STARKVILLE — Tuesday night’s instant classic wasn’t going to come down to anybody else but Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard.
The standout freshmen had been trading blows all night long, with Hubbard going for a career-high 34 points and Sheppard also setting a new high-water mark with 32. The Bulldogs had blown a 13-point second-half lead and trailed by eight in the final minute, but Hubbard rescued them with three 3-pointers in a 40-second span, the last of which tied the game with 10 seconds to go.
But Sheppard had one more trick up his sleeve. The Wildcats did not take a timeout, and Sheppard received the ball from D.J. Wagner up top. He sliced his way past KeShawn Murphy, then put up a floater over Hubbard at the free throw line that found the bottom of the net as Kentucky ended MSU’s five-game winning streak in a 91-89 thriller.
“Pretty fast and furious,” MSU head coach Chris Jans said. “It was a heck of a play by Josh to give us a chance to go to overtime at that point. It’s a scramble situation. I’ll have to watch the film, but (Sheppard) rose up and unfortunately I had a really good angle and I was pretty darn sure that it was going in. It was a heck of a play. He controlled, for his team, the last minute of the game. He’s so savvy and so smart, it’s like a coach out there on the floor.”
MSU (19-9, 8-7 Southeastern Conference) led for more than 34 minutes before the No. 16 Wildcats (20-8, 10-5) took their first lead of the night with less than five minutes remaining. In the first half, the Bulldogs beat Kentucky at their own game, shooting better than 50 percent overall and 5-for-9 from 3-point range to take an eight-point lead into the break.
Tolu Smith was playing like a man possessed early on, with six points and four rebounds in the first five minutes to help MSU to an 11-0 run. Sheppard soon began to heat up, making his first three shots from behind the arc, but Hubbard found his stroke as well and D.J. Jeffries drained a pair of 3-pointers late in the half to stretch the lead.
The Bulldogs remained hot out of halftime — Hubbard connected from deep and drew a foul just eight seconds into the half and hit again barely a minute later. When a Cameron Matthews steal resulted in a Shakeel Moore transition layup to put MSU up 52-39, the noise at Humphrey Coliseum reached earsplitting levels as Wildcats head coach John Calipari took a timeout.
“I’m motivated every game. We all motivate each other, put confidence in each other,” Hubbard said. “It was just another day in the office.”
Whatever Calipari said in that huddle must have settled his team down. Kentucky whittled away at the deficit despite going 3-for-12 from long range in the second half. Instead, the Wildcats moved the ball well, made excellent cuts and found open looks at the rim. They shot 61.3 percent from the field after halftime and were also a perfect 15-for-15 at the free throw line.
Kentucky’s leading scorer, Antonio Reeves, finished with 21 points, and Adou Thiero and Wagner were also in double figures. Sheppard, though, was the catalyst behind the Wildcats’ 56-point second half.
“They were playing with more pace offensively. They were more determined,” Jans said. “We had some breakdowns, giving up angles out front without the ball screens. And then when the ball screens came, for whatever reason we weren’t as aggressive early in the second half and they got downhill on us and got some lobs behind us. We were disappointed with our coverage there.”
Freshman Rob Dillingham’s 3-pointer gave Kentucky the lead for the first time, and he and Sheppard seemingly put the game away heading into the final minute. Hubbard was not going to let the Bulldogs go quietly into that good night, however — even as the Wildcats were making all of their free throws, the freshman’s shooting helped MSU draw closer. Smith came up with a clutch steal as well on a long inbound pass and hit two big free throws of his own.
With the Bulldogs down by three and 16.7 seconds on the clock, Hubbard inbounded the ball to Murphy, then got it back after breaking away from Reeves. He dribbled once to set his feet, then rose up for a deep 3-pointer that sent The Hump into a frenzy.
“We don’t look at him as a freshman. We look at him as a veteran guy,” said Smith, who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. “He plays like that. It’s a lot of high expectations for him, and he has a lot of high expectations for himself. His resume speaks for itself and goes to show how great of a player he is.”
In the end, Hubbard’s heroics went for naught as Sheppard delivered the final blow. The Wildcats have now won 19 of their last 20 games against MSU, with the lone Bulldogs victory coming in the 2021 SEC Tournament in Nashville.
MSU has another challenge ahead Saturday with a visit to No. 11 Auburn. The Bulldogs did defeat the Tigers at home back in late January.
“We’ll learn and grow and then we’ll move on,” Jans said. “This team has shown the ability to do that all year long. By the time we play our next game, it’s going to be March, and these games are obviously very meaningful. I’m sure by the time they tip the ball on Saturday, we’ll be ready to go.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
