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No. 13 Kentucky throttles past LSU

Jan 16, 2011 - 12:41 AM Lexington, KY (Sports Network) - Freshman Brandon Knight hit a career-best five three-pointers en route to scoring 19 points, and grabbed six rebounds, to lead a balanced attacked as 13th-ranked Kentucky throttled LSU, 82-44, at Rupp Arena.

"Brandon is starting to make such better decisions," Kentucky assistant coach John Robic said. "He is leading the team, he is being more vocal and I think that is true with any freshman point guard. The thing that separates him from freshman point guards we've had in the past is that he can knock down shots. He set the tone for us offensively."

Fellow freshman Terrence Jones collected 17 points and seven boards while DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller supplied 15 points apiece for the Wildcats (14-3, 2-1 SEC), who have won two in a row and nine of their last 10 games.

Garrett Green scored 13 points and pulled down nine caroms and Aaron Dotson added 10 points for the Tigers (10-8, 2-1), who shot a paltry 26 percent in becoming the last team in the SEC to suffer its first loss in league play.

"They definitely played up to the hype, they all played very well," Green said of the young Wildcats. "We have to get in the gym, work on our shots and just keep pushing forward."

Kentucky jumped out to a 12-2 lead and held a 19-6 edge after a Doron Lamb three-pointer with 12:45 left in the first half.

Liggins and Knight knocked down back-to-back threes to push the hosts lead to 30-13 with nine minutes to go before the break.

The Wildcats lead grew to as many as 30 in the first half as the hosts took a 48-19 lead into the intermission after the Tigers made just 6-of-33 shots from the floor.

LSU never got closer than 29 in the second half.

Game Notes

Kentucky shot 41.4 percent overall but made 10-of-20 from beyond the arc in improving to 9-0 at home...Knight had made four threes four different times before Saturday...Jones was 11-of-14 from the line...Kentucky outscored LSU 32-16 in the paint...Kentucky leads the all-time series, 80-24, including a 39-5 mark in Lexington...LSU played without leading scorer Ralston Turner for a third straight game...Green made 5-of-16 shots while Andre Stringer was only 3-of-16 for the Tigers, who finished 17-of-65 from the field...Former LSU head coach Dale Brown and former Tigers' forward Rudy Macklin, who is the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer in school history, were in attendance.