Mississippi State entered its Southeastern Conference opener sporting one of the best defenses in the nation, and while some of that was certainly a product of a soft non-conference schedule, the Bulldogs had nonetheless established an identity starting on that end of the floor.

In Thursday night’s SEC opener, No. 16 Kentucky made mincemeat out of that MSU defense, making a program record 18 three-pointers and rolling to a 91-69 win over the Bulldogs. And it’s not like the Wildcats are a great outside shooting team — they entered the game 13th in the conference in 3-point percentage at 29.6% before finishing 18-for-33 against MSU.

Dazia Lawrence and Georgia Amoore led Kentucky with a combined 55 points and were responsible for almost all of that success from behind the arc, hitting seven times apiece from long range. It was more than enough to overcome the Bulldogs’ 42 points in the paint, and MSU (13-2, 0-1 SEC) could have been much better inside, finishing just 16-for-32 on layups.

The Wildcats (12-1, 1-0) are the best shot-blocking team in all of Division I women’s basketball, and their two starting post players, Clara Strack and Teonni Key, combined for nine blocks in this game. That interior defense helped Kentucky build a double-digit first-quarter lead from which it never looked back.

The size of Strack and Key bothered Bulldogs center Madina Okot. The Kenyan, in her first season playing in the United States, put up excellent numbers in non-conference play but struggled in her first game facing SEC bigs. Okot had just four points on 2-for-6 shooting and spent much of the night in foul trouble, picking up her third foul with just less than four minutes remaining in the first half.

Jerkaila Jordan led MSU with 17 points and Eniya Russell, who spent the last two seasons playing for Kentucky, added 13, but each shot just 33%. The Bulldogs’ most efficient offensive player was second-string post player Quanirah Montague, who spelled Okot for much of the game and had 13 points on 5-for-6 from the floor.

MSU had an 18-8 edge in second-chance points, but that was mostly a product of the Wildcats shooting so well. The biggest bright spot for the Bulldogs was their season-low 10 turnovers, an issue head coach Sam Purcell has stressed at nearly every opportunity.

The schedule gets no easier for MSU, which returns to Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to host defending national champion South Carolina. The No. 2 Gamecocks earned a 31-point victory at Missouri in their conference opener Thursday.