Kentucky-Mississippi State Postgame Notes

March 14, 2010

Kentucky improves to 32-2 on the season while Mississippi State falls to 23-11.
UK is 86-20 against the Bulldogs, including an 8-2 mark in the SEC Tournament.
The Wildcats are 113-22 all-time in the SEC Tournament and 27-8 in SEC Tournament championship games.
UK is 9-1 all-time in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
Most wins since the 2003 team went 32-4.
Coach John Calipari has now won five-straight conference tournament championships, dating back to his Conference USA days.

This marks UK’s 26 th SEC Tournament title and first since 2004.
Freshman John Wall was named the SEC Tournament MVP while freshmen Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins were named to the All-Tournament team. At least one UK player has been named to the All-Tournament team in 13 of the last 19 tournaments and a Wildcat has been named MVP 14 times since 1979.
This was the first time since 2008 that Kentucky played an overtime game in the SEC Tournament. UK improves to 4-2 in OT during the SEC Tournament.
It was UK’s first overtime game in the SEC Tournament championship game since defeating Arkansas 95-92 in 1995.
UK improves to 3-0 in overtime games this season.
UK and Mississippi State have now played back-to-back overtime games.
The last time Kentucky and Mississippi State met in the SEC Tournament was in 2007. That game also went into overtime. UK improves to 3-1 in SEC Tournament Championship games against the Bulldogs.
UK freshmen Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall scored all 11 of UK’s points during the overtime period.
This was the first time an SEC Championship was decided by one point since 1952 when Kentucky defeated LSU, 44-43.

The Wildcats used the starting combination of Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson and John Wall for the 25 th time this season. Kentucky is 23-2 with that starting five.
Darnell Dodson was the first sub off the bench for Kentucky. It was Dodson’s fourth time as the first Wildcat off the bench.
Kentucky extended its streak of game with a three-pointer to 745 games, the third longest streak in the country.
With DeMarcus Cousins’ block at the 10:15 mark of the first half, the 2010 squad became the best shot blocking team in UK history with 246 blocks, surpassing the 1998 team’s previous record of 240 blocks.
The Wildcats trailed 35-31 at halftime, only the seventh time UK has trailed after the first half this season. UK is now 6-1) when trailing at the half this year.
Kentucky forced its sixth shot-clock violation this season.
In the two games between Kentucky and Mississippi State this season, there were 12 ties and 20 lead changes. There 14 ties and 11 lead changes in the first meeting with MSU in Starkville.
UK was out-rebounded 43-37 and improves to 8-1 when being out-rebounded.

Dished out a game-high nine assists and 23 for the tournament.
Averaged 54 points, 19 rebounds and 23 assists in the SEC Tournament.
Has nine games with eight or more assists this season.
Recorded a game-high five steals, the most since swiping a career-high six vs. UConn on Dec. 9.

Recorded his 20 th double-double this season, giving him sole possession of No. 4 on UK’s all-time single season list. It’s the most since Jim Andrews’ 21 in 1973.
Has led Kentucky in rebounding 23 times this season.