Big Blue Corner: Notes From Kentucky's 78-65 Over Mississippi State

UK MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES

MISSISSIPPI STATE AT KENTUCKY

RUPP ARENA | LEXINGTON, KY.

JAN. 23, 2018
ATTENDANCE: 20,609

Final Score: Kentucky 78, Mississippi State 65

Team Records and Series Notes

Kentucky is 15-5 overall and 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State is 14-6 overall, 2-5 in league play.
Kentucky leads the series 95-20 and has won 11 in a row against the Bulldogs.

Kentucky has its final non-conference game of the regular season Saturday at No. 7-ranked West Virginia. Game time is 7 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

ESPN College GameDay will be in Morgantown, the second consecutive week that the Wildcats will be featured on the popular show. It will be UK’s 16^th appearance on GameDay, second only to North Carolina (17). It’s also the third year in a row that UK has appeared twice in the same season.

In the First Half

Kentucky’s starting lineup featured Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo, PJ Washington, Kevin Knox and Nick Richards for the seventh time this season. UK is 5-2 with this lineup.
Kentucky extended its streak of 1,033 consecutive games with a 3-pointer when Knox connected with 13:46 on the clock.
It was a back-and-forth first half, with a couple of UK seven-point leads being the largest margin for either team.
Led by Knox and Washington, UK took a 38-36 lead into intermission. Knox had 13 points, the sixth time this season he hit double figures in the first half. Washington had 11 points, the fourth time this season he had double digits in the opening stanza.
UK is 11-2 this season when leading at halftime.

In the Second Half

Trailing 52-49, Kentucky went on a 13-2 run for a 62-54 lead.
Ahead 68-63, UK added a 6-0 run for a 74-63 lead.
All totaled, UK closed the game on a 29-13 run over the final 12:30 of the game.

Team Notes

Mississippi State shot 38.8 percent from the field, the fourth straight game that UK has held the opponent under 40 percent.
MSU hit only 5 of 29 on 3-point tries, 17.2 percent. It’s the fourth straight game the Wildcat opponent has shot under 25 percent from long range.
UK outrebounded Mississippi State 41-31. The Wildcats are 14-1 this season when winning the battle of the boards.
UK had only 11 turnovers and the Wildcats are 8-0 this season when committing 12 or fewer miscues.
UK is 42-9 under Coach John Calipari in bounce-back games after losses, including 4-1 this season.
UK’s largest lead was 13 points at the final buzzer. UK is 224-5 under Coach John Calipari when leading by 10 or more during the game.
Kentucky coaches and staff wore sneakers tonight as part of the annual Coaches vs. Cancer “Suits and Sneakers” week, raising funds and cancer awareness on behalf of the American Cancer Society.

Player Notes

PJ Washington had a career-high 22 points, sparked by a 10-of-14 performance at the foul line.

He added six rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and a career-high three steals.

Featuring 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, Kevin Knox tallied 19 points and added six rebounds.

Knox tied his career high for 3-pointers, also tying the most by a Wildcat this season.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander notched 16 points and six assists with no turnovers.
Wenyen Gabriel contributed seven points and six rebounds. He has six or more rebounds in each of the last four games.
Hamidou Diallo scored six points, tied for the team lead with seven rebounds, adding two assists, two blocked shots (tying career high) and two steals.
Jarred Vanderbilt snagged seven rebounds in 11 minutes of action. Vanderbilt has 18 rebounds in 38 minutes this season, an average of one carom per 2.1 minutes of action, an outstanding ratio.

Coach John Calipari

Calipari has a 709-198 all-time on-court record.
Calipari is now 264-58 at Kentucky, surpassing Orlando “Tubby” Smith for third-most wins as a Kentucky coach.
Calipari is 146-7 at Rupp Arena, including 128-4 against unranked opponents.
Calipari is 12-0 vs. Mississippi State in his career.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018