As Mississippi State took the floor Wednesday night against the Kentucky Wildcats, one of the Rick’s Rowdies commented to another how the Bulldogs, who had dropped six straight conference games for the first time since 1988-89, were due for a win.
After a late rally fell just short at Alabama last weekend, such a notion was not all that improbable.
The basketball gods, however, decided the fans would have to wait at least one more game.
Kentucky downed Mississippi State 81-66 on the strength of a season-high 13 three-pointers and a sizzling second-half shooting percentage.
Patrick Sparks scored 25 points, and Joe Crawford tallied 14 more for the Wildcats (15-6, 5-2 SEC), who extended their conference winning streak to five games after a disappointing start to the season.
The Wildcats never trailed and shot a season-best 52 percent from long-range. They hit 60 percent of their field goal attempts in the second half.
Sparks provided, well, sparks in collapsing several Maroon-and-White comeback attempts, none more important than a 10-point Bulldog surge early in the second half.
After taking a nine-point halftime lead, the Wildcats capitalized on a Dietric Slater miscue and scored a layup four seconds into the second half. Crawford then scored off another turnover to make the score 42-29.
Mississippi State (11-10, 1-7) responded, scoring 10 straight points, bringing the score to 42-39 on a Charles Rhodes monster jam and sending the home crowd into a frenzy.
Sparks then found an open corner and calmly swished in a three-pointer, bringing the lead back to six. Crawford hit another shot from downtown the next trip up the court to make it nine.
“He is a real smart player,” said Bulldog senior guard Jamall Edmondson. “He knows when you are behind him, and so he changes it up.”
Sparks stuck the dagger in deeper, scoring seven more points in the next 2:40, including an unlikely tip-in while being sandwiched by white jerseys to make the score 55-47. The Bulldogs would not get closer than six the rest of the way.
“The bottom line was when we cut it to three points, I think they had three straight possessions where they scored against our man defense,” said State head coach Rick Stansbury, whose Bulldogs have lost three-straight home games for the first time under his tenure. “They went small, and we’re really hard to defend there, so choose your poison. When they jump up and make shots tonight, Sparks and Crawford in particular were 9 of 16. There is not much you can do.”
Charles Rhodes scored 21 points and snagged 11 rebounds en route to the second double-double of his collegiate career. He outplayed former NBA-hopeful Randolph Morris and on one particular play, stuffed Wildcat star guard Rajon Rondo like a turkey.
“It felt real good,” Rhodes said about the most intimidating of his three blocks. “Me and Rondo are good friends, and we were talking all through the game, so he said he was going to try me. So when he tried me, I guess I blocked him so hard that he didn’t try me again.”
With his performance on Wednesday, Rhodes is now averaging a team-high 16.9 points and nearly eight rebounds per game in conference play.
“I thought Charles Rhodes was absolutely a man on the inside,” Stansbury said. “He was the best big man on the floor.”
Jamont Gordon and Edmondson scored 15 each for Mississippi State, now mired in a seven-game slump for the first time in nearly 20 seasons.
“We’re playing hard out there, and that is the thing you have to do when things aren’t going your way,” Stansbury said. “You can’t think about winning and losing. You have to think about playing hard. There are just some things that we have a deficiency in, and all we can do is keep plugging away and getting better in those areas.”
The Bulldogs now play host to Auburn, the only other SEC team with just one conference win.