Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 70-62 loss to Mississippi
Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 70-62 loss to the Mississippi Rebels in an SEC college basketball game at The Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss.:
1. The story of Kentucky’s season in one stat. Entering Tuesday night’s game, Mississippi (14-10, 9-8 SEC) was shooting 28.5 percent (117-of-410) on three-point attempts.
Against UK, Ole Miss drained eight of 13 treys.
Sammy Hunter epitomized the Rebels’ reversal of three-point fortunes vs. the Cats.
Hunter entered the game having made 2-of-12 three-pointers all season.
He hit three of five treys and his 11 points were the difference in the game vs. Kentucky.
Just been that kind of year for the Wildcats.
2. Kentucky fails to hit its magic number. There has been one certainty for UK in this struggling season. If the Cats do not score at least 70 points, they have no hope of victory.
After putting up only 62 Tuesday night in Oxford, UK is 0-12 this season when it fails to reach the 70-points mark.
The Cats are 8-3 when they post 70 or more.
3. In bad seasons, you can count on nothing. In Kentucky’s three games prior to Ole Miss, the Wildcats had been sizzling hot from the foul line.
UK had hit 66 of 74 free throws, a torrid 89.2 percent in those three contests.
Alas, in a tight game with Mississippi when Kentucky needed every point it could find, the Wildcats went only 15-of-25 from the foul line.
Meanwhile, the one most determinate stat for most of this season between games UK won and lost was how many times the Cats turned the ball over.
Entering the Mississippi contest, Kentucky had averaged 12.1 turnovers in its eight wins but 15.9 in its 14 losses.
Against the Rebels, UK had only seven turnovers — and forced Ole Miss to cough the ball up 17 times. Kentucky was plus-12 (19 to 7) on points after turnovers.
Yet that did not lead to a Wildcats victory because of Mississippi’s torrid three-point shooting (see above) and due to Ole Miss crushing Kentucky in rebounding, 42-28.
4. Another dubious distinction for Calipari. With the Kentucky loss, the Wildcats stand 8-15 overall, 7-9 SEC. John Calipari has joined Eddie Sutton (13-19 in 1988-89) as the only coaches in UK men’s hoops history to lose as many as 15 games in one season.
5. Another long UK series streak snapped. The win by Mississippi snapped an 11-game Kentucky win streak vs. the Rebels. Until Tuesday night, the Rebels’ last victory in the series came on Feb. 1, 2011, a 71-69 win in Oxford.
This has been a season for SEC rivals to throw off UK’s hold over them.
Georgia snapped a 14-game losing skid against UK when the Bulldogs rallied past the Cats, 63-62, in Athens Jan. 20. On Saturday, Florida broke a five-game losing streak against Kentucky with its 71-67 win in Rupp Arena.
Ole Miss Coach Kermit Davis Jr. also got some revenge for his family vs. UK.
Kermit Davis Sr. went 1-13 against Kentucky in his tenure as head man at Mississippi State (1971-77).
The younger Davis is now 1-2 vs. UK.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 11:33 PM.
