History of LSU Basketball

1977-78 season LSU won over Kentucky in triple overtime 95-94 and all of LSU's starters had fouled out of the game. I can't remember if there were 5 freshman on the floor at the end of the game, but I am pretty sure there were at least 4 freshman. I have a book about the game called FIVE: The Night Dale Brown’s Bench Met the Best Review on FIVE

This was from Rudy Macklin on the game:

quote:

---

A record crowd of 14,551 crammed into the LSU Assembly Center on Feb. 11, 1978 to watch the Tigers, 13-7 on the year, take on the No. 1-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Seven times since the Associated Press poll began in the late 1940s, the Tigers had played the No. 1 team with little results to show for it. Most of the time that No. 1 team was Kentucky. Earlier in the year, Kentucky had defeated LSU, 96-76, in a game more famous for Coach Brown's post-game comments that the Wildcats "brutalized" the game. So to say things were a little fired up going into the game, might be an understatement. Someone must have told the two officials it was going to be a physical game because fouls were being called right and left. In fact Kenny Higgs would start the parade of those fouling out with 18 minutes to go in the game. Macklin, with his mom and dad in from Kentucky to watch the game, scored a game-high 23 points for the Tigers but watched the last five minutes and overtime from the Tiger bench after fouling out. By the end of things, all five LSU starters had fouled out. Of the game, won by LSU, 95-94, Dale Brown would say: "Kentucky refused to give up and we refused to let them win." Macklin said: "The key to the game was that we never lost our confidence - not a man on the team - and even though we had starters out on fouls - we didn't lose confidence." Today, Macklin remembers the night of the game like this: "We had lost to the Wildcats in Lexington earlier that year as a result of foul trouble, and we knew that we did not play our best game. When Kentucky came to Baton Rouge as the No.1 team in the country, the entire basketball world smelled an upset. As for me, I had slowed the game down mentally. Everything I did, including my approach to the game the week before was in slow motion. I walked slower to a huddle. If I fell to the floor I got up slow. When shooting a free throw, I walked to line slowly. I got dressed slowly. I took my time getting off the bench after timeouts. And as always, I listened to my smooth contemporary jazz before the game. The entire approach helped calm me down. This approach worked. I went 11-for-12 from the field to lead all scorers; but more importantly, we beat the No. 1 team in the land.

---