College basketball final: Kentucky 91, Mississippi State 89
Fresh off a 117-95 romp over Alabama at Rupp Arena on Saturday, the Kentucky men’s basketball team takes to the road Tuesday to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who have won five straight games.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and Marty Smith will have the coverage on ESPN. Tom Leach and Jack Givens will bring you the action on the UK Sports Network.
Ben Roberts, Ryan Hermens and yours truly will be courtside to bring you updates. You can follow us on X/Twitter at @BenRobertsHL, @ryanhermens and @johnclayiv.
You can follow a dedicated Twitter/X Kentucky basketball list by clicking here.
Second-half updates
▪ Final: Kentucky 91, Mississippi State 89.
▪ Reed Sheppard at the buzzer beats Mississippi State 91-89? Officials reviewing. Basket counts. There’s 0.5 left.
▪ Kentucky’s lead down to 87-86 with 16.7 seconds left.
▪ Kentucky leads Mississippi State 83-78 with 50.2 seconds left. Reed Sheppard leads the Cats with 23 points. Kentucky has rallied from 13 points down in this half.
▪ Kentucky on a 7-0 run for a 74-71 lead over Mississippi State with 3:17 left. Went up 72-71 with 4:23 left for first lead of the game. Pressure on the home team now.
▪ Reed Sheppard is doing all he can — 21 points, six assists, five rebounds, one steal and score. Mississippi State 71, Kentucky 67 with 4:51 left.
▪ Kentucky went nearly four minutes without a point, but trails Mississippi State just 58-5w with 11:31 left. Cats are 1-for-6 from 3-point range this half.
▪ Kentucky has scored six straight points, but trails Mississippi State 52-45 with 15:23 left here in Starkville. Both teams are shooting an even 50.0. State is 7-of-15 from 3. UK is 7-of-21 from 3.
▪ State speeds out of the gate to start second half. Bulldogs lead Kentucky 52-39 as Calipari calls time with 18:10 left. Josh Hubbard has scored seven of State’s nine points so far this half. He’s up to 19 for the game.
First-half updates
▪ Halftime: Mississippi State 43, Kentucky 35.
▪ Find the halftime box here.
▪ Mississippi State 22-12 advantage in points in the paint and a 20-13 advantage on the glass.
▪ Mississippi State averaged 1.237 points per possession; UK 1.062.
▪ Mississippi State leads Kentucky 34-30 with 3:51 left in first half. Cats are 6-of-14 from 3-point range against the Bulldogs, who are fourth nationally in 3-point defense. Opponents have made just 28.1 percent of their 3s against MSU. UK is at 42.9.
▪ State’s lead is 25-20 at the 1H 7:48 TV time. The Bulldogs are 5-of-8 at the foul line. Cats are 0-2. State also has a 15-10 edge on the glass.
▪ Kentucky went on a 7-0 run to close the gap to four, but Mississippi State up 16-10 at the 11:50 1H TV time. Cats are now 4-of-13 from the floor, including 2-of-8 from 3.
▪ UK’s Rob Dillingham picked up his second foul at the 11:50 mark.
▪ Five of UK’s first six shots were 3-pointers.
▪ After shooting 63.1% Saturday against Alabama, Kentucky opens up 1-of-6 from the floor here at Mississippi State. Bulldogs up 12-3 at the 15:07 1H TV time.
Pregame notes
▪ UK starting lineup: Justin Edwards, Adou Thiero, Antonio Reeves, D.J. Wagner and Ugonna Onyenso
▪ Mississippi State starting lineup: Shakeel Moore, Shawn Jones, Josh Hubbard, Tolu Smith, Cameron Matthews
▪ Tre Mitchell is out again. Cameron Drummond has the details.
▪ Officials for Kentucky-Mississippi State are Todd Austin, Joe Lindsay and Brian Dorsey.
▪ It is a “White Out” at Humphrey Coliseum.
▪ Mississippi State is a 4 1/2-point favorite.
▪ Kentucky basketball roster is here.
▪ Kentucky basketball stats are here.
▪ Mississippi State basketball roster is here.
▪ Mississippi State basketball stats are here.
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