LSU takes down No. 11 Kentucky

LSU never trailed in shocking No. 11 Kentucky 87-82 in Baton Rouge.

LSU (13-6, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) jumped out to a 22-6 lead and snapped a five-game losing streak to the Wildcats, winning for the first time since the opening game of the 2009 SEC Tournament.

The closest Kentucky (15-5, 5-2) got was 29-27 on a three-point play by Alex Poythress with five and a half minutes to go until halftime. The visitors were also within three points on two occasions later in the half, but Anthony Hickey’s jumper gave LSU a 36-31 lead and the cushion didn’t fall below five points the rest of the night.

Johnny O’Bryant had a season-high 29 points for LSU. James Young paced Kentucky with 23 points.

A look at the rest of Tuesday’s college basketball action…

No. 4 Wichita State 57, Loyola (Chicago) 45

In a defensive struggle befitting of two of the top defensive teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Shockers celebrated their highest ranking in more than 32 years by staying unbeaten.

The Shockers’ conference-best defense held the visiting Ramblers to 35 percent shooting and 18 percent from three-point range, but Wichita State (22-0, 9-0) couldn’t do much either against Loyola’s second-rated defense, hitting just 36 percent from the field.

Cleanthony Early, fresh off being named the league’s player of the week, scored 23 points for the Shockers, whose Associated Press ranking is the highest since being No. 2 in December, 1981.

For Loyola (8-13, 3-6), which lost its 13th consecutive road game, Milton Doyle was the only player in double figures with 16 points.

It was the first meeting between the schools since Wichita State won in Indianapolis in December, 1989.

No. 20 Creighton 63, St. John’s 60

Doug McDermott hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with two seconds left as the Bluejays won their third consecutive game.

That was far from the only highlight for McDermott, the nation’s second-leading scorer. The senior forward scored 39 points, his seventh 30-point game of the season and just five points off his career high, and made 15-of-26 field goal attempts.

McDermott’s jumper with 25 seconds remaining put Creighton (18-3, 8-1 Big East) up 60-58, but St. John’s (12-9, 2-6) pulled even when Rysheed Jordan hit two free throws with 11 seconds to play.

D’Angelo Harrison scored 15 points to lead the visiting Red Storm, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Missouri 75, Arkansas 71

Earnest Ross hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with just over one minute to play in the Tigers’ road victory.

Missouri (16-4, 4-3 SEC) won in Arkansas for the first time since December, 1991. That win came at Barnhill Arena and Tuesday’s victory snapped a six-game losing streak at Bud Walton Arena, which opened in 1993.

Arkansas (13-7, 2-5) had tied the game at 64-64 on Rashad Madden’s three-point play at the 1:58 mark. Ross knocked down his shot, then the Tigers were 8-of-8 from the free throw line to seal the win.

Ross and Jabari Brown each had 24 points to lead all scorers. Brown, the SEC’s leading scorer, was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers and in the last five games is averaging over 24 points and hitting 68 percent of his three-point attempts.

Madden had 20 points to lead the Razorbacks.

Virginia 68, Notre Dame 53

The Cavaliers made 53 percent of their shots in winning their fourth straight game.

Both Malcolm Brogdon (16 points) and Mike Tobey (14 points) each were 7-of-10 from the field and the Virginia (16-5, 7-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) defense, which is third nationally in points allowed, held the host Fighting Irish to its lowest point total in 29 games.

Zach Auguste scored 10 points for Notre Dame (11-10, 2-6), which is off to its worst conference start since the 2005-2006 team began 1-8.