Following an emotional upset win over defending national champion and No. 9 LSU, Mississippi State hits the road Thursday to battle a Kentucky team that ranks at or near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference in nearly every statistical category.
The Wildcats (9-12, 2-5 SEC) were at No. 166 in the NET rankings as of Wednesday, by far the worst in the conference by that metric. That means that even though the Bulldogs (17-5, 4-3) are playing on the road, Thursday night’s game falls in Quadrant 3, so a loss would do significant damage to MSU’s postseason resume.
A former two-time national champion as a player at Tennessee, Kyra Elzy led Kentucky to the NCAA Tournament in each of her first two years as head coach, but the Wildcats tumbled to a 2-14 mark in SEC play last season and have not been much better this year. Kentucky had a bad loss against Austin Peay in non-conference play, and all five of the Wildcats’ SEC losses have been by at least 17 points.
Ajae Petty, in her second year with Kentucky after transferring from LSU, leads the Wildcats with 14.4 points and 11 rebounds per game and is currently third in the SEC in the latter category. Maddie Scherr, a former Oregon Duck, is the only other Kentucky player averaging double-digit scoring, though Eniya Russell and Saniah Tyler are not far off that pace.
The Wildcats did open SEC play with a 10-point home win over Arkansas, and although the Razorbacks won the rematch by 27 in Fayetteville, Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell still preached caution after his team’s big win.
“All I can think about is Kentucky waxing Arkansas, and we barely beat Arkansas,” Purcell said. “We have so much ahead of us. We have to have a one game mentality at a time and we have to continue to believe in each other, and most importantly, we have to have an understanding that it could be anybody’s night.”
Kentucky has scored the third-fewest points per game in the SEC, ahead of only Auburn and Georgia, and is dead last in the conference in free throw percentage and rebounding. Defensively, the Wildcats allow the most points per game in the league (75.1) and their opponents have made 46.9 percent of their shots, also putting them in last place.
Here are three keys to victory for MSU as the Bulldogs look to avoid a trap game and start February on a high note.
Score early, score often
As a heavy favorite even on the road, MSU will need to take the home crowd out of the game early and not give Kentucky any ideas about an upset. The Bulldogs can’t expect to shoot as well from 3-point range as they did against the Tigers, but they did an outstanding job of moving the ball along the perimeter, playing inside-out when they needed to and finding open shooters. They’ll need to do that again, generating good looks for players like Debreasha Powe and Darrione Rogers, to open up a big first-half lead Thursday.
Clean up on the boards
The Wildcats have really struggled to pull down rebounds with any player not named Petty, and MSU held its own on the glass against a larger LSU team on Monday, actually holding a 20-17 edge in defensive rebounds. If the Bulldogs can keep Kentucky, which does not shoot the ball well, from getting many offensive boards and second-chance opportunities, they should win handily. Jessika Carter and Erynn Barnum together should be more than a match for Petty.
Get the post players going again
Nearly all of MSU’s offensive production against the Tigers came from its guards as Jerkaila Jordan, Rogers and Mjracle Sheppard combined for 55 points. Carter and Barnum, meanwhile, combined for just 10, and Nyayongah Gony is still working her way back to full strength after recently returning from a foot injury. The matchup with the Wildcats should give the Bulldogs’ bigs a prime opportunity to put up some big numbers ahead of another road test Sunday against Texas A&M.
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 24 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 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
