Pushed around at Auburn, UK’s Richards, Montgomery come back with a muscular response
Instant analysis from No. 15 Kentucky’s 80-72 win over Mississippi State:
How the game was won
After being pushed around in Kentucky’s loss at Auburn, UK post players Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery combined for 39 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a crucial SEC win.
Who’s hot
1. Nick Richards. Most impressive thing about Richards’ latest double-double (27 points, 11 rebounds) is that it came after a slow start to the game
2. EJ Montgomery. If Kentucky can consistently get the kind of high-energy play (12 points, eight rebounds, three steals) Montgomery delivered Tuesday night, the complexion of the Wildcats’ season looks very different.
3. Immanuel Quickley. As a sophomore, the UK guard has become the kind of player who gets his points (21) even when his jump shot (1-of-6 three-point tries) is not falling.
Going 14-of-14 from the foul line helps.
4. D.J. Stewart. In a game where made shots were at a premium, the Mississippi State wing (6-of-10 field goals, 2-of-3 three-pointers) made shots.
Who’s not
1. Kentucky three-point shooters. Another errant night (1-of-10) for the Wildcats from behind the arc.
2. Reggie Perry. The Mississippi State star came into the game averaging 17.2 ppg and making 51.6 percent of his shots. He fouled out in Rupp Arena with 14 points after making only four of 16 field goals.
Key number(s)
Eighteen and two. Ashton Hagans had only two turnovers vs. Mississippi State. In his four games prior to facing the Bulldogs, the Kentucky point guard had committed a combined 18 turnovers — three vs. Georgia, four at Texas Tech, five vs. Vanderbilt and six at Auburn.
The ‘Cat-mosphere’
1. For the second time this year, Cameron Mills of “Comeback Cats” fame substituted for another ex-UK player, Ravi Moss, as Maria Montgomery’s Rupp Arena co-host.
2. UK recognized its 2019 National Debate Tournament championship team of Dan Bannister and Anthony Trufanov on court before the opening tip-off.
3. Blue Note, a University of Kentucky a cappella group, sang a harmonious rendition of the national anthem.
4. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey presented the SEC women’s volleyball championship trophy to UK Coach Craig Skinner, star outside hitter Leah Edmond and the rest of the back-to-back league-champion Wildcats.
5. The UK baseball team threw T-shirts into the crowd during the final TV timeout of half one (and if you are going to have a group throw shirts into the crowd in a cavernous arena, a baseball team is the way to go).
Up next
No. 15 Kentucky (17-5, 7-2 SEC) will go on the road to face Tennessee (13-9, 5-4 SEC) on Saturday (Feb. 8) at 1 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will be telecast by CBS.
The Volunteers rallied from 15 down to beat Alabama 69-68 in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night.
Under Rick Barnes, the Volunteers are 4-0 vs. the Wildcats in games played in Knoxville.
Mississippi State (14-8, 5-4 SEC) will play host to Vanderbilt (8-13, 0-8 SEC) on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. (EST) in a game to be broadcast by the SEC Network.
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 11:22 PM.
