Five things you need to know from No. 8 Kentucky’s 90-77 win over Mississippi State
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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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Five things you need to know from No. 8 Kentucky’s 90-77 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs in men’s SEC basketball at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:
1. A milestone win for Calipari. The victory over MSU was John Calipari’s 400th as Kentucky head man. Since 2009-10, Calipari has gone 400-116 as top Cat.
In descending order organized by total wins as Kentucky coaches, here are the records of notable UK men’s hoops head men:
▪ Adolph Rupp 876-190 (1930-72).
▪ John Calipari 400-116 (2009-present).
▪ Joe. B. Hall 297-100 (1972-85).
▪ Tubby Smith 263-83 (1997-2007).
▪ Rick Pitino 219-50 (1989-97).
▪ Eddie Sutton 90-40 (1985-89).
▪ Billy Gillispie 40-27 (2007-09).
2. Battle of the boards. After being outrebounded 54-46 overall and 25-17 on the offensive glass in Saturday’s 97-92 overtime loss at Texas A&M, Kentucky fought Mississippi State to a 33-33 draw on the glass Wednesday night.
That was a positive outcome for UK because Mississippi State entered the game 35th in the country in rebound margin at plus-6.4 (38.8 to 32.4) for the season.
UK performed adequately on the boards even though Tre Mitchell (three rebounds) saw his streak of consecutive games with double figures in rebounds end at five.
Kentucky “gang rebounded,” with big men Aaron Bradsahw (six) and Ugonna Onyenso (six) leading the way. Guards Antonio Reeves (four boards) and Rob Dillingham (four) also contributed on the glass.
On the debit side of the ledger, MSU had 14 offensive rebounds to only seven for UK and the Bulldogs won the second-chance-points battle 21-14.
3. Reeves is rolling. Kentucky super-senior guard Antonio Reeves rifled in a game-high 27 points. The 6-foot-6, 195-pound Chicago product made 8 of 12 shots, 2 of 5 treys and all nine of his free-throw attempts.
Continuing to show a more well-rounded game this season than a year ago, Reeves also had four rebounds (see above) and three assists.
Reeves has now scored in double figures in six straight games, has had at least 19 points in five of those six, and has had 22 points or more in four of those six.
4. Kentucky’s plus/minus leaders. As is often the case, UK’s top performer in the plus/minus category was freshman guard Reed Sheppard at plus-24. He was followed by Rob Dillingham plus-18 and Aaron Bradshaw plus-10.
5. Cats keep Jans on the “oh-for” list. Kentucky’s victory made MSU head man Chris Jans 0-2 vs. the Wildcats.
Among current SEC head men, there are only four — all relatively new to the conference — who have yet to best the Wildcats.
Besides Jans, the others are Florida’s Todd Golden (0-3), LSU’s Matt McMahon (0-1) and Mississippi’s Chris Beard (0-1 . Beard has yet to coach vs. UK as Ole Miss coach; he lost to the Cats 76-74 in overtime in the 2019-20 SEC/Big 12 Challenge while coaching Texas Tech).
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 9:08 PM.
