Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 92-68 rout of Mississippi State
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 92-68 win over Mississippi State:
1. Cats avoid a dubious distinction. The victory over MSU allowed UK to avoid an 0-3 start in SEC play. Instead, the Wildcats improved to 10-6 overall, 1-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
The last time a Kentucky men’s basketball team opened a league season with three straight defeats remains exactly 50 years ago.
In the 1975-76 season, coach Joe B. Hall’s Wildcats opened SEC competition with road losses at Mississippi State (77-73) and Alabama (76-63) and a home defeat to Tennessee (90-88, overtime).
On Saturday night, the 2025-26 Cats were without big man Jayden Quaintance due to knee swelling. UK then lost point guard Jaland Lowe, who is playing with an injured right shoulder, with 17:18 left in the first half after he took a hard hit.
Yet the remaining Wildcats went on to play their best game of the season to date.
UK got big efforts from Otega Oweh (22 points, three rebounds, five assists, five steals); Malachi Moreno (17 points, eight rebounds, six assists; four steals); Denzel Aberdeen (16 points, four assists); and Kam Williams (14 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals).
Down 18-6 and hearing from the Rupp Arena boo birds, UK won the rest of the game 86-50.
The 75-76 Cats wrote a happy ending to their story. Kentucky stood 10-10 through 20 games that season, but closed out its campaign with 10 straight wins, including the 1976 NIT championship (when that was still an achievement of some merit).
I am not predicting this yet off one strong showing, but it would be quite a story if the 2025-26 Cats made something good out of what has, so far, been a most-challenging campaign.
2. Cats maintain their hold over Mississippi State. Kentucky blew a late, eight-point lead Wednesday night and allowed Missouri to earn its first win ever over UK in Lexington, 73-68
The Tigers had been 0-9 in Lexington and 0-7 at Rupp Arena vs. the Wildcats.
On Saturday night, the Wildcats did not allow Mississippi State to end another long losing skid vs. UK at Rupp.
The Bulldogs’ defeat was their 10th straight vs. Kentucky at Rupp Arena, and their 21st in the past 22 games vs. the Cats overall.
MSU has not beaten the Wildcats at Rupp since a 66-57 victory on February 3, 2009.
3. Josh Hubbard’s night. The Mississippi State junior guard came to Lexington in the midst of a heater. Hubbard had scored 30 points or more in three of the Bulldogs’ previous five games, including 38 at Texas and 30 vs. Oklahoma in SEC victories.
Hubbard entered the game as the SEC’s leading scorer and was tied for fifth in NCAA Division I with an average of 23 points a game.
At Rupp Arena Saturday night, the 6-foot, 190-pound Hubbard had, by his recent standards, a relatively quiet showing. He hit 7 of 16 shots, 2 of 8 3-pointers and finished with 20 points and five assists.
Prior to Saturday night, Hubbard had experienced mixed results vs. UK.
As a freshman two years ago, Hubbard had a horrid shoting night at Rupp Arena in a 90-77 loss to UK, going 1 of 11 and scoring 3 points.
Later that season, Hubbard exploded for 34 points vs. Kentucky in Starkville even though the Wildcats won the game, 91-89, on a buzzer beater by freshman Reed Sheppard.
Last year, Hubbard made only 5 of 16 shots and finished with 15 points in a 95-90 loss to UK in Starkville.
4. Rupp’s Runts reunion. On the 60th anniversary of Kentucky’s 1966 NCAA Tournament runner-up team, UK honored the team known in Wildcats lore as “Rupp’s Runts” at Rupp Arena.
Three of the five starters from Adolph Rupp’s smallish squad — nicknamed because there was no starter taller than 6-foot-6 — were on hand. All-Americans Louie Dampier, a guard, and Pat Riley, a forward, were joined by center Thad Jarazc.
Starting forward Larry Conley was unable to attend. Guard Tommy Kron passed away in 2007.
But Dampier, Jaracz and Riley, as well as nine reserves and one team manager, were introduced to the Rupp crowd at halftime to rousing applause.
The Runts were known for their ball movement and the rapid pace at which they played. In spite of their lack of height, they lost only twice in 28 games — 69-62 at Tennessee late in the regular season and 72-65 to Texas Western in the NCAA championship game.
Speaking via a microphone, Riley praised Conley and Kron as the “leaders of our team. I wish they were here. I miss them.”
Riley, who went on to a Hall of Fame career as an NBA head coach and executive, told the Rupp crowd “One of the greatest experiences of my life was right here at the University of Kentucky.”
5. Current SEC coaches vs. Kentucky. Mississippi State’s loss kept MSU head man Chris Jans winless vs. UK.
This is how every current Southeastern Conference men’s basketball coach has fared against the Wildcats:
• Alabama: Nate Oats is 7-5 overall vs. UK, 7-4 as Bama coach.
• Arkansas: John Calipari is 3-4 overall vs. UK, 1-0 as Hogs head man.
• Auburn: Steven Pearl has never coached against Kentucky as a head man.
• Florida: Todd Golden is 1-4 vs. UK.
• Georgia: Mike White is 6-12 against Kentucky, 2-2 as Bulldogs coach.
• LSU: Matt McMahon is 1-2 against the Wildcats.
• Mississippi: Chris Beard is 1-2 vs. UK, 1-1 as Rebels coach.
• Mississippi State: Chris Jans is now 0-5 vs. UK.
• Missouri: Dennis Gates is 2-2 vs. UK.
• Oklahoma: Porter Moser is 0-2 against Kentucky.
• South Carolina: Lamont Paris is 2-1 vs. UK.
• Tennessee: Rick Barnes is 13-14 vs. Kentucky, 12-12 as Vols coach.
• Texas: Sean Miller has never coached against UK.
• Texas A&M: Bucky McMillan has never coached against UK.
• Vanderbilt: Mark Byington is 1-1 vs. Kentucky.
This story was originally published January 10, 2026 at 10:37 PM.
