Photo Credit

LSU Alabama BasketballLSU guard Javonte Smart (1) works inside around Alabama guard Kira Lewis Jr. (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)

Vasha Hunt / Associated Press

Before the season started, LSU basketball would likely have been all in for a deal like this:

Big, bad, No. 10-ranked Kentucky. At home in the Maravich Assembly Center. A chance to tie the Wildcats atop the Southeastern Conference standings.

But, hard as it may be to remember now, LSU (18-7, 9-3) started the SEC 8-0 in the midst of a 10-game overall winning streak.

That all changed when the Tigers were shocked 99-90 at last-place Vanderbilt, which the remains the Commodores’ only conference victory.

So rather than a showdown, it’s more like a desperation recovery game for the Tigers, who come into tonight’s game having lost 3 of their last 4 to drop out of the rankings.

“We’ve got to find a way to win,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “It’s a winner’s world.

“We’re not as good as the 10 game winning streak, and we’re not as bad as we’ve been lately. We’re somewhere in between. We’re still a good team, but we’ve got to be better and improve in some areas, particularly on defense.”

It’s not as simple as a mere Vanderbilt hangover, although Wade blames the Commodores for the current struggles.

He said Vandy head coach Jerry Stackhouse did a great job of “exposing some of our weakest links.”

“I knew then that that book was out on us a little bit,” Wade said. “They were able to isolate the same two or three players almost the whole game. That’s what every team has done since then.

“Teams have figured us out. They know where our weak spots are. They attack the same two or three people over and over and over again.”

Kentucky (20-5, 10-2) has won 8 of its last 9 games with the usual arrary of young hotshots leading the way — freshmen Nick Richards, Ashton Hagans and Tyrese Maxey account for 52 percent of the Wildcats’ scoring.

The Wildcats aren’t big proponents of the 3-point shot — attempting the fewest in the SEC ­­— but might re-adjust their thinking for tonight’s visit.

LSU is No. 13 in the SEC in defending the trey, having allowed 231 on the season (only one other conference team has allowed 200).

“So now we’ve now got to go back and change some things and try to disguise (the defense) again,” Wade said.

“If we don’t play better than we did Saturday (88-82 loss to Alabama ) it’s going to a long night. We’re in a little bit of a rut here.”

The Tigers, although the No. 2 rebounding team in the SEC, have also been out-rebounded in all three of the recent losses.

“We haven’t been imposing our will on the glass,” Wade said. “We did a really poor job at Alabama, kind of the same story at Auburn in the second half.”

The Tigers will have the crowd, expected at near-capacity for a matchup that’s been long awaited.

“But Kentucky, everywhere they go it’s like this,” Wade said. “We’re excited about that but I don’t that’s going to effect Kentucky at all. They’re so used to it wherever they go … as far rattling Kentucky … I don’t sense they’re going to be real rattled by our crowd.”