JEFF DRUMMOND:

It's always an adventure of some kind when Kentucky travels to Baton Rouge. This was another bizarre game with a happy ending for the Cats, who could not throw the ball in the Mississippi River during the first half, but went full-on arcade fireball mode in the second half. Kentucky shot 73.9% (17 of 23) after halftime, including their first seven 3-pointers of the period. In spite of that, John Calipari's squad had to hang on for dear life after Ashton Hagans suffered what appeared to be a deep thigh bruise with about seven minutes remaining in the game. LSU made a furious charge to make it interesting, thanks in large part to a plus-12 rebounding advantage and 26 second-chance points, but it wasn't enough to overcome UK's red-hot shooting. Immanuel Quickley had another great performance with 21 points, and Nate Sestina was huge off the UK bench with 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. What a boost it would be for the Cats to get his confidence level soaring as we draw closer to March.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

This was definitely one of Kentucky's best games of the season. The Cats did a lot of impressive things tonight. The second-half offensive execution was some of the best that we've seen from the team all season. Immanuel Quickley appears to be taking his game to a completely different level and looks like one of the best guards in the country. This was a street fight from the opening tip and UK matched the intensity, athleticism, and physicality of an impressive LSU team that had not lost a home conference game this season. Just a really big win for the Cats, who took a big step towards an SEC championship.

DAVID SISK:

OK, I’ll gladly take the hit for being the only one out of the four to pick LSU. We knew what the Tigers’ strengths were, and they did those things to a degree. They got to the line eight more times than Kentucky and outrebounded them by 12 with an astronomical 23 offensive boards. Fortunately, there was no severe foul trouble and the main cogs were able to stay on the floor. The importance there is the Wildcats has five players in double figures. LSU’s defense again was there undoing, and who can overlook UK’s seven second-half 3-pointers? LSU did cut the lead from 14 to 3 in the last three minutes. We’ll attribute that to Ashton Hagans being out against the press. Nevertheless, this was a great win on the road.

TRAVIS GRAF:

Kentucky pulled out a gutsy win on the road, finding their shot in the second half. Nate Sestina had a personal coming-out party after struggling as of late. The guards were great at getting to their spots and Nick Richards and Sestina provided phenomenal rim protection against a very athletic LSU squad. It’s a pretty obvious statement, but if Kentucky is able to shoot close to anything like they did tonight, they’re a tough out come March. The Cats are starting to close in on becoming regular-season SEC champions, and this gives UK another nice feather in their tournament resume cap. Kentucky tried to put the nail in the coffin and not make it an interesting game at the end, but LSU was able to make a game of it. One could say that they would’ve done just that, however, if Ashton Hagans was in the ball game towards the end.