Kentucky beats Mississippi State: Everything to know

It was a tale of two halves in Starkville for the Kentucky Wildcats.

The first half was sheer dominance by the Cats, as they built a 40-25 lead over the Mississippi State Bulldogs and looked well on their way to win No. 20.

But the second half was a completely different story. Kentucky did start the half well and built the lead up to 48-31. But from there, it became an absolute war that saw the Cats nearly blow the lead.

A furious rally by the Bulldogs cut the lead to one score on several occasions, but some big shots by Keldon Johnson, PJ Washington and Tyler Herro helped Kentucky hold on for a 71-67 win.

Washington led the way with 23 points on 9/13 shooting from the field and made all three of his three-pointers.

Herro had 12 points on 5/9 shooting and two three-balls, once of which came in the final minutes as the shot clock expired that helped Kentucky escape with a win.

Johnson finished with 13 points and seven rebounds while making some key shots down the stretch and grabbed a crucial steal to stave off the Bulldogs.

Kentucky won the rebounding battle 35-28 and points in the paint 34-24. The Cats are 18-1 this season when winning/tying the rebounding battle and 17-2 when outscoring opponents in the paint.

John Calipari picked up his 295th win as the head coach of Kentucky Basketball, putting him two wins shy of tying Joe B. Hall for the second-most victories ever by a Kentucky coach.

Up next, Kentucky hosts the LSU Tigers on Tuesday and the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday, making this one of the biggest weeks of the regular season for the Cats.

Use this stream to keep track of everything related to Kentucky’s wild win over the Bulldogs in StarkVegas.