Skip to main content
Mississippi State
Join Now

Despite hot start, State gets dominated at Kentucky, 92-68

Paul Jones Mississippi State Bulldogsby: Paul Jones01/11/26PaulJonesOn3

Mississippi State had a quick start at Kentucky on Saturday evening at Rupp Arena but it wouldn’t be nearly enough. Kentucky dominated the Bulldogs in the second half and coasted to a 92-68 win.

With the loss, State saw its six-game winning streak snapped and the Bulldogs dropped to 10-6 overall and 2-1 in the SEC. Kentucky improved to 10-5 overall and 1-2 in the league.

Josh Hubbard had 20 for State while Jayden Epps had 13 but the Bulldog duo combined for just a 3 of 15 showing from 3 point range. Achor Achor had his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“Turnovers, they had 27 point off our turnovers,” head coach Chris Jans said afterwards. “And second-chance points were 22-9 and then 22-6 in fast-break points. Those were the main keys going into the game and if we were going to win, we couldn’t give them a bunch of run-outs. I was hoping we could hang out hat on rebounding. All of those factors led to us being on the wrong end of the score.”

Otega Oweh had a game-high 22 points for Kentucky and Malachi Moreno had 17 points and eight rebounds. Denzel Aberden collected 16 points for the Wildcats and Kam Williams added 14.

Trailing by five at halftime, State cut the deficit to a 51-49 early in the second half. But then Kentucky steadily pushed the lead to double digits and the Bulldogs didn’t threaten the rest of the way.

Mississippi State shot 48% for the game and made just 3 of 20 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs were 11 of 14 at the foul line, had 15 turnovers and were outscored 27-10 in points off turnovers.

Kentucky shot 55% from the field and made 9 of 22 beyond the 3 point arc. The Wildcats were 9 of 14 at the charity stripe, had nine turnovers and outrebounded State, 36-28, including 14 offensive boards.

“We knew going in (Kentucky’s size) would be a challenge,” added Jans. “Not just around the basket but they got really big guards and wings, and they are experienced players. The unfortunate thing is we got off to such a great start, which was almost too good to be true. We were playing great and then they regrouped. They held it together and really got it going in the second half, especially offensively.”

Mississippi State started the game red hot and jumped out to an 18-6 lead after a Ja’Borri McGhee layup with 14:30 left in the half. State lead 28-17 before Kentucky exploded on a 12-0 run as the Cats took a 29-28 lead with 8:13 to go in the half. Kentucky then fished the half on a 7-1 run and had a 44-39 halftime advantage.

Mississippi State shot 57% in the first half and made 2 of 7 beyond the 3 point arc. The Bulldogs were 5 of 6 at the line and had seven first-half turnovers. Kentucky shot 51% from the field and made 4 of 11 from 3 point range. The Wildcats were 4 of 6 at the line, had four turnovers and outrebounded State, 17-13, in the first half.

Up Next

Mississippi State returns home Tuesday as No. 13 Alabama pays a visit to Humphrey Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be televised by the SEC Network. After Saturday’s home loss to Texas, Alabama is 11-5 overall and 1-2 in the SEC.

You may also like