Despite two monstrous performances from sophomore Patrick Patterson and junior Jodie Meeks, the Kentucky Wildcats dropped their second straight decision, losing 73-70 Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena.
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Anthony Brock scored 17 points and Alabama snapped an 18-game SEC road losing streak Saturday with a 90-69 win over Mississippi.
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Yes, there’s been a lot of moaning and gnashing of teeth lately about the state of the Razorback basketball program, and we’ll be the first to say that it’s far from unwarranted (and we’ve certainly contributed to that ourselves). But, something really awesome is happening this weekend and we should all take a moment to appreciate that.

For the first time in 15 years, the Greatest Razorback Team of All-Time is getting back together and will finally be publicly honored by the university. We’ve been advocating this for a long time, and just a few years ago it seemed like it might never come to pass, so the entire Razorback Expats, Inc staff is happy beyond words at this turn of events.

So, let’s all set aside the current worries and gripes and bask in the glow of these Razorback legends being reunited. There’s plenty of great reading (and listening) out there if you want to really dive in. For example:

* an in-depth podcast over at Whole Hog Sports featuring some Arkansas media veterans recounting their memories and tales from that historic season. Very cool

* the gang at ArkansasSports 360 is all over it with tons of great stuff. There are too many links for us to include here, but you might want to start with here and here…nice recounts of what’s happening and how it all came to pass.

* actually one more from ArkansasSports 360: their take on the most memorable games of the Nolan era. If our slacker interns would ever pick up the pace, we might do our own version of this at some point.

* a multi-part series of championship memories over at the Hog Blog.

And, if you’re a fan of the Razorback Expats’ uniquely geeky take on Arkansas sports, I’m very excited to report that we’ve managed to infiltrate the proceedings ourselves and will be giving you a firsthand report next week. Stay tuned for that…in the meantime, kick back and think of long, championship-winning 3-pointers swishing through the net as the shot clock expires.

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This team just keeps doing it.  It almost doesn’t matter what happens in the first 35 minutes of the game.  We will win it in the final 5.  This game was no exception.

I was right about Kentucky having a big mismatch inside.  It would have been true even if Chris Johnson was healthy, which he was not.  Our strategy was to accept the mismatch, give up the points to Patrick Patterson and make sure Jodie Meeks didn’t beat us.  For about 16 minutes of the first half, it seemed to work brilliantly.  For the next 14 minutes of the game, it appeared to be pure folly.  After going ahead by as much as 12, we fell behind by as much as 10.  The Rupp crowd was loving it and we appeared to be out of it.

But this team is never out of it.  At that point, the big mismatch that LSU has over Kentucky took over.  We’re tougher, both mentally and physically.  If this LSU team is in the game at all with the clock below 10 minutes, you have to like our chances.  This time, we were barely in it, but it was enough.  It took a 3-pointer with under 10 seconds remaining to break a 70-all tie, but that’s the kind of thing this team does.

Give Kentucky a little credit.  They found a lineup that seems to have corrected some of their problems.  Guard Darius Miller took over for Michael Porter in the second half and settled the team down, showing toughness and assertiveness with the ball, two things Porter has lacked all season.  Forward Kevin Galloway didn’t score much, but was solid.  It may be too late for Kentucky, but this appears to be their lineup of the future.

For once, LSU got really solid contributions from the bench.  Terry Martin provided points and surprisingly solid defense subbing in for both Garrett Temple and Bo Spencer.  It seems he has fully learned the lessons that Trent Johnson was trying to teach by suspending him.  I’m glad he’s finishing up his college career as a solid contributor.  Storm Warren, who had apparently been on some kind of a Mormon mission for a couple weeks, took a lot of minutes in the second half, as Chris Johnson was ill and Quintin Thornton was in foul trouble (and, let’s face it, was ineffective as well, committing 4 fouls in 7 minutes).  

Storm was no more a match physically for Patrick Patterson than either of the other guys were, but he put in a game effort and had at least some effectiveness on the defensive side of the court.  I think he has a real future as a solid 4 or an out-of-position 5, especially if he can further develop the offensive part of his game.

But the story, of course, was the first half play of Tasmin Mitchell and the second half play of Marcus Thornton.  I don’t care what anyone says about Patterson, Meeks, and others.  Marcus Thornton is the best all-around player in the conference this year.  He has improved his game so much from last year that he is virtually a different player.  He’s tougher around the basket.  He’s a rebounding machine for a guard, pulling down 9 tonight.  He’s cut down on his turnovers and increased his assists.  He takes better shots, rarely forcing bad shots up anymore.  He isn’t a lock-down defender, but he is dramatically improved on defense from last year.  The guy is a great player at this level.

Tasmin Mitchell carried the team in the first half with 16 points, and Thornton carried us in the second with about 20.  Mitchell was quiet in the second half, but when the Kentucky defense rushed to stop Marcus Thornton from taking a go-ahead 3 pointer, Taz flashed open for his favorite perimeter shot, the set shot from the top of the key.  He buried the 3 pointer and Kentucky missed the desperation three-pointer at the end.

Don’t forget, also, the good game that Bo Spencer had, including 4 big three-pointers and a big runner in the lane towards the end.  Garrett Temple played brilliant defensively, combining with Terry Martin to hold Jodie Meeks to 1-of-9 shooting from three.  He got his points, but did it mostly in transition.  The only thing that kept him from shutting down Meeks entirely was the foul trouble he got into.

This game clinches sole possession of the SEC Title for LSU.  Congratulations.  It’s been a great season.  Now go get the SEC Tournament championship too.

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Late in today’s live blog, I said A.J. Stewart left Tasmin Mitchell open for a jump shot at the…

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From the post-game press conference after LSU’s 73-70 win over Kentucky:

• UK coach Billy Gillispie pins the loss on himself for a bad substitution.

• Kevin Galloway talks about the loss.

• LSU coach Trent Johnson talks about his team clinching the SEC overall crown.

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Another day, another frustrating loss for Kentucky.  I said this was the biggest game of the year for the ‘Cats, and it was.  It was a great college basketball game by both teams, incredible intensity and tenacious defense — the kind of game you expect to see at the end of February, but not the kind of results the Cats have historically expected.

Congratulations to the LSU Tigers.  They were the best team today — barely.  But the stat that counts the most is the final score, and when you are on the long end of that at Rupp Arena, you have a lot to be proud of.  LSU’s maturity was very much evident in today’s game, and it wound up being the edge they needed to pull out a hard fought win.  Well done, Tigers, and congrats to all the LSU fans out there.  Your team did you proud.

For Kentucky, this was a big improvement from the South Carolina game in every way but the one that matters most — the final score.  This was also a tale of two halves — a first half which looked very much like the Kentucky we have seen all to often lately, and the second half, which was a Jodie Meeks three or a challenged Marcus Thornton three and missed free throw away from a  big win.  You hate to lose games after getting a decent lead, but LSU is such a mature and experienced team that they have no quit or panic in them, and that was all they needed to fight back for a victory.

Some observations:

• I predicted that Garrett Temple could not guard Meeks.  I was both right and wrong.  For about 20 minutes, he gave Meeks fits, but then Jodie used his quickness to put Temple in foul trouble, limiting him to only 25 minutes.  Meeks was a missed free throw away from his average.
• I was also concerned about Thornton, and that proved to be right.  But I was wrong about him also.  He did not do all his damage from the perimeter, as I have seen most times this year.  In the end, he took UK to the hole and did a ton of damage.
• Tasmin Mitchell was simply all-world.  He was almost singularly responsible for defeating the cats.  21 points and 8 rebounds.
• The adjustment Gillispie made at half was to go with Galloway at the point guard, and it paid off in spades.  I have been very critical of Porter starting and playing all these minutes, and I wonder if Gillispie hasn’t finally just gotten fed up with the limitations Porter has.  I have never seen Porter look more tentative, and he managed one assist and two turnovers in only seventeen minutes.
• Patrick Patterson was back to his old self, and got the job done.  He did everything he possibly could.
• Perry Stevenson once again disappeared after the first half.  I can’t explain it.  He played reasonably well in the first half, and then simply vanished like Frodo putting on the Ring of Power.  I have no idea what’s happening there.
• Darius Miller once again came up huge on both sides of the ball.  Watching his confidence and ability grow is just a wonderful thing for this aging Kentucky fan.  I just love what he is doing.
• DeAndre Liggins did not play much today, because he got lazy defensively.  End of story.
• Josh Harrelson gave us some help, but vanished after four minutes and never got back in the game.
• I think Gillispie just stuck with the lineup in the second half because it was playing so well, but he really should have gotten them more rest.  I don’t get the lack of substitution that seems to be a Gillispie hallmark in the second half of games.  But, at least I saw something new and different that actually worked, and it gives me hope.
• Gillispie’s game plan was the same one as it has been all year.  The problem is, when Meeks or Patterson aren’t 100%, it just doesn’t work.  I suppose there is just not much to be done about it.  We either win or lose with Meeks and Patterson.
• Ramon Harris just didn’t have much of an impact, except for one huge rebound and stick-back.  But other than that, he was not a factor at all.
• Bo Spencer killed us in the first half, but we contained him for the most part in the second half.
• Great job by Kevin Galloway.  He brought energy and defense and really was the difference in the second half.  I am excited that he is finally emerging as a player on this team, and he was a big factor in this game, even though his stat line isn’t very impressive with only 3 points, 2 assists and one rebound.
• We shot 54% for the game.  And lost.  Seems impossible, doesn’t it?  But only 69% from the line, which turned out to be the difference.
• A.J. Stewart blew an assignment in the end that resulted in an open look for Mitchell.  Mitchell made it.  Ouch.

This was a tough loss, and I am bitterly disappointed.  But that disappointment is tempered with the hope that Gillispie may finally be learning and changing his maddening ways in a manner that may give us a chance to win some games at the end of the season.

As I said in my last postmortem, I have no real hopes for this season.  They basically breathed their last breath with the embarrassing loss to South Carolina.  But we all knew this team would have some difficulties coming in, and assuming Patterson and Meeks stay around another year, help is on the way.  I know it seems kind of weak to already be looking toward next year with so much of this season left, but I have come to the realization that we just aren’t a particularly good team this year, and we just don’t have enough offense to do much damage in the post season.  As the JAG prosecutor played by Kevin Bacon said in A Few Good Men, “Those are the facts … and they are undisputed.”

Anthony Brock scored 17 points as Alabama snapped an 18-game SEC road game losing streak Saturday with a 90-69 win over Ole Miss.
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The Rebels belted out 16 hits on the way to 13 runs, but it wasn't enough to hold off No. 16 TCU (5-1) as No. 13 Ole Miss (3-3) fell by a score of 19-13 on Saturday.
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell broke a tie game with a three pointer from the top of the key with 9.8 seconds to play, as the No. 18-ranked LSU men's basketball team cliched the SEC regular season title with its first win at Rupp Arena since 1989, 73-70, on Saturday.
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