Kentucky Basketball vs Mississippi State: Game Time, TV Info, Online Stream, Odds, More

The Kentucky Wildcats are back in Rupp Arena Tuesday night following a two-game SEC road trip, and they'll welcome the upstart Mississippi State Bulldogs to town.

The Cats are coming off one of their most impressive wins this season, a 77-61 shellacking of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It was a game UK built an early lead in and were able to stave off a second-half rally by the Tide as UK won their first true road game of the season.

Unfortunately for MSU, they have yet to win a game on the road or in SEC play after going 0-2 last week to Texas A&M and at Arkansas. The Bulldogs actually gave the 16th-ranked Aggies all they could handle in a game that came down to the final seconds, but MSU ultimately lost 61-60 Wednesday night. Following that loss, Mississippi State has dropped 11-straight games to ranked opponents and 13 out of the last 16.

Then Saturday in Fayetteville, MSU fell behind early and despite pulling to within three late in the game, would run out of gas and drop an 82-68 contest to the Hogs. Senior guard Craig Sword had 21 points and senior forward Gavin Ware added 14 for the Bulldogs, who trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half before cutting the Arkansas lead to 62-59 with 5:28 remaining.

Ware and Sword have been the Bulldogs' most reliable players for much of their careers, and that's continued this season. Ware is averaging a team-high 17.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while Sword has chipped in 12.4 points, 3.3 boards and 2.5 assists per game.

The biggest newcomer for MSU this season is highly-touted freshman Malik Newman, who ultimately picked the Bulldogs over Kentucky this offseason. Newman was viewed as one of the most dynamic scorers of any high school prospect in 2015 and someone who would be a lottery pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

That's not been the case though as Newman is averaging just 13 ppg, 3.2 rpg and 2.2 apg. Part of that can be attributed to an ankle injury that hindered him early this season, but he's beginning to come into his own and could be in for a big game in Rupp Arena.

MSU is led by head coach Ben Howland, who's now in his first year in Starkville following memorable runs at UCLA and Pittsburgh. In four years at Pitt, Howland won the Big East regular season championship twice and went to the Sweet Sixteen twice.

In Howland's 10 years at UCLA, he went to the Final Four three times in consecutive seasons and held a record of 233-107. Overall he’s won 398 games vs. 205 losses. He’s also won eight regular season championships in the Pac-12, Big East and the Big Sky. He’s a three-time league coach of the year and won national coach of the year in 2002.

Needless to say, Howland brings with him a wealth of coaching success, something he's hoping continues in Starkville once he has a few years to dig this program out of the grave.

The Bulldogs were once an annual SEC contender, but fell on hard times under Rick Ray from 2012-14, and Howland has a big rebuilding project ahead of him. While they certainly have the talent to give Kentucky a run, this is a game the Wildcats have no business in losing.

Here is everything you'll need to watch and follow Kentucky vs Mississippi State.

Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-7, 02 in SEC) at Kentucky Wildcats (12-3, 2-1 in SEC)

When: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016

Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky

Game Time: 7 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Rosters: MSU Roster; Kentucky Roster

Online Stream: Watch ESPN

Radio: UK Radio Network (Tom Leach, Mike Pratt)

Odds: UK is a 16.5-point favorite, per Vegas Insider.

Projected MSU Starters

#15 G -  I.J. Ready, 5-11, 170 lbs

#14 G - Malik Newman, 6-3, 190 lbs

#4 G -  Craig Sword, 6-3, 197 lbs

#23 F - Travis Daniels, 6-7, 225 lbs

#20 F - Gavin Ware, 6-9, 260 lbs

Projected UK Starters

#3 G - Tyler Ulis, 5-9, 160 lbs

#13 G - Isaiah Briscoe, 6-3, 202 lbs

#23 G - Jamal Murray, 6-4, 207 lbs

#22 F - Alex Poythress, 6-8, 230 lbs

#00 F - Marcus Lee, 6-9, 224 lbs