Three takeaways as Kentucky basketball pushes back to beat Mississippi State
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 80-72 win over Mississippi State on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena:
1. The Cats put the Auburn loss in the rear-view mirror
After getting pushed around in last Saturday’s 75-66 loss to Auburn, the Cats had listened to head coach John Calipari talk about toughness and rebounding and how Mississippi State, with star 6-foot-10 forward Reggie Perry, might just walk into the gym on High Street and do the exact same thing.
Instead, UK got terrific games from all its bigs, especially the biggest one. After scoring just two points in the first half, and sensing at intermission that some people might not be pleased with his production, Nick Richards scored 25 points in the second half to finish with 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Even better, he got some help. Playing with increased energy, EJ Montgomery scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds, a showing that impressed Calipari to keep the sophomore on the floor for 32 minutes. And Nate Sestina, who had been slumping of late, added six points and three rebounds in 15 minutes despite injuring his shoulder in the second half. No worries, after a quick trip to the locker room, Sestina returned.
“I think I had a little PTSD,” said Sestina, who injured his shoulder as a freshman at Bucknell.
And maybe Kentucky had a reaction to the trauma suffered at Auburn, and shoved back.
2. Kentucky held Mississippi State’s Reggie Perry in check
The talented sophomore entered Rupp Arena averaging 21.3 points and 10.9 rebounds in SEC games. He was a big reason for State’s five-game SEC win streak. After all, he scored 24 points with 12 rebounds in MSU’s 86-73 win over Tennessee last Saturday, and had 27 points and eight boards in MSU’s impressive 78-71 win at Florida just last week.
When Perry plays well, the Bulldogs play well. When Perry doesn’t play well, the Bulldogs don’t play well. Example: Foul trouble limited him to seven points and six rebounds in Mississippi State’s 63-62 loss at Oklahoma in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 25.
Foul trouble wasn’t Perry’s problem Tuesday. Kentucky’s defense was the problem. He scored just five points in the first half as State trailed 31-23 at intermission. He didn’t score his first points to he second half until there was just 9:55 left. He ended up making just four of 16 shots.
Meanwhile, after shooting 15 free throws in two of MSU’s last three games, Perry got to the foul line just six times. He made five.
“Reggie has been playing so good for us, he was bound to have a bad night,” Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland said afterward. “He’s a great player and he’ll bounce back from this.”
3. Up next on the agenda is back-to-back road games
Now 7-2 in SEC play, the Cats take a trip to Tennessee on Saturday. The Vols notched a big road win of their own on Tuesday, rallying from an eight-point halftime deficit to win 69-68 at Alabama. John Fulkerson scored 22 points to lead the way.
Rick Barnes’ team is still finding itself after losing point guard Lamonte Turner for the season to a shoulder injury. Santiago Vescovi, an import from Uruguay, became eligible in January and has made a difference for the Vols. He was just two of 15 from the floor at Alabama, but he had eight rebounds and five assists.
“Rick’s got his guys playing better and better and they’re physical,” Calipari said of his good friend Barnes. “They’re physical.”
After that, UK travels to Nashville next Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game at Vanderbilt. Yes, the Commodores are 0-8 in SEC play heading into Wednesday night’s game against league-leader LSU (8-0), but Jerry Stackhouse’s team led Kentucky at halftime last week before falling 71-62 at Rupp.
It will also be interesting to see the mood at Vandy after the surprise news Tuesday that Malcolm Turner had resigned after just one year as athletics director. He was replace, on an interim basis, by Candice Storey Lee, a former Vandy athlete who becomes the first black female athletics director in the SEC.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 1:05 AM.
