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Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena –
The ‘Cats defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a huge home victory on Saturday night in Rupp Arena by a score of 92-68 on a night that the University of Kentucky recognized the 1966 Kentucky Wildcats who sported the nickname “Rupps Runts.” In a game that saw starting PG Jaland Lowe go down once again with his recurrent right shoulder injury, the ‘Cats were led by Otega Oweh with 22 points in the game followed up by Freshman Center Malachi Moreno who collected 17 points to go along with 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals in the game.
Aberdeen also stepped up with 16 points in the game with improved decision making throughout the game. The ‘Cats began the game dreadfully and were even serenaded with boo’s going into one of the first timeouts. However, the ‘Cats stepped up all around and closed out the half with a 44-39 lead. The ‘Cats continued their focus in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 48 to 29. It was a relief for ‘Cats fans to have a reason to cheer in Lexington after the disappointing home loss on Wednesday night to Missouri. The ‘Cats shot an ultra efficient 55% from the field and 41% (9 of 22) from beyond the arc. The ‘Cats will look to stack wins as they head to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers.
Pre-Game Overview:
The starting lineup for the ‘Cats featured Jaland Lowe, Denzel Aberdeen, Otega Oweh, Mouhamed Dioubate, and Malachi Moreno
The spread for Saturday nights game was -10.5 (Kentucky) and the Over/Under was set at 153.5.
Game Recap:
First Half
Mississippi State won the opening tip off and scored late in the shot clock for the first points of the game. Oweh missed his first shot of the game, a mid-range jumper, but Moreno collected an offensive board and scored in the paint. Lowe then drove in and drew a foul on the next ‘Cats possession. Lowe missed both free-throws at the line. The ‘Cats collapsed on the next defensive possession and gave up an easy dunk. Aberdeen then air-balled a corner three but Kentucky got the offensive board and Oweh slammed in a dunk. The Bulldogs responded with a three from Epps. Lowe stripped a drive from the Bulldogs and Lowe reinjured his right shoulder and walked straight to the locker room. Chandler checked in to replace the injured Lowe and missed a drive on his first attempt. The Bulldogs scored once again to go up 9-4 in the game. Chandler missed a deep three for Kentucky. Aberdeen shifted his way to an open layup to stop the ‘Cats scoring drought. The Bulldogs responded once again with a Hubbard three. The ’Cats lost the ball and Mississippi State scored in transition to make it 16-6 at the first media timeout. The ‘Cats didn’t get a clean shot out of the timeout and then the Kentucky defense gave up a wide-open drive to the rim without a contest for another easy Bulldogs score. Aberdeen was fouled and went to the line for two free-throws. Kentucky got a defensive stop and Aberdeen was fouled once again on a drive to the rim. He hit both free-throws. Achor stepped past Garrison for an easy score. Williams nailed his first shot of the game, a deep three for Kentucky. Chandler was easily beat off the dribble by McGee for a score, then he missed an easy layup on the offensive end. The struggles continued as Hubbard then nailed a mid-range shot over Chandler. Williams drove and scored through contact with no foul call. A defensive breakdown allowed an easy slam for Mississippi State. Garrison scored off a pass from Oweh in the paint. Oweh stole a pass and scored in transition. Oweh nailed a three off an extra pass from Williams. Kentucky trailed 28-22 with 9:57-minutes to play in the half. Williams intercepted an errant pass and scored at the rim in transition. Moreno and the ‘Cats then forced a dribble off the Bulldogs foot for another turnover. Williams drove by his defender for an easy score at the rim. The ‘Cats continued to lock in on defense and forced a tough three that Dioubate collected for the ‘Cats. Johnson nailed a corner three for Kentucky to give the ‘Cats a 29-28 lead off a 12-0 Kentucky run. During the under 8-minute media timeout a fan nailed a half-court shot to win $10,000 as Rupp exploded to continue the positive vibes in Rupp. Hubbard was fouled by Oweh on a drive and he hit both free-throws to give the Bulldogs the lead at 30-29. Moreno tried to work his way around for a score but was denied out of bounds. Oweh scored on a back cut that was popularized last season by the ‘Cats. Moreno scored in transition off a steal. The Bulldogs responded with a paint score. Johnson missed a layup attempt but Moreno cleaned it up with a slam. Dioubate was fouled fighting for a defensive rebound. Achor slammed in a missed shot to bring the score to 35-34 Kentucky. Jelavic checked in for Kentucky for the first time in over two weeks of action. Ballard dunked an alley-oop and Williams missed a three for the ‘Cats. Williams stepped out for a Kentucky turnover but Jelavic forced Achor into a walk to give it back to the ‘Cats. Kentucky trailed 36-35 with 3:56-minutes to play in the first half. Moreno scored on a long possession from Kentucky. Hubbard responded for the Bulldogs. Chandler nailed a set three for Kentucky to give them a 40-38 lead. Moreno collected an offensive rebound off a Chandler missed three and put it back in. Achor was fouled on a drive to the basket and went to the line. He hit 1 of 2. Chandler drove to the rim and was rewarded with a goaltending call for the ‘Cats off a good action play. Jelavic found Moreno with a good entry pass to the post but Moreno was fouled on the catch. Chandler missed a wide-open three for the ‘Cats on another good play call. Kentucky led 44-39 at the end of the first half.
It was a dreadful start to the first half for Kentucky, with fans at Rupp even sending down boo’s heading into a timeout with the ‘Cats down as much as 12 at 18-6 Bulldogs. The ‘Cats shot 51% in the first half and 36% (4 of 11) from beyond the arc. The ‘Cats defense allowed the Bulldogs to get easy shots throughout the half as the Bulldogs shot 57% from the field but just 29% (2 of 7) from the three-point line. The ‘Cats lost Lowe but still assisted on 9 of 18 made field goals in the half. Moreno led the ‘Cats in offense with 10 first half points. Williams and Oweh were just behind with 9-points each. One immensely interesting first half stat is that Kam Williams came off the bench to produce a team leading +16 plus/minus in 14-minutes of action. The dynamic forward must be on the floor as much as possible moving forward for Kentucky to be the best team they can be. The ‘Cats will look to continue their positive trend in the second half likely without Lowe.
Halftime: Kentucky 44 – Mississippi State 39
Second Half
Kentucky began the second half with the ball and Moreno was called for an illegal screen. Moreno then stole the ball on the other end for the ‘Cats. Aberdeen dribbled his way to a missed mid-range jumper. Ballard cleaned up a miss and then Williams turned the ball over for Kentucky. Hubbard scored to make it 44-43 Kentucky. Dioubate collected an offensive board on a Oweh missed three and scored with the foul. He missed the free-throw. Moreno cleaned up a Oweh miss with a dunk to make it 48-43 ‘Cats. Aberdeen turned it over on a good scoring opportunity with a travel. McGhee scored for the Bulldogs on a drive to the rim. Williams was fouled on a drive to the rim and went to the line for free-throws. He hit both free-throws to make it 50-45 ‘Cats with 16-minutes to play. Epps dribbled his way to a running score. Moreno collected another offensive board and was fouled on the putback attempt. He hit 1 of 2 at the line. Aberdeen nailed a corner three for the ‘Cats. Hubbard responded with a mid-range jumper. Oweh stole a pass and slammed home a transition score. Ballrd slipped away and found an open jam in the paint. Aberdeen nailed another three off an offensive board for Kentucky. Kentucky led 59-53 with 12:29-minutes to play in the game. Chandler spun and drove to the rim and was fouled on the shot attempt. He hit both free-throws. Hubbard air mailed a three as the ‘Cats led 61-55 heading into the under 12-minute media timeout. Oweh nailed a mid-range jumper off another good action from the ’Cats to push their lead to 63-55. Hubbard nailed a three for Mississippi State. Garrison collected an offensive rebound and found Aberdeen for a driving pull-up score. Chandler found Garrison running the floor in transition for a slam to give the ‘Cats a 67-58 lead. Epps drove and scored and the ‘Cats responded with Jelavic pushing the extra pass to Garrison for an and-one chance. He missed the free-throw. Oweh stole another pass and slammed it home in transition. Oweh pulled up and nailed a three at the top of the key for a 74-62 ‘Cats lead. Williams pump faked into an open corner three that he nailed. Walker scored but Aberdeen found Moreno on an alley-oop slam. Moreno then stole the pass for the ‘Cats. Oweh slipped his way to the rim for an easy score. Johnson took it coast-to-coast for a score to make it 83-65 Kentucky with 5-minutes to play. Johnson sealed a screen and Moreno found a cutting Oweh for another score. Kentucky led 85-65 at the under 4-minute media timeout. The ‘Cats went on an 8-0 run in the last 2-minutes of game action. Aberdeen found Moreno with a behind the back pass for a score in the paint. Jelavic nailed a three for the ‘Cats to make it 90-67. The ‘Cats went on to win the game by a score of 92-68. A big time bounce back win for the ‘Cats as they hope to change the tide of the season in the coming weeks.
Final: Kentucky 92 – Mississippi State 68
Game Stats:
Mississippi State FG %: 48% (15% 3PT – 3 of 20) (79% FT – 11 of 14)
Kentucky FG %: 55% (41% 3PT – 9 of 22) (64% FT – 9 of 14)
Rebounds: 36 – 28 Kentucky
Assist/Turnover Ratio: 21:9
Turnovers: UK (9), Mississippi State (15)
Bench Points: 35 – 14 Kentucky
Points off Turnovers: 27 – 10 Kentucky
Fast Break Points: 19 – 6 Kentucky
Paint Points: 54 – 44 Kentucky
Player Stats:
Otega Oweh – [(22 points) (3 rebounds) (5 assists) (1 block) (5 steals)]
Malachi Moreno – [(17 points) (8 rebounds) (6 assists) (4 steals)]
Denzel Aberdeen – [(16 points) (1 rebound) (4 assists)]
Kam Williams – [(14 points) (5 rebounds) (2 assists) (2 steals)] led team in +/- with +32 in 30-minutes
Collin Chandler – [(7 points) (1 rebound) (1 assist) (1 steal)]
Brandon Garrison – [(6 points) (3 rebounds) (1 assist) (1 block)]
Jasper Johnson – [(5 points)]
Andrija Jelavic – [(3 points) (5 rebounds) (1 assist) (1 steal)]
Mouhamed Dioubate – [(2 points) (5 rebounds) (1 assist)]
Jaland Lowe – [(1 steal)] – reinjured right shoulder 3 minutes into game
Walker Horn – [(1 rebound)]
Zach Tow – [no stats recorded in 1 minute]
Trent Noah – [Injured ankle on first play upon entry]
Jayden Quaintance – [DNP Right Knee Swelling]
Next Game:
The Kentucky Wildcats (10-6, 1-2 SEC) will head to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers (12-4, 0-3 SEC) on Wednesday, January 14 in the Maravich Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
