The Mississippi State Bulldogs left all they had on the court. It took that and then some to erase a 20-point deficit againt the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Kentucky on Tuesday.
As valiant as the effort the Bulldogs put forth was their comeback efforts still fell just short as they were bested by Kentucky 80-74.
The game marked the third straight loss for Mississippi State and gives the squad and overall record of 7-8. The Bulldogs SEC record stands at 0-3 after the tough road loss.
“Our kids really gave a great effort,” head coach Ben Howland said. “When you already have a deficit, you can’t come out and give away possessions to start the second half. We fought hard in a difficult place to play.”
Howland’s squad has struggled to live up to the hype that surrounded it before the season began.
With big names like Malik Newman, Quinndary Weatherspoon and Howland coming into town many fans had plenty of reason to have a sense of optimism going into the year. However, Newman, the freshman guard out of Jackson, has not really lived up to expectations. Still, history shows that Howland is known for having a losing record his first season coaching in a new school. At UCLA, his first season record was 11-17 and 7-11 in conference play.
The Bulldogs looked to bounce back Thursday against a formidable conference opponent.
Mississippi State came out strong in the first half but wasn’t enough to hold off the Wildcats. By half time, the score was 31-39 with the Wildcats leading.
Kentucky opened the second half on fire, quickly going on a 14-2 run to push the score to 53-33. Mississippi State had a big turnaround in the fourth quarter when they trailed by 20 until a scuffle between guards Tyler Ulis and I.J. Ready surfaced. After the minor situation, MSU went on a scoring rampage to bring the score to 74-71 with 1:15 remaining.
Six consecutive free throws by the Wildcats would end the threat posed by the visiting team. Craig “Chicken” Sword had a team high of 20 points followed behind Newman’s 13. For the Wildcats, Ulis had 21 points while Jamal Murray had 22. Surprisingly, senior big man Gavin Ware was limited to only 11 points in the SEC bout.
Next, Mississippi State will host Tennessee at home this Saturday. Tennessee is currently 8-5 and 1-2 in conference play. It will be another key game seeing that Mississippi State is currently 0-3 in conference play. The SEC matchup will tip-off at 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network. It will be vital for the Bulldogs to get going in conference play seeing as this next game will be home. Even though it’s a slow start, Mississippi State still has enough time to get things back competitive.
After the home game against the Volunteers, the Bulldogs will travel to Gainesville for a Jan. 19 game against the Florida Gators. Tip-off for that matchup is scheduled for 6 p.m.
