Kentucky-Mississippi State Men's Basketball Postgame Notes

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
RUPP ARENA AT CENTRAL BANK CENTER | LEXINGTON, KY
JAN. 17, 2024
ATTENDANCE: 20,016

Final Score: No. 8/10 Kentucky 90, Mississippi State 77

Team Records and Series Notes

Kentucky is 13-3 on the season, 3-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Mississippi State is 12-5 overall, 1-3 in league play.
UK leads the series 102-21 and has won three in a row vs. MSU.
- UK leads 52-5 in games played in Lexington and has won the last nine in Rupp.

Next for Kentucky: UK concludes a two-game homestand Saturday as the Wildcats play host to Georgia. Game time is 6 p.m. and it will be televised on SEC Network.

Team Notes

UK is 3-0 this season in bounce-back games following losses. The Wildcats are now 18-3 in bounce-back games in the last three seasons.
UK scored 90 points tonight. The Wildcats entered the game third in the nation at 90.8 per game.
- This is the first team in UK history that has scored at least 81 points in 15 of its first 16 games.
Kentucky shot 55.6 percent tonight from the field as the Wildcats missed only eight of their two-point shots (23 of 31, 74.2%).
- It is UK’s eighth game this season shooting at least 50 percent and the Wildcats have won all eight.
UK had 20 assists with only 10 turnovers, a plus-2 ratio. UK entered the game third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at +1.88.
Kentucky led by as many as 20 points. The Wildcats are 340-15 (95.8%) in the John Calipari era when leading by as many as 10 points during the contest.

Player Notes

Antonio Reeves had 27 points, his eighth 20-point game of the season.
- He has landed in double figures in every game but one this season.
Rob Dillingham had 16 points, his 14^th double-figure game of the season.
Aaron Bradshaw had 11 points, his fifth double-figure game in the nine games he has played. He also tied for the team lead in rebounds with six.
Reed Sheppard had nine points while leading the team with six assists and a plus/minus of +21.
Tre Mitchell scored 15 points and enjoyed a perfect shooting night: 5 of 5 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and making all four foul shots.
Ugonna Onyenso had three points and was a significant defensive presence, with four blocked shots and six rebounds.

Coach John Calipari

Calipari has an 845-256 (76.7%) all-time on-court record, including 400-116 (77.5%) at Kentucky.
- It marked Calipari’s 400^th win at Kentucky. Among active head coaches, he is the third fastest to 400 wins at a program with 516 games. Only Bill Self (Kansas) and Mark Few (Gonzaga) reached 400 wins faster.
Calipari is 329-66 (83.3%) at UK against unranked competition.
Calipari is 19-1 vs. Mississippi State.
Calipari is now 396-127 (75.7%) all-time in conference games, including 188-61 (75.5%) in the SEC.

In the First Half

Kentucky started J. Wagner, Antonio Reeves, Justin Edwards, Tre Mitchell and Aaron Bradshaw for the seventh game in a row. UK is 6-1 in this lineup.
Ugonna Onyenso, Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard were UK’s first substitutions at the 15:57 mark.
After Mississippi State made the first two shots for a 5-2 lead, Kentucky went on a 13-0 run and the Wildcats never trailed again.
Kentucky stretched the lead to 20 points at 47-27 and took a 47-29 tally into halftime.
- Reeves led the way with 16 points and Dillingham had 10, while on the defensive end, UK limited MSU to 35.5% shooting.
UK is now 12-1 this season when leading at halftime.

In the Second Half

Kentucky began the second half with the starting lineup.
Mississippi State scored on its first six possessions, needing less than three minutes to cut the margin to 49-43.
Kentucky called timeout at 17:14 and the Wildcats steadied with a 6-0 spurt. Then, Mitchell added consecutive basket-and-ones to restore the lead to 61-46.
After that the Bulldogs got no closer than 12 points.

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