It was rough, it was physical, and the emotions ran high – but Kentucky defeated Mississippi State 85-79 at Rupp to continue the second longest home win streak in Division I. It seemed like MSU was doing everything they needed to do to beat the Cats – draining threes (they shot 12 of 22 from long distance), making their free throws (17 of 19 free throws), but they couldn’t handle Kentucky’s defense. UK had 5 blocked shots, MSU – none. MSU had four more turnovers than UK as well.
Probably the most controversial call of the night came at the end of the first half, where UK was down 5 points with about 4 seconds left. Knight inbounded the ball and got fouled immediately. When Knight inbounded the ball the second time with 3 seconds left, he heaved the ball from half court and got fouled again – 3 shots. Rick Stansbury threw an absolute fit saying that Knight was passing and not shooting. The officials told him to calm down twice, and eventually gave him a technical. So with about a second left in the half, Brandon Knight shot 5 free throws, making 4 of them to bring the Cats to within 1 at the half.
Brandon Knight led all scorers with 24 points on 8 of 14 shooting, 3 of 7 from deep and 5 of 7 from the line. Knight also had 6 assists. Doron Lamb was next with 20 points on 7 of 8 shooting, making all 3 of his 3-point attempts and 3 of 4 from the line. Terrence Jones had another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and nabbed 5 assists and 2 steals. Darius Miller was supposed to be “questionable at best” tonight, but the Junior Cat had 13 points off the bench with 2 steals, 2 blocks and an assist.
Kentucky led by as many as 13 twice during the game and let Mississippi State get back to within 5, but it was at Rupp, and the home crowd spurred the team to a strong finish.
By Todd Kirby
