with 8:07 left. Neither scored in the first half and both sat out the remainder of the period.

That made life underneath easier for Nwoko, who had 13 points and six rebounds in the first half.

Kentucky’s Kam Williams checked in with 14:10 left in the first half after missing the previous 12 games with a foot injury.

–Chris Lee (Field Level Media)