STARKVILLE — John Calipari may no longer pace back and forth in front of Kentucky’s bench, but the Wildcats are still as big a thorn as ever in Mississippi State’s side.
Calipari’s Kentucky teams were 19-1 against the Bulldogs and a perfect 9-0 at Humphrey Coliseum. MSU came close several times — the teams’ last three matchups in Starkville were decided by one possession or in overtime — but could never close the deal. Saturday night, with Mark Pope now coaching the Wildcats, was more of the same.
The No. 14 Bulldogs rallied back from a 14-point deficit in the second half and traded blows with No. 6 Kentucky down the stretch, but the Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc, handing MSU a 95-90 loss.
“They’re a very explosive offensive basketball team, and one of the things that most nights they do really well is make 3s,” Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans said. “They have a lot of weapons, and we had some breakdowns, and they made some tough ones as well.”
MSU (14-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) could not prevent Kentucky (13-3, 2-1) from making big shots in big moments. The Wildcats hit their last five shots of the first half, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Lamont Butler, and they made seven straight field goals in the second half in a stretch that covered more than five minutes. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, missed four straight 3-pointers over the last two minutes as Kentucky iced the game.
Jaxson Robinson entered Saturday shooting a shade under 30 percent from 3-point range, but he had the hot hand and helped the Wildcats build their double-digit lead early in the second half. The BYU transfer led all scorers with 27 points and was 7-for-10 from deep, including three straight makes in the first four minutes out of the break.
“They did an incredible job knocking down some shots,” MSU guard Josh Hubbard said. “We had a good game plan. Some possessions, we didn’t execute to the highest level, but besides that, they were just hitting some tough shots.”
The Bulldogs hit plenty of tough shots themselves, but at times they were too reliant on the 3-pointer, attempting a season-high 40 of them — far surpassing the previous mark of 32 against UNLV in late November.
Riley Kugel was limited to eight minutes after injuring his hand with eight minutes left in the first half, leaving the outside shooting to Hubbard, Claudell Harris Jr. and RJ Melendez. That trio combined to go 7-for-25 from distance.
“We play the game out and take what the defense gives (us),” Jans said. “Early in the game, we were a little uncharacteristic of this team. We’ve talked a lot about how unselfish our team is and how we share the basketball and how we work together offensively, and I just was a little surprised by some of our shots that we took.”
Cameron Matthews did his best to will MSU to victory, providing one highlight play after another on both ends of the floor. Four days after scoring a season-best 16 points at Vanderbilt, Matthews tied a career high with 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds, six steals and eight fouls drawn.
He posterized Robinson with a reverse dunk in the first half and barreled through the Kentucky defense like a freight train for a 3-point play in the second half. After finishing last season 2-for-21 from long range, Matthews was 2-for-3 on 3-pointers Saturday night.
“He emptied his tank,” Jans said. “He always plays hard, but tonight was a little bit different. He was all over the floor, he had a huge impact on the game, and it just would have been so nice if it would have been in a winning effort.”
Gifted an extra possession after Matthews’ second 3-pointer thanks to a Wildcats foul, the Bulldogs took their first lead of the second half four seconds later on a 3-pointer by Harris. But Ansley Almonor quieted the sellout crowd with back-to-back 3s of his own to start an 8-0 run that put Kentucky in front to stay. All five starters on both teams were in double figures, but Almonor was the only reserve on either side to crack the 10-point barrier.
The road only gets harder from here as MSU hits the road Tuesday to face an Auburn team that will likely be No. 1 in once the new polls are released.
“(This game) just shows how tough this league is. A lot of good teams in this league. They’re one of them; we’re one of them,” Matthews said. “It was a dogfight today. They just made a few more plays than us.”
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