Mississippi State men’s basketball is still looking for its first regular-season win over Kentucky since 2009 after a difficult showing at Rupp Arena on Saturday. Head coach Chris Jans saw his squad start strong before stumbling the rest of the way in a 92-68 loss to the Wildcats, suffering their first SEC defeat of the season.
The Bulldogs (10-6, 2-1 SEC) jumped out to an early lead, starting with a 12-2 run and capitalizing on a disjointed start from the Wildcats. The slow start for Kentucky was compounded with a shoulder injury to starting guard Jaland Lowe, who left the game aearly and did not return after seemingly re-injuring an already strapped shoulder with a block on Josh Hubbard in the opening minutes.
MSU led for the first 13 minutes of the game before a surge from Kentucky saw them take a 44-39 halftime advantage. Malachi Moreno got going with 10 points on 5-6 shooting for the Wildcats, and the offensive rebounding led to 10 second-chance points in the first half.
That trend continued, with the Wildcats scoring 27 points off of turnovers, 22 second chance points and 19 fast break points.
Hubbard led all players with 13 points in the first half, and finished the game with 20. He struggled to get going from distance, and there wasn’t much production elsewhere for MSU. Achor Achor was efficient with 13 points from 6-8 shooting, and Jayden Epps got to 13 as well despite a poor start to the game.
The Wildcats meanwhile had four players with at least 14, and a strong 22-point outing from Otega Oweh.
MSU will return home for a matchup with No. 13 Alabama on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.
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