Kentucky-Mississippi State Postgame Notes

Feb. 25, 2015

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery | USATSI Photo Gallery

Kentucky is 28-0, 15-0 in the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State is 12-16, 5-10 in the SEC.
The Wildcats lead the series 91-20 overall and 34-12 in Starkville, Miss.
UK clinched a share of its 46th regular-season SEC championship.
With 28 consecutive victories to begin the season, UK passed the 1995-96 team for the longest single-season win streak in school history.
- With the win, John Calipari passed his longest coaching win streak. The 2008-09 Memphis squad won 27 in a row (not at the opening of a season).
- UK also extended longest season-opening streak for a Calipari coached team. His 1995-96 Massachusetts team and 2007-08 Memphis team each started 26-0.
Kentucky is 205-27 all-time when ranked No. 1 and has won 50 of the last 52 games as The Associated Press top-ranked team.
Calipari has led three schools to a No. 1 ranking (Massachusetts, Memphis, Kentucky) and has a 94-9 record as the top-ranked coach, including 53-4 at UK.
Calipari is now 180-37 (.829) as head coach at Kentucky, the best winning percentage of any coach in UK history.
UK led the entire game and has trailed for only 149:01 of a possible 1,135 minutes this season.
Kentucky won by double digits for the 23rd time this season.
Kentucky returns to Rupp Arena on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tip with No. 18/16 Arkansas.

Kentucky shot 28 of 57 from the field (49 percent). The Wildcats just missed out on shooting 50 percent or better from the field for the 10th time this season.
Key stats for the Cats:
- UK outscored MSU 38-26 in the paint.
- Kentucky had 15 assists, compared with six by Mississippi State.
- UK won bench points, 19-12.
- Kentucky was 12 of 13 from the free-throw line (92 percent) compared with MSU’s 16 of 27 (59 percent).
Kentucky’s streak of 927 consecutive games with a 3-pointer was extended when Aaron Harrison connected from the perimeter at the 13:46 mark in the first half.
Kentucky had balanced scoring with four players in double figures.

Kentucky’s starting lineup featured Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein for the 11th time this season.
Leading just 41-37 with 15:10 remaining, Kentucky went on a 24-6 run over 7:45 to take a 65-43 lead with 6:57 to go in the game.

Trey Lyles finished with a career-high 18 points, which led all scorers.
- He added six rebounds.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
- It was his team-leading sixth double-double, the fourth in the last seven games.
- He added two blocks and two assists.
- He was a perfect 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.
  - Towns has shot 100 percent from the line (minimum three attempts) six times this season.
Aaron Harrison scored 16 points, going 6 of 10 from the field.
- Harrison’s field-goal percentage (.600) was his second best of the season. He shot 5 of 8 (.625) vs. Missouri on Jan. 13.
- Harrison has scored in double figures in all but three of UK’s road games this season.
- Tied with Devin Booker for the team lead in scoring average entering the game (11.0 per game), Harrison scored two more points than Booker, taking the lead by .01 points. Harrison is now averaging 11.2 per game.
Devin Booker scored 14 points, shooting 2 of 3 from beyond the 3-point line.
- He has reached double-figure scoring in six of the last seven road games.
- Booker is UK’s leading 3-point shooter, going 48 of 106 (.453) this season.
Willie Cauley-Stein grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots.

Related Stories