No. 5 Kentucky holds on at Mississippi State
STARKVILLE, Miss. – De'Aaron Fox scored 21 points and the lesser-known supporting cast helped push No. 5 Kentucky past Mississippi State 88-81 at Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday.
Forwards Wenyen Gabriel and Derek Willis each had 13 points, as the Wildcats held on for a 10th straight victory over Mississippi State after blowing an 18-point lead in the second half.
"You don't play great every single night," Gabriel said. "Being able to win, that shows how good of a team we are."
Foul trouble limited some of Kentucky's stars and others were plagued by off-shooting nights and turnovers. Malik Monk, the league's leading scorer posted 14 points, but missed 9 of his 14 shots and committed five turnovers.
"I'm definitely not going to tell him to stop shooting because it will start falling," Fox said of Monk.
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Freshman forward Bam Adebayo finished with only five points – the first time he failed to reach double digits in 14 games – after he played only six minutes in the first half and 20 overall due to time on the bench with fouls. UK sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe missed nine shots and had 12 points.
The Wildcats' (16-2, 6-0 SEC) depth pulled them through.
Gabriel, who scored in double figures for the first time in nearly two months, hit all five of his attempts from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. Willis nailed five of his six shot attempts, including three makes from beyond the arc, and had four boards. That was enough to help Fox, who was Kentucky's only star to eclipse his usual production.
Kentucky held its largest lead of the game with 12:54 to play and looked to be well on its way to another blowout win over a conference foe. But the Bulldogs (12-5, 3-2) stormed back with a 13-0 run. UK senior guard Dominique Hawkins ended that with a 3-pointer and the Wildcats maintained the threat until the final buzzer. Hawkins finished with five points.
Mississippi State's Quinndary Weatherspoon, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, scored 14 points and battled foul trouble most of the game. He fouled out after hitting 6 of 12 shots and missing four of his five 3-point attempts.
The atmosphere remained intense throughout, but the referees controlled much of the action. There was a combined 52 fouls called, including technicals on Mississippi State forward Aric Holman, Weatherspoon, Briscoe and Monk.
The Wildcats totaled only 12 second-chance points and scored only six in transition, but still shot 50.8 percent. Kentucky has hit at least 50 percent of its shots in six straight games for the first time since 1984.
