No. 6 Kentucky continues hardwood dominance over No. 14 Mississippi State, 95-90

It was a different season for the annual Mississippi State-Kentucky matchup on the hardwood. Unfortunately for head coach Chris Jans and the Bulldogs, it was a similar result.

Jaxson Robinson had a season-high 27 points and No. 6 Kentucky made 16 of 32 from 3 point territory to outlast No. 14 Mississippi State, 95-90, at Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday. Robinson was 9 of 12 from the field and made 7 of 10 attempts beyond the 3 point arc.

Otega Oweh added 15 points for Kentucky (13-3, 2-1 in the SEC) while Andrew Carr added 13 points. Ansley Almonor scored nine of his 11 points in the second half and Lamont Butler and Amari Williams each had 10 for the Wildcats. Williams also had a game-high 12 rebounds and six assists for the Wildcats.

“They are a very explosive offensive basketball team,” said Jans. “One of the things on most nights that they do really well is make 3s. They have a lot of weapons and certainly, we had some breakdowns but they made some tough ones, as well.

“I thought the biggest difference that way was Jaxson Robinson. He really got it going and it was almost like he knew every shot he was going to take went in. He was in one of those zones. I thought the MVP was Almonor and he made some timely 3s, some big shots when they really needed it.”

Cameron Matthews led Mississippi State (14-2, 2-1) with 19 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. Josh Hubbard had 15 and RJ Melendez added 14 for the Bulldogs. Claudell Harris added 13 for Mississippi State while Michael Nwoko chipped in 10 points.

Mississippi State trailed by as many as 14 early in the second half before using a 12-0 run to get within 68-66. A Harris 3 pointer with 8:17 remaining gave the Bulldogs an 80-78 lead but it was their last lead of the game.

Late in the second half, Hubbard hit a driving layup to cut the Kentucky lead to 91-90 with two minutes remaining in regulation. But the Bulldogs were held scoreless the rest of the way.

“I felt like towards the end we were getting the looks we wanted,” Matthews recalled. “They just weren’t falling. Kentucky is a really good basketball team and they just made a few more shots than us today. I think it shows how tough this league is and a lot of good teams in this league. They are one of them and we are one of them. It was just a dogfight and they just made more plays than us today.”

For the game, Kentucky shot 56% from the field and made 11 of 19 at the foul line. The Wildcats had 13 turnovers and outrebounded the Bulldogs 41-33. State shot 45% from the floor and made 12 of 40 from 3 point territory (season high 40 attempts from 3 point range). The Bulldogs made 14 of 18 at the charity stripe and had just six turnovers for the game.

“I think it was a combination of a bunch of things,” mentioned Jans of the 40 attempts from 3 point range. “We don’t have a number and are not trying to get to a number or a percentage of our shots from 3. You play the game out and take what the defense gives you. We shot more in the second half and we’re just trying to figure out a way to win.”

The first half was filled with plenty of offensive fireworks and also featured 11 lead changes and six ties. Mississippi State opened the game on a 11-5 run following a 3 point play by Matthews but that was the largest lead of the half for either team. Kentucky made its last five shots of the half and led 49-44 at halftime.

Kentucky shot 53% in the opening half, including an 8 of 17 showing beyond the arc. The Wildcats were 9 of 14 at the line and has six first-half turnovers. Kentucky also out-rebounded Mississippi State 21-17 in the first half and had 11 assists. Mississippi State shot 44% in the first half and made just 3 of 16 from 3 point range. The Bulldogs had five first-half turnovers.

State has now lost 19 consecutive regular-season meetings with Kentucky, dating back to the 2008-09 campaign. But the Bulldogs have a tough road ahead with no time to worry about what could’ve been.

“You just got to take from it and learn from it,” noted Hubbard, who was 3 of 11 beyond the arc. “Take the mistakes that we did and just move on. You got to learn from it and that’s about the best thing we can do heading into next week.”

Up next

Mississippi State at Auburn on Tuesday, 6 p.m. tipoff on SEC Network: The road gets no easier for Mississippi State. After traveling to Auburn, likely the No. 1 team in America next week, the Bulldogs will host Ole Miss and then travel to Tennessee to cap off a brutal four-game stretch.