The UK Basketball team won it’s 12th straight game in the series against Mississippi State as the Wildcats beat the Bulldogs 76-55.
Here are some more team and individual statistics from Tuesday night’s game.
Final Score: #8/9 Kentucky 76, #22 Mississippi State 55
Team Records and Series Notes
· Kentucky won its fifth in a row and is 15-3 overall, 5-1 in the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State is 14-4, 2-3 in the SEC.
· Kentucky leads the series 96-20 but has a slim 5-4 lead when both teams are ranked.
o UK has won 12 in a row overall vs. the Bulldogs.
· Next for Kentucky: the Wildcats play their final nonconference game of the regular season Saturday by hosting Kansas at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.
o Rupp Arena will be the site for the popular ESPN College GameDay Show on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. Gates open at 9 a.m.
In the First Half
· Kentucky started Ashton Hagans, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, PJ Washingtonand Reid Travis for the 11th time this season. UK is now 8-3 with that lineup.
· After Mississippi State tallied two baskets, UK got 10 straight points, including seven from Johnson.
· Moments later, an 8-0 run made it 18-6 in favor of the Wildcats. It was an 18-2 run overall after the early 4-0 hole.
· UK had its largest lead of the half at 20-7.
· MSU rallied within 28-22 before UK went to halftime with a 34-26 advantage.
· On the strength of three 3-pointers, Herro led all scorers in the first half with 11 points.
In the Second Half
· After a UK basket to make the lead 10, Mississippi State steadily whittled away and pulled within two at 41-39.
· Nick Richards made the front end of a 1-and-1, then took a nifty dish from Herro for a dunk, starting a 16-4 run to make it 57-43.
· Ahead 64-53, UK finished the game with a 12-2 run.
· All totaled, after MSU had pulled within two points, UK finished the game on a 35-16 spurt.
Team Notes
· Mississippi State totaled a season-low 55 points. UK is 68-0 under Coach John Calipari when keeping the opponent at 55 points or less, including 4-0 this season.
· Mississippi State shot only 31.1 percent from the field. UK is 171-15 (.918) under Calipari when keeping the opponent at 40 percent or less, including 7-0 this season.
· Kentucky is 3-1 vs. Associated Press Top 25 teams this season, including consecutive victories over Auburn and Mississippi State. UK will have a chance for wins vs. ranked opponents in three consecutive games when the Wildcats play host to No. 9/10 Kansas on Saturday.
o This was the first time UK had defeated AP Top 25 opponents in consecutive games (with no game in between) since the 2015 NCAA Midwest Regional.
· UK’s 21-point margin of victory is the most vs a ranked opponent since dispatching No. 13 Michigan State, 69-48, on Nov. 15, 2016.
· UK improved to 248-5 (.980) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points at any point in the game.
· UK has won 14 in a row at Rupp Arena, including 11-0 this season.
Player Notes
· PJ Washington led all scorers with 21 points, most for him since the Seton Hall game.
· He also contributed six rebounds and tied his career best for blocked shots with four.
· It’s the fifth time this season he’s led UK in scoring.
· It’s the third 20-point game of the season, fifth career.
· He made three 3-pointers, one off his career high.
· Tyler Herro had 18 points, making all three of his 3-point tries and 5-of-5 at the foul line.
· UK is 6-0 this season when Herro makes at least three 3-pointers.
· UK is 10-0 this season when Herro scores at least 15 points.
· Ashton Hagans had five points, a career-high nine assists and two steals.
· Hagans has 12 consecutive games with at least three assists. He’s led the team in assists 12 times this season.
· Hagans school-record streak of seven straight games with at least three steals came to an end tonight. His streak was the most by a freshman in a major conference since Chris Paul (Wake Forest) had a stretch of 10 straight games with three or more steals in the 2003-04 season.
· Keldon Johnson sparked the Wildcats with seven points in the early 10-0 flurry, finishing with nine points total. He added five points, two assists and tied his career best for steals with three.
· Reid Travis had five points, and for the third time this season, collected a dozen rebounds.
· It’s the fifth time this season he’s led the team in rebounding.
· Nick Richards had an active 10 minutes, totaling eight points, six rebounds and a blocked shot.
· The eight points are his best since the season-high 10 against Winthrop on Nov. 21.
Calipari
· Calipari is now 290-67 at UK, including 47-23 when both teams are ranked in the AP Top 25.
· Calipari has a 735-207 all-time on-court record.
· Calipari is 13-0 vs. Mississippi State during his career.
· He is now seven wins away from tying Joe B. Hall for the second-most victories by a UK head coach in program history.
