In a game where Kentucky was favored by 17, it took everything the Wildcats had to hold off a scrappy Mississippi State team, winning their 30th in a row at Rupp, 85-79.
Kentucky was led by a brilliant performance from Brandon Knight, scoring 24 points on 8-15 from the field, all while dishing out 7 assists, his second highest of his short career. Terrence Jones had another double-double as he scored 17 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
The biggest surprise of the night had to be from Doron Lamb who started for the first time in almost a month for the injured Darius Miller. Lamb had 20 points, tied for his third best performance of the year, hitting 7-8 attempts including 3-3 from behind the arc, with a couple of those in clutch situations.
Miller, who Calipari called highly doubtful for the game, look fine when he hit the court, scoring 13 points, blocking 2 shots and stealing the ball twice.
Mississippi State dominated the first half, jumping out to a quick 5-0 start in the first 31 seconds, causing John Calipari to call one of his “oh my gosh” 30 second timeouts.
The Bulldogs were hot from behind the arc early, jumping out to an 11 point advantage at the 10:40 mark, but the first half momentum gained by State was quickly lost on a bizarre ending to the first half.
Brandon Knight was fouled, just as he crossed mid court, with 1.1 seconds remaining. While being fouled, Knight hurled the ball forward, causing the ref to call a shooting foul and giving Knight 3 attempts from the free throw line.
MSU’s Stansbury, came unglued and in a matter of seconds, drew a warning and then a technical foul. Knight made four of his five attempts at the line, bringing Kentucky to within one of Mississippi State, 40-39, grabbing all the momentum going into the half.
The Cats opened the second half by taking their first lead of the game, 41-40, behind a Josh Harrellson layup. But Kentucky couldn’t stand their early success allowing the Bulldogs to resume the lead only 57 seconds later as DeAndre Liggins turned the ball over, leading to a 3-pointer by Jalen Steele.
It was the last time Kentucky would trail. Just moments later, behind a 15-4 Kentucky run, the Wildcats took the lead for good at 58-50.
As in the two games from last season, Mississippi State wasn’t about to roll over and play dead for the Cats, drawing within two points at the 8:01 mark, but the men in blue had the answer behind a jumper from Knight, a Harrellson dunk and a Lamb three, to once again distance themselves from the Dogs.
Again Kentucky couldn’t stand their success, finding it difficult to put away their opponent. Up 83-70 at the 3:39 mark of the second, turning the ball over twice and going stone cold from the field and the line, the Cats only managed to convert two of their six free throw attempts, including two front ends of one and ones.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State crawled back into it behind 5 points off the Cats 2 turnovers, falling just short in the end, running their record to 13-12, 5-6 in the SEC.
Up next for Kentucky, South Carolina, this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET. The game will be covered by the SEC Network.
Go Cats!!!
