Five things you need to know from No. 16 Kentucky’s 91-89 win over Mississippi State
Five things you need to know from No. 16 Kentucky’s come-from-behind 91-89 win at Mississippi State in men’s SEC basketball at Humphrey Coliseum:
1. A Reed Sheppard masterpiece. After Mississippi State had erased an eight-point Kentucky lead in the final minute and tied the game at 89 on a Josh Hubbard 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, Sheppard rescued the Cats.
The North Laurel product took a pass from D.J. Wagner near the top of the key, drove into the lane and scored on a runner with five-tenths of a second left in the game to win it for Kentucky.
If that weren’t enough late-game heroics for Sheppard, he also stole the ensuing Mississippi State inbounds pass to clinch UK’s win.
Those final plays were simply the finishing touches on a masterpiece from Sheppard.
The 6-foot-3, 187-pound London product scored a career-high 32 points. Sheppard went 11-of-14 on field-goal tries, 4-of-7 on treys and hit all six of his foul shots. If that weren’t enough, Sheppard also had five rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
If you were wondering, the UK career high for Jeff Sheppard, Reed’s father, was 27 points against Stanford in the 1998 Final Four.
Reed Sheppard’s two steals give him 76 on the season, which moves him into a tie with Rodrick Rhodes for third most in a single season in UK history. Ahead of Sheppard for most steals in a single season by a Wildcats player are only Rajon Rondo (87) and Wayne Turner (79).
2. Calipari is the king of “StarkVegas.” With Kentucky’s victory, John Calipari is now 19-1 as UK head man against Mississippi State and is 9-0 in Starkville.
This one had to especially sting Mississippi State fans, as the Bulldogs led by eight points, 43-35 at halftime, and by 13, 52-39, with 18:11 left in the game. Kentucky did not take its first lead until Rob Dillingham drained a 3-pointer to put UK ahead 72-71 with 4:24 left.
MSU’s only win over a Calipari-coached UK team came in the 2021 SEC Tournament in Nashville, a 74-73 Kentucky loss that ended the Wildcats’ slog of a season at 9-16.
Mississippi State’s most recent regular season victory over UK came on Feb. 3, 2009, a 66-57 win for then-Bulldogs head man Rick Stansbury and crew over a Billy Gillispie-coached Wildcats team at Rupp Arena.
MSU’s last victory over Kentucky in Starkville came on Jan. 15, 2008, a 69-64 victory for Stansbury and the Bulldogs over Gillispie’s first UK team.
3. Reeves report. Even on a night when his 3-point jumper was spotty, Kentucky super-senior guard Antonio Reeves turned in another strong performance on the road.
Though he was only 2-of-7 on treys, Reeves hit 8 of 15 shots overall, made all six of his free throws and finished with 21 points.
Of Kentucky’s nine road games this season, Reeves has now scored at least 21 points in seven of them. The 6-6, 195-pound Chicago product is averaging 22.4 points a game in true away contests.
The 21 points Reeves scored at Starkville gives him 1,046 points in his two-year UK career and moved him past Jim Line (1,041) for 56th place on the all-time Kentucky Wildcats scoring list. Immediately ahead of Reeves now are No. 55 Erik Daniels (1,053 career points), No. 53 Jamaal Magloire and Terrence Jones (1,064 each), No. 52 Dirk Minniefield (1,069) and No. 51 Rex Chapman (1,073).
Among players who only played two seasons for UK, Reeves is behind No. 4 Terrence Jones (1,064), No. 3 Rex Chapman (1,073), No. 2. Oscar Tshiebwe (1,117) and No. 1 Bill Spivey (1,213).
4. The “Travis Perry of Mississippi” almost shot the Cats down. Mississippi State freshman guard Josh Hubbard rifled in 34 points and almost took UK under.
The 5-10, 190-pound Hubbard hit 11 of 24 shots, 7 of 14 treys and 5 of 6 free throws. Hubbard’s hot shooting was a carryover from Mississippi State’s win at LSU on Saturday night when he had 32 points and made 9 of 17 shots overall and 6 of 12 treys.
On Tuesday night, Kentucky led 83-75 after Rob Dillingham cashed a pair of free throws with 57 seconds left.
Hubbard, however, hit a trey with 50 seconds left to pull MSU within 83-78. Following a pair of Antonio Reeves free throws with 48 seconds to go, Hubbard drained another 3-pointer to pull the Bulldogs within 85-81.
Reed Sheppard hit two foul shots with 35.2 seconds left to push Kentucky ahead 87-81, but Cameron Matthews answered with a conventional 3-point play after he scored on a layup and converted a foul shot after Ugonna Onyenso fouled him with 28 seconds left. That pulled MSU within 87-84.
After Tolu Smith intercepted a Reed Sheppard pass, Reeves was called for fouling him and Smith hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to cut Kentucky’s lead to 87-86.
Sheppard answered with two foul shots of his own with 16 seconds left, only for Hubbard to drain his final trey with 10 seconds left to tie the game at 89.
That only set up UK’s Sheppard to trump Hubbard’s heroics by draining the game-winning runner in the lane with under a second left.
Just as current Lyon County star and UK recruiting signee Travis Perry is the all-time leading scorer in the history of Kentucky boys high school hoops, Hubbard is the same in Mississippi. In his career at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Hubbard scored a state-record 4,367 points.
5. A Quad 1 win for the Wildcats. With its road victory over a Mississippi State team that entered Tuesday’s game No. 28 in the NCAA NET rankings, Kentucky is currently 6-6 in Quad 1 games.
The Wildcats join South Carolina (4-3), Tennessee (5-5) and Texas A&M (6-6) as the only Southeastern Conference men’s hoops teams that do not have losing marks in Quad 1 contests — those games deemed by the NCAA’s rankings system to have the greatest degree of difficulty.
As UK women’s basketball celebrates its 50th year, the program stands at a crossroads
‘I am so excited.’ Why a UK sports legend is coming back to Kentucky.
Is Alabama’s Nate Oats coming to Kentucky for a job rehearsal?
To save its season, Kentucky basketball needs to mimic one team
He dethroned a ‘King.’ Travis Perry is the 2023 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
Top 10: Reed Sheppard edges Juli Fulks, Lamar Jackson for 2nd in Ky. Sports Figure voting
At last, the drought is over. Kentucky is again producing high-level basketball talent.
The five most pivotal games on the 2024 Kentucky football schedule
Buckle up, Kentucky fans: SEC football as you have known it is gone in 2024
These three trends should worry Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops
