UK knocked out of SEC tourney. ‘It’s always the last four minutes.’
Surely Kentucky’s season-ending 74-73 defeat against Mississippi State on Thursday evoked feelings of déjà vu. Make that déjà Blue. Or more precisely, déjà singing the blues.
In more ways than one, Dontaie Allen staged a revival meeting in the Southeastern Conference Tournament’s second round in Nashville. He matched his 23-point starburst performance in Starkville during the regular season.
All but three of those points came in a second-half comeback that fell one shot short of advancing Kentucky to a quarterfinal game against regular-season champion Alabama on Friday.
Then, as if trapped in a science fiction time loop, Kentucky was outplayed in the final four minutes. This time a five-point lead disappeared. That marked the 17th time the opponent outscored Kentucky in the final four minutes. UK’s record in those games: 5-12.
“It pisses me off, for sure,” Davion Mintz said of yet another late-game disappointment. “It’s been like the punch of the season. It’s always the last four minutes.”
This punch was probably a knockout. Kentucky’s record fell to 9-16.
“It’s just disappointing,” UK Coach John Calipari said. “And let me say, kind of like how the year went.”
Kentucky trailed by 15 points early in the second half.
Then Allen, who had only three points in the first half, went to work. He scored 15 points in a seven-minute stretch to Kentucky back into the game. He six three-pointers was one shy of the career high he made at Mississippi State in January, and left him 13-for-28 from beyond the arc in the two games.
“Dontaie has their number,” Mintz said. “It was no surprise he got super locked in like that because he had really good practices leading up to the game.”
But UK had only one basket in the final 4:29. Meanwhile, State’s Iverson Molinar’s hit back-to-back threes as part of his eight points in the final three minutes.
“They hit a lot of daggers toward the end,” Mintz said. “We couldn’t capitalize and answer back.”
After Molinar made two free throws to put Mississippi State ahead 74-73 with 7.1 seconds left, Kentucky looked for an answer from — who else this game? — Allen.
He took a three-pointer from in front of the UK bench.
“If he wasn’t so wide-open, I would have called a timeout right in front of us,” Calipari said. “But he was so wide-open. I just let it go.”
The shot went off the rim.
“You can’t really ask for a better shot,” Allen said, “especially from someone like me who has all the confidence in myself. You know, I had it lined up straight. It just hit the back rim. You know what? I’ll live with that. It was a good shot.”
Mississippi State improved to 15-13 despite big man Abdul Ado going scoreless in the second half after imposing his will in the opening 20 minutes.
The halftime score of 44-30 equaled the largest deficit UK faced in the opening 20 minutes. It also exceeded the previous high for halftime deficits this season: 12 against Notre Dame and the first Alabama game.
Mississippi State dominated around the basket. State outrebounded Kentucky 29-15. State also enjoyed a 36-12 advantage in points in the paint.
With 7:56 left, State had 20 rebounds and 20 points in the paint.
“I never heard of such a thing …,” Calipari said. “Those bigs haven’t done that to any other team what they did to us.”
State’s only basket from outside the paint in the first 12-plus minutes was a three-pointer by Derek Fountain, a 6-foot-9 freshman, with 2:57 left in the half. It gave State a 37-24 lead.
At the break, Calipari challenged UK’s front line.
“I told them at halftime, this will be a great story, this comeback, if that’s what you want,” Calipari said. “But I can’t play anybody that’s not going to rough it up. If you don’t want body contact, you can’t be in this game.”
As the second half began, State’s dominance around the rim dissipated. Then Allen got hot.
With UK down 55-41, Allen made one of two free throws. Then he hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring Kentucky within 55-48. That prompted a State timeout with 14:22 left.
Kentucky kept charging. Allen’s floater in the lane reduced the deficit to 62-57 and set the stage for drama down the stretch.
“We just kind of got very stagnant, very slow,” Mintz said of one more late stumble to punctuate this Kentucky season.
Calipari balked when it was suggested the second half was encouraging.
“No,” he said. “I’m sorry. I coach at Kentucky. I’m happy for (the UK players). They fought to get back in it. …
“Here’s the problem. They have to finish things off.”
SEC Tournament
At Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.
All times Eastern
Wednesday
No. 12 Vanderbilt 79, No. 13 Texas A&M 68
Thursday
No. 9 Mississippi State 74, Kentucky 73
No. 5 Florida 69, Vanderbilt 63
No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 10 Georgia, (n)
No. 6 Mississippi vs. No. 11 South Carolina, (n)
Friday
Noon: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 9 Mississippi State (ESPN)
About 2:30 p.m.: No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 5 Florida (ESPN)
7 p.m.: No. 2 Arkansas vs. Georgia or Missouri (SEC Network)
About 9:30 p.m.: No. 3 LSU vs. South Carolina or Mississippi (SEC Network)
Saturday
1 and about 3:30 p.m.: Semifinal games (ESPN)
Sunday
1 p.m.: Championship game (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 4:13 PM.
