LSU sees weak areas exposed

FAYETTEVILLE — Road losses by Auburn and LSU on Saturday left Kentucky in sole possession of first place in the SEC with six games remaining on the league schedule.

LSU, which has had defensive weaknesses exposed in the past couple of weeks, can get right back to the top tonight when it hosts Kentucky at the Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge at 8 p.m.

LSU Coach Will Wade said a 99-90 loss to Vanderbilt two weeks ago set in motion game plans for the Tigers’ opponents since then.

“Teams have figured us out,” Wade said. “They know where our weak spots are. They just attack the same two or three people over and over and over and over and over and over again. It’s not necessarily those people who get scored on, but that’s how we get put in rotation and get put behind the play and then we get scored on.

“Vanderbilt really did a good job, and teams have picked up on what they did. That was the biggest disappointment from the Vanderbilt game. Coach [Jerry] Stackhouse did a very good job exposing some of our weakest links. Now we have to go back and change some things and disguise it again.”

Kentucky (20-5, 10-2 SEC) enters with the league’s top scoring margin at plus-9.6 points per game, while LSU (18-7, 9-3) is the conference’s best shooting team at 47.7%.

“We’re in a little bit of a rut right here, and we’ve got to start playing better,” Wade said. “We haven’t been imposing our will on the glass.”

LSU, which opened 8-0 in SEC play, has lost three of its past four games. The Tigers fell 88-82 at Alabama on the same day Kentucky fought back a gritty upset bid from Ole Miss in a 67-62 decision at Rupp Arena.

Meanwhile, Missouri snapped No. 11 Auburn’s seven-game winning streak in an 85-73 win in which the visitors shot a season-low 5.9% from three-point range.

All three of Auburn’s losses have come by 12 or more points. Missouri beat a team ranked in the top 11 for the first time since edging No. 5 Florida 63-60 on Feb. 19, 2013.

LSU fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, leaving No. 10 Kentucky and No. 13 Auburn as the SEC’s only ranked teams.

LSU forward Trendon Watford (2) works inside against Alabama forward Alex Reese (3) during the Tigers’ 88-82 loss on Saturday. LSU, which has lost three of its past four games, has struggled defensively, giving up 92.7 points per game in losses to Vanderbilt, Auburn and Alabama. (AP/Vasha Hunt)