The LSU Tigers have taken sole possession of second place in the SEC after Tuesday's 73-71 victory at the buzzer over the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena.   

After Keldon Johnson tied the score at 71 with six seconds remaining, Kavell Bigby-Williams' tip-in following a missed layup by Skylar Mays gave the Tigers their biggest win of the season.

Bigby-Williams finished with five points on two field goals, but he saved his best moment for the end. Tremont Waters led the Tigers with 15 points despite shooting 3-of-13 from the field. 

Pursuing their first regular-season conference title since 2008-09, the No. 19 Tigers had not won a road game against Kentucky since that season.

Head coach Will Wade has led LSU to a 10-1 record in SEC play. Only No. 1 Tennessee (10-0) has been better. 

PJ Washington was terrific in the defeat. He finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. 

Young Wildcats Still Capable of Making Deep Tournament Run

Despite the heartbreaking end to the game, Kentucky shouldn't be discouraged by this loss. 

Head coach John Calipari has brought his team a long way since the season-opening blowout loss to Duke on Nov. 6. Even though everything's been working well on both sides of the ball, Kentucky's defense has been particularly impressive of late. 

Per Ken Pomeroy (h/t Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald Leader), the Wildcats have been better on defense than Virginia since conference play began:

"According to statistics savant Ken Pomeroy, Kentucky is playing better defense than any team in a Power Five conference since league play began. UK is allowing 88.3 points per 100 possessions to Southeastern Conference opponents, Pomeroy said in an email message.

"That's better than, say, Virginia, which has become synonymous with its Pack Line Defense. The Cavaliers have allowed 88.9 points per 100 possessions to Atlantic Coast Conference opponents going into this weekend, Pomeroy said."

The Tigers entered Tuesday's game ranked 22nd in the nation with 1.106 points per possession, per TeamRankings.com, but the Wildcats held them to 42.9 percent shooting. LSU overcame that low percentage by going 19-of-22 from the free-throw line. 

On offense, Calipari has found his go-to scorer with the emergence of Washington. The sophomore sensation has scored at least 20 points in six of Kentucky's past seven games.

Even though Duke's historic recruiting class overshadowed Calipari's freshmen, 247Sports ranked Kentucky's class second in the nation coming into the season. 

Johnson has had his ups and downs to this point. He is capable of rising to the occasion, much like he did against LSU, finishing with 16 points and showing ice in his veins with those two free throws on Kentucky's final possession to tie the score. 

Kentucky is also like Duke in that neither team is particularly good at three-point shooting. The Wildcats rank 121st in the nation, connecting on 35.7 percent of their attempts behind the arc. They went just 5-of-19 from deep against LSU. 

That is an Achilles' heel, although it's one they can overcome because of their rebounding ability. Kentucky had a 15-9 edge over LSU on the offensive glass. 

Kentucky has a knack for playing its best at the end of the season. It reached the national title game in 2013-14 despite having 10 losses and won the SEC tournament in 2015-16 after a 7-4 stretch to finish the regular season. 

Calipari's group will continue to grow together as this season moves along. The raw talent on this young roster combined with what they have already showed suggests the Wildcats will be a force when March comes around.

LSU Proves It Has Formula to Reach Final Four

The most encouraging thing to come out of LSU's performance against Kentucky was how it adjusted on defense. 

The Wildcats were shooting 46.7 percent with a 23-14 rebounding advantage to take a 40-32 lead at halftime. This game was shaping up to be another indictment of the Tigers' maligned defense. 

Per TaamRankings.com, LSU entered Tuesday's game ranked 97th in defensive efficiency. Wade figured out what his team wasn't doing well, and the players took his message during the intermission to heart. 

LSU finished the game by holding Kentucky to 31 points and 11-of-30 shooting from the field in the second half. 

Coming into the game, Wade said Kentucky would challenge his defense, via Amie Just of the Times-Picayune:

"This is obviously a different animal than we've been playing. Their size, their length, their athleticism, how big they are down low, the way they defensive rebound the ball. ... It will be a big defensive test for us. Obviously it's a very, very tough environment against the best program in our league and one of the best teams in our league."

Kentucky's 71 points marks the fourth-fewest allowed by LSU in SEC play and the first time since Jan. 30 that an opponent didn't score at least 78. 

With the defense doing its job in one of college basketball's most difficult environments to play, LSU's offense did just enough to escape with a victory. 

The Tigers' assortment of scorers didn't play their best game of the season. Waters in particular has had a difficult go of late. He's combined to shoot 8-of-30 in the past two games against Auburn and Kentucky. 

Skylar Mays was held to 11 points and went 3-of-13 from the field. 

It's a testament to Wade's coaching and the way his players respond to him that the Tigers found a way to beat their SEC rival after trailing by as many as nine points in the second half. 

LSU hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 2014-15, but this year's squad seems more than capable of playing deep into March and advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 2005-06. 

What's Next?

LSU will wrap up its brief two-game SEC road trip against Georgia on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. Kentucky will host No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.