LSU at Kentucky

Recap

The Big Storyline: Kentucky’s annual Excite Night in Rupp Arena originally lived up to its name with the Tigers and the Wildcats within a half point of each other after the second rotation. LSU improved its bar total from last week by almost half a point and Kentucky was able to increase its numbers on vault and bars. In the second half of the meet, though, Kiya Johnson’s later-confirmed Achilles injury on floor, and Bryce Wilson’s scary fall on beam, stifled LSU’s momentum and the Wildcats were able to move past to come out on top.

Implications: Johnson’s injury will cause Jay Clark to make some strategic lineup decisions for the Tigers moving forward. The Wildcats will move up to the top half of the SEC rankings and into the top 10 nationally.

Records: Friday’s win was only the 10th time in series history that the Wildcats beat the Tigers. 

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 10 LSU at No. 12 Kentucky

Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: When Kentucky made its way to Baton Rouge last season, it scraped out a win by half a tenth after a controversial decision to allow Josie Angeny to redo her beam routine after an equipment malfunction. If the results of the first week are anything to go off of, this matchup may end up being similarly close. LSU is on a revenge tour after finishing in the bottom half at SECs and not qualifying for nationals, and this meet against Kentucky is the first step in re-establishing conference dominance. 

You Can Fast Forward, but not Through This: LSU will be relying on the talents of up to four all-arounders—Kiya Johnson, Aleah Finnegan, Alyona Shchennikova and Haleigh Bryant—to make up the bulk of its lineups. Bryant and Johnson are arguably the NCAA’s biggest one-two punch on vault and will be ones to watch thanks to their outstanding difficulty and—especially in Bryant’s case—execution on all four events. Finnegan will also enter the meet in an eight-way tie for first on floor after Week 1. Kentucky has a superstar all-arounder of its own in Raena Worley, who ended the 2022 regular season ranked fourth in the nation.