Kentucky Set to Face Mississippi State in Nashville
Many times, when teams are preparing for the postseason, they lean on their veterans, ones who have been there before, for leadership and guidance. Then, there’s Kentucky.
The Wildcats have exactly zero players on the 2020-21 roster who have ever played in the SEC Tournament. Olivier Sarr played in the ACC Tournament for Wake Forest and Davion Mintz played in the Big East Tournament for Creighton. But no one on the team has played in a conference tournament game while wearing a Kentucky jersey.
So, where does the team turn for guidance? There’s little doubt that the Cats will lean on head coach John Calipari, who has won the event six times in 10 tries at UK.
Sophomore forward Keion Brooks Jr. knows that Calipari’s experience in the tournament can help UK this week in Nashville.
“It does,” Brooks said. “The head man, when he’s been through it before and went through these tournaments and won plenty of games and won the tournament multiple times, you know the man who is leading you through the fire knows what he’s doing. That gives us extreme confidence going into it.”
Calipari knows that past success doesn’t necessarily equate to this year’s UK team.
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| Kentucky vs. Mississippi State | ||
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Thurs., March 11 – 12 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: SEC Network |
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| UK | Stats | MSU |
| 9-15 | Record | 14-13 |
| 8-9 | Conference Record | 8-10 |
| 70.3 | PPG | 69.4 |
| 70.0 | Opp PPG | 65.7 |
| .417 | FG% | .455 |
| .410 | Opp FG% | .399 |
| 38.4 | RPG | 38.9 |
| .332 | 3PT FG% | .349 |
| .313 | Opp 3PT FG% | .317 |
| 12.3 | APG | 13.0 |
| 6.3 | SPG | 6.7 |
| 6.1 | BPG | 4.7 |
“This team, they’ve never been here. Now, you guys look and say, ‘Well, Cal your record and all of your years and tournament play.’ They weren’t on those teams,” Calipari said. “I don’t know what to expect. What I’m hoping is they fight, they play fast, they take open shots and they’re connected defensively. That’s what I’m hoping. But we don’t know. We don’t know. These guys, they haven’t played in this stuff.”
Calipari has also had incredible success against Mississippi State in his career. Calipari is 16-0 all-time against the Bulldogs, including 15-0 at UK. That includes a thrilling, overtime win over the Bulldogs in the 2010 SEC Championship game, when DeMarcus Cousins scored on a put back at the end of regulation and the Cats went on to win in the extra session.
Earlier this season, Kentucky got past Mississippi State 78-73 in double overtime in Starkville. That was the game that saw redshirt freshman Dontaie Allen break loose. The Falmouth, Kentucky, native hit 7 of 11 from behind the arc on his way to a career-high 23 points.
Just in time to see the Bulldogs again, Allen has apparently found his shooting touch during Monday’s practice, according to Brooks and Sarr.
“Dontaie shot the ball extremely well,” Brooks said. “That’s what we need Dontaie to do. We’ve all had his back all year. We get mad at Dontaie when he doesn’t shoot the ball because we know how good of a shooter he is. He brings a different element to our team. (Monday) Dontaie shot the lights out.”
Sarr agreed with Brooks’ assessment.
“He shot it really well,” Sarr said of Allen. “We scrimmaged a little bit and he was shooting really well.”
If Kentucky can advance, the Cats would face SEC regular season champion Alabama in Friday’s quarterfinals. But to get to that game, someone with no experience will need to step forward in Thursday’s game against Mississippi State.
Kentucky Cruises Past South Carolina in Regular-Season Finale
With how this season has gone and with the way he was shooting the ball, everyone in Rupp Arena knew Davion Mintz was taking the next shot after making 3-pointers on his previous two trips and four in the half.
Not even John Calipari’s hesitation – “Easy now, easy, easy,” he said from the sideline – was going to make Mintz think twice about the second-half heat check in the win vs. South Carolina.
“As soon as you saw me smacking my hands so hard for the ball, I knew (I was shooting it) regardless,” Mintz said. “I’m like, no, I got to take this one.”
Shades of Tayhaun Prince’s 3-point barrage vs. North Carolina in 2001, Mintz pulled up from well beyond the arc and just in front of his head coach and nailed the 3, his fifth in three and a half minutes that fueled a much-needed runaway victory for Kentucky as it ended the regular season Saturday at Rupp Arena.
Mintz’s 3-point flurry was part of a 17-5 run that led the Wildcats to a 92-64 victory over South Carolina, UK’s second-biggest win of the season and its largest since a 28-point win over the Gamecock in February 2019.
“The energy and everything that I felt in the arena, it was a like a vibration around me,” Mintz said. “I knew it was up as soon as I started clapping for it.”
Calipari spun around to the scorer’s table and smiled. Mintz’s teammates came flying off the bench as South Carolina called timeout. And Mintz popped the “Kentucky” on his jersey for the 3,075 fans in Rupp Arena, what felt like a nod of thanks for continued support in a difficult season and a representation of what could have been in more normal times with a moment like that.
For the Wildcats, who finished the regular season at 9-15 and 8-9 in the Southeastern Conference, their first losing season in the league since 1988-89, it was nice to have a feel-good moment and cruise to a stress-free victory.
Calipari even got to unload his bench for the first time since the season opener.
“To get to see them on the court, it was a good experience for them and for us,” said Isaiah Jackson, who continued his torrid stretch with his sixth straight game in double figures and his second double-double of the season. “We finally got to take a break the last three minutes and just enjoy the game. And I feel like that’s a good momentum builder going into next week. … We’re just going to go out there and try to have fun and keep on doing what we’re doing.”
Jackson scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Mintz scored 20 with a career-high six 3-pointers, and Brandon Boston Jr. set career highs with 21 points and six 3-poitners. Mintz and Boston became just the second pair of UK teammates to each make at least six 3-pointers in the same game. Travis Ford made seven and Jamal Mashburn sunk six vs. Indiana on Jan. 3, 1993.
Kentucky, which led by as many as 33 points, shot 49.3% from the floor and limited South Carolina to 38.2%. UK has held nine of its last 14 opponents to 40% or less shooting.
This game was previously scheduled to be the SEC opener for both teams on Dec. 29 but was postponed due to COVID-19 issues at South Carolina.
UK Seeking Sixth SEC Tournament Title in Calipari Era
Kentucky will play Mississippi State on Thursday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament after finishing the season 8-9 in league play. Game time is set for noon ET (11 a.m. CT) at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
UK locked up the No. 8 seed on Saturday with an impressive 92-64 victory vs. South Carolina and Mississippi State’s loss to Auburn. The Bulldogs will be the No. 9 seed.
The winner of the UK-MSU matchup will get top-seeded Alabama on Friday at noon ET. That game would air on ESPN.
Kentucky earned a bye in the tournament but will begin its SEC Tournament run prior to the quarterfinals for the first time since the tournament expanded in 2013. Despite its SEC Tournament dominance, UK has not won four games in the league tourney to win the event since 1952.
The Wildcats will need to do exactly that after finishing the season 9-15 overall. UK finished strong by winning four of its last six games, including victories at then No. 19/20 Tennessee and the 28-point win Saturday vs. South Carolina, Kentucky’s largest margin of victory in league play in more than two seasons and its second-biggest win of 2020-21.
“It’s never too late,” Davion Mintz said of UK’s chances of making a run in the SEC Tournament and into the NCAA Tournament. “I’ve got faith. God is real and things happen for a reason. If we have a chance to go out there and play for 40 minutes, it’s never too late. We’ll see next week.”
Kentucky is seeking its seventh SEC Tournament championship under John Calipari and 32nd overall. UK will need three wins to advance to its ninth title game in the last 12 seasons, which includes the cancellation of last season’s tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kentucky leads the league with 31 SEC Tournament titles, more than the rest of the league combined (28). The Wildcats are 134-26 all-time in the SEC Tournament. The 2019 loss in the semifinals – the last time a tournament was played – ended a run of four straight SEC Tournament championships and 13 straight wins in the conference tournament.
Calipari’s teams at UMass, Memphis and Kentucky have been to 19 conference championship games in his 28-year career, winning a remarkable 15 of them. Calipari is 57-12 (.826) all-time in conference tournaments, including 23-4 (.852) at UK. Calipari ranks fourth in SEC Tournament wins.
“Every team I’ve coached, at the other two schools too, we were in the same position that when you look back, we have gone through the war and we have been scarred, but it prepares us,” Calipari said. “Every game we play ends up being a two-bucket game right down to the stretch. And we’re fighting with every team, and you know what, that’s what prepares you. … They are prepared, just like all the other teams here.”
The Wildcats are 8-2 all-time vs. the Bulldogs in the SEC Tournament. Kentucky edged Mississippi State in Starkville earlier this season in a double-overtime thriller to start league play. The Wildcats won 78-73 behind Dontaie Allen’s career-high 23 points and seven 3-pointers. UK has won 15 straight games in the series and MSU is the only team yet to beat the Wildcats in the Calipari era. The last time Kentucky played Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament was the thrilling 75-74 overtime victory in the championship game in 2010, Calipari’s first season at UK.
If Kentucky is fortunate enough to play Alabama, it would be the fifth time in the last six seasons (the lone absence being last year’s canceled tournament) the Wildcats have faced the Crimson Tide in the SEC Tournament. UK has won all four of the previous matchups and is 17-2 vs. Alabama in the league tournament and 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Alabama, which finished the season 21-6 overall and 16-2 in league play, swept the two-game regular-season series this year.
Tennessee (4 seed), Florida (5 seed), Vanderbilt (12 seed) and Texas A&M (13 seed) are on the same side of the bracket as Kentucky.
The tournament returns to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for the sixth time in the last seven seasons (that includes last year with two games played in the opening rounds). UK has won the SEC Tournament when it is played in Nashville four times under Calipari.
