The final score glowed on the Rupp Arena scoreboards: Kentucky 77, Ole Miss 62. Distracting detail.

On Saturday, Kentucky continued to compete not with an opposing team, but with itself. Another thumping of an opponent helpless to greatly influence a game reinforced a more expansive question: Just how good is this Kentucky team?

"The best Kentucky we've played in my six years," Mississippi Coach Andy Kennedy said, "and that's saying something."

Kennedy went back to the early 1990s to find an apt comparison: the UNLV Final Four teams of 1990 and 1991.

"If they stay intact and stay focused," Kennedy said of the Cats, "they're as good as anyone I've seen in college basketball."

The Ole Miss coach noted the dominance of freshman Anthony Davis, who had in Kennedy's words a "very pedestrian game": 10 points, six rebounds, four blocks.

"His presence eliminates half your options," said Kennedy, who then used football to explain Davis' impact. "Anything run up the middle between the tackles, you can't do it."

With foul trouble helping to restrict Davis' contributions, Kentucky found a good time to sizzle from three-point range. The Cats made 10 of their first 16 three-point shots. That marked only the third time this season Kentucky made 10 or more three-pointers.

Thus, UK peeled away from Ole Miss and extended its streaks to 18 straight victories and 50 in a row at home.

Doron Lamb, Darius Miller and — surprise — freshman Kyle Wiltjer led Kentucky's long-range marksmanship. Lamb equaled a season-high four three-pointers, while Wiltjer matched his career high of three. Miller added three more as Kentucky improved to 26-1 overall and 12-0 in the Southeastern Conference.

When asked how good Kentucky is when swishing threes, Lamb said, "If we're all hot, no one can beat us, really."

Lamb led a balanced UK attack with 16 points. Terrence Jones added 15, Miller 14, Wiltjer 13 and Davis 10.

Ole Miss, which managed to be within 10 points of Kentucky with less than 15 minutes left, slipped to 15-11 overall and 5-7 in the SEC.

Despite playing without Davis for the final 10:08 of the first half, Kentucky led 43-35 at intermission. Credit belonged to Wiltjer and/or good three-point shooting.

Davis picked up his second foul with 10:08 left. He tried to draw a charge on the fast-breaking Murphy Holloway, but was called for blocking. At the time, UK led 22-14, which represented a slight retreat from an early 16-5 lead.

Coincidentally or not, Ole Miss rallied while Davis sat. The Rebels, who made 47.2 percent of their shots (second-best accuracy by a UK opponent this season), tied it at 24-24 on Holloway's driving dunk with 7:58 left.

Wiltjer broke the tie with a three-pointer. Three times down the stretch of the first half, he broke ties with shots. His 10 first-half points came after he failed to crack double digits in 13 of the last 14 games.

"I thought he came in and changed the game in the first half," said Kennedy, who referred to Wiltjer as "Whittier." ". . . He was a big key for settling them down."

With the score tied at 34-34, Kentucky outscored Ole Miss 9-1 in the final 2:08 of the half. Miller hit two three-pointers and Lamb one to close out the half. That capped a six-for-11 shooting half from beyond the arc for a Kentucky team that came into the game ranked No. 222 in the nation in average three-point baskets per game (5.6).

Ole Miss scored the first two baskets of the second half to close within 43-39. But the suggestion of a tense competition evaporated quickly. The Rebels called time with 17:50 left. By then, Kentucky led 49-39.

Kentucky seized full control by the second television timeout. Dunks by Jones and Davis off lobs contributed to a 12-4 mini run that put the Cats ahead 61-44.

After making two shots inside the half's first 43 seconds, Ole Miss added only two more over the next eight minutes.

Three-pointers by Miller and Lamb helped extend Kentucky's lead to 68-48 with 8:53 left. Perhaps by then, Kennedy began thinking about UNLV's attempt at an unbeaten season and back-to-back national championships in 1990 and 1991.

"I just don't see flies in the ointment," the Ole Miss coach said.

UK Coach John Calipari, who repeated his happy-but-not-satisfied mantra, duly noted how a hot-shooting opponent could take down Kentucky in the no-second-chances environment of the NCAA Tournament.

Yes, the loss to Duke in the 1991 Final Four ruined UNLV's hopes for an unbeaten season and second straight national championship. Yet the Rebels still serve as a reference point to excellence, even if this two-decade-old standard is largely lost on the current Cats.

Said Jones, "If they went to the Final Four two years in a row, they were probably pretty nice."