Kentucky’s offense put up big numbers in another win. But this one was a little different.
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Game day: No. 8 Kentucky 90, Mississippi State 77
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Mississippi State in Rupp Arena.
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Another 90-point performance by this Kentucky basketball team. A 13-point victory over an underdog opponent. For this particular UK season, that might not seem like much. More of the same. Something to be expected for these offensively efficient Wildcats.
But this one — a 90-77 win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night — was a little out of the ordinary. John Calipari acknowledged it almost as soon as he sat down after the game.
“I think we got 90. Did we get to 90?” he asked, already knowing the answer. “That’s a top-10 defensive team.”
And on that, the often-hyperbolic Hall of Fame head coach was correct.
Mississippi State came into Rupp Arena as the No. 8 defensive team in the country, according to the KenPom efficiency ratings. By the time the Bulldogs’ bus left the parking lot, that rating had dropped to No. 17 nationally.
That’s what a couple of hours on the other side of this Kentucky offense can do to a team.
“I’m sure I sound like a broken record with the other coaches talking about them, but they just have so many facilitators and playmakers,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. “… What a luxury to have four guys at the guard position that are interchangeable. And they’re all a little bit different and really good basketball players in their own right. And they seem to like each other and share the ball. … They just spread you out. Because they do shoot the ball so well from 3. They got guys that can get downhill on you. They got the lob threats that are behind the defense. They put a lot of pressure on you defensively.”
They did it for most of the night. Again.
The Cats shot 55.6% from the field. They had 20 assists on 30 made baskets. They were 85.2% from the foul line. And they got there 27 times. They weren’t very good from 3-point range — shooting 30.4% from deep after coming into the game at 39.8% for the season, ranked seventh nationally in that category. On this night, they didn’t have to shoot long-range bombs. These Cats were 23-for-31 on 2-pointers. That’s 74.2% from inside the arc. That’ll win a lot of games.
These Wildcats put up those stats against — to this halfway point of the regular season — one of the best defensive teams in college basketball, it bears repeating.
And while Kentucky has produced gaudy offensive stats all season long, it hasn’t done so against an opponent quite like this. Before Wednesday night, the Wildcats had scored at least 90 points in regulation six times. None of those opponents — Stonehill, Marshall, Miami, Louisville, Illinois State or Missouri — had a defense rated in the top 100 nationally, let alone the top 10.
And before Wednesday night, Mississippi State hadn’t given up more than 82 points in a game this season. That tally was reached by Alabama, which is rated as the No. 1 offensive team in the country. Only three other opponents had scored 70 on the Bulldogs. Kentucky hit that number with 8:32 to go.
Look back a little further and you’ll see that this was Jans’ 51st game as Mississippi State’s head coach. You’ll also see that no opponent in those first 50 games scored 90 points on his Dogs.
What does that say about these Cats?
“That we’re one of the top scoring teams in the country,” veteran guard Antonio Reeves said. “Coming (against) a top-10 defensive team, it means a lot to us. That we’re just headed in the right direction.”
Perhaps this was validation, but anyone who’d watched already knew that was the case.
Reeves, the team’s leading scorer, was the catalyst again Wednesday night. He scored five points in the first 90 seconds and hit double digits barely five minutes into the game. He had 16 by halftime (for the second straight game). He finished with 27 points. But he didn’t do it by bombing 3s from all over the court, as he often does. He was just 2-for-5 from deep. Reeves was 6-for-7 on 2-pointers and a perfect 9-for-9 on free throws.
The fifth-year college player had driving layups. He scored on Eurosteps. He hit stepback jumpers. He hit floaters. He got to the line time and again by attacking the basket.
“My favorite play for him,” Calipari started to say, the glee of knowing he was right about something in his voice. “He started his dance, and usually what’s he shoot? A step-back, bank misser. It doesn’t go in, he’s 2-for — I think he’s 1-for-11 with that shot. I’m like, ‘Do your dance, get happy, and then go by a guy.’ And he went by him and got fouled.”
That did happen. Reeves smiled as he acknowledged it. He explained that Calipari had talked to him about it in practice. “You wanna dance and shoot a 3,” the coach told him, calling it a “low-percentage shot” and telling Reeves to take it to the hoop the next time he started up with those flashy dribble moves in space on the perimeter.
When Reeves did it against the Bulldogs and drew a foul? “He just screamed,” the player said, launching into a comical impersonation of the 64-year-old coach, who gave Reeves the thumbs up after his own celebration on the sideline.
This Kentucky team has five guys averaging 12 points per game. Like Jans said, echoing just about every coach who’s come through Rupp, UK has a lot of ways to beat you. Reeves is at the top of that list with 19.4 points per game. But he’s not doing it in the way one might expect.
Last season, he was the Cats’ leading backcourt scorer, but much of his damage came from the 3-point line, where he shot 39.8%. On 2-pointers last season, he was just 43.3%.
This time around, he’s been even better from deep (42.6%), but he’s also been an eye-opening 60.4% on 2-point shots. That’s a major shift from year one at Kentucky, which came after three seasons at Illinois State — a mid-major program in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Reeves has acknowledged the growing pains he endured — even at 22 years old — last season in the SEC. Scoring was more difficult. He wasn’t as confident. Now, he’s getting back to his game. He said recently that the floater was his first go-to shot as a college player. He’s trotted that one out quite a bit this season, to positive results. And his bag is only getting deeper.
“My junior year at Illinois State, I really was an off-the-dribble player,” he said. “And I really could create for myself, and get in the lane and things like that. So I’m really drawing back into that. I’m playing freely.”
But, even during that season, he was just a 51.9% shooter from inside the arc. His confidence, skill and growth as an offensive player is all colliding with the reality of so much talent around him. Jans mentioned those four “interchangeable” guards. Rob Dillingham scored 16 against his team. Reed Sheppard had nine points and six assists. D.J. Wagner had an off night — just seven points — but he’s averaging 12.4 per game and makes the defense account for him whenever he’s on the court.
And even the best defenses — as Mississippi State’s found out Wednesday night — can’t stop them all.
“You got a lot of shooters, a lot of good passers out there, and we just look for each other,” Reeves said. “We try to find the open man and knock it down. Everybody can play on this team.”
Next game
Georgia at No. 8 Kentucky
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Georgia 13-4 (3-1 SEC), Kentucky 13-3 (3-1)
Series: Kentucky leads 131-28
Last meeting: Georgia won 75-68 on Feb. 11, 2023, at Athens, Ga.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 11:41 PM.
