Kentucky

No. 8 Kentucky looks to bounce back vs. Mississippi State

Published

2 years ago

January 16, 2024

No. 8 Kentucky looks to bounce back vs. Mississippi State

Kentucky’s identity this season is a team that plays fast and scores a lot. But it has been a good defensive team as well.

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Until Saturday, that is, when the now No. 8 Wildcats let offensively challenged Texas A&M ring up 97 points in an overtime result that was Kentucky’s first Southeastern Conference loss.

The Wildcats will try to get back in the win column Wednesday night in Lexington, Ky., where they will host Mississippi State in another SEC contest.

On paper, Texas A&M didn’t figure to be the team that cracked the Wildcats’ defense. Kentucky ranked 91st in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (41.4 percent) through the weekend, and the Wildcats (12-3, 2-1 SEC) also ranked No. 15 in the nation in blocks (5.5 per game) and No. 58 in steals (8.4 per game).

However, the Aggies, who failed to reach 60 points in their first two SEC games, both losses, not only cracked the Kentucky code, they downright did a two-step on it. Texas A&M drilled 12 of 32 3-point attempts and got 31 points from preseason SEC Player of the Year Wade Taylor IV.

“They ran downhill the whole game,” Wildcats coach John Calipari said of the Aggies.

Yet Calipari and freshman guard Rob Dillingham seem to believe it’s more a situation of correctable errors rather than fatal flaws when it comes to defense.

“I feel like we’ve gotten better on defense since we started,” said Dillingham. “It just takes us playing games to get better. We got a group of guys that want to win and want to learn. So we’ll get better because we want to win.”

Dillingham (14.4 points per game) is one of five double-figure scorers for Kentucky, which ranked third in Division I in scoring through Sunday at 90.8 points per game. Antonio Reeves leads the balanced, diverse attack with 18.9 points per game on 50.8 percent shooting from the field.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State (12-4, 1-2) faces a tall task in the trip to Rupp Arena. Coming off an 82-74 home loss to Alabama on Saturday, the Bulldogs now go to a venue where they haven’t won since 2009, facing a team they haven’t defeated since the 2021 SEC tournament.

On paper, this could be a strength-vs.-strength matchup. The loss to Alabama notwithstanding, Mississippi State boasted the 28th-best field-goal percentage defense (39.5 percent) and the 37th-best scoring defense (64.8 points per game) through the weekend.

However, if the Bulldogs are going to win where they rarely win, they will have to correct their turnover troubles on offense. Their giveaway rate (13.1 per game) was tied for 253rd in the nation through Sunday, and their free-throw percentage (71 percent) was 183rd. They made just 15 of 27 foul shots (55.6 percent) on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, we just didn’t make them when they really, really counted,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said.

Tolu Smith leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 16.8 ppg, while freshman guard Josh Hubbard contributes 15.1 off the bench. Five other Bulldogs chip in between 6.9 and 9.4 ppg.

The Wildcats have won 17 of their past 18 clashes with the Bulldogs, including a 71-68 win at Starkville, Miss., in the teams’ only matchup last season.

—Field Level Media

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Kentucky

Kentucky Women’s Basketball gets historic win over No. 5 Oklahoma

Published

15 minutes ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Kentucky Women’s Basketball gets historic win over No. 5 Oklahoma

The No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats moved to 16-2 on the season after a massive win over the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners by a final score of 63-57. Kenny Brooks’ squad’s successful season rolls on with a second top-five win, the most the UK women’s team has ever had in a single season.

The Wildcats pulled out a close win thanks to senior Tonie Morgan, who totaled 22 points (8/19 FG), eight rebounds, and four assists. Morgan also played all 40 minutes on Sunday evening against the Sooners as her stellar season continues.

The Wildcats also played strong defense all night. As a team, they totaled four steals and eight blocks. Clara Strack, the 6-foot-5 senior, led the team with three blocks. Strack also recorded her ninth double-double of the season. They held the Sooners to 24-67 shooting (36%) from FG range and 2-19 from deep (11%).

The Wildcats held the Sooners scoreless in the last four minutes and moved to 3-1 in SEC play and now have three top-25 wins this season after previously winning at Louisville and at LSU.

Between the transfer portal, a men’s basketball win, and a women’s basketball win, it has been a great weekend in the Bluegrass!

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Kentucky

Mark Pope updates injury status of Jayden Quaintance

Published

12 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Mark Pope updates injury status of Jayden Quaintance

The Kentucky Wildcats had to return to the court Saturday night without their star center in Jayden Quaintance.

Coming back to the court from an ACL tear last season, Quaintance shined in his opening game against St. John’s and has eased himself back into game-play after nine months off the court. That is why it came as a surprise on Friday night when he was listed as out on the injury report.

Well, we got some more insight into why he was held out against Mississippi State in the pregame radio show. When asked about the injury, here is what Mark Pope had to say.

“He’s (Quaintance) just had a little bit of swelling, so we’re just kind of monitoring it,” Pope said. “And the most important thing is just his health. So, it’s going to be a little start and stop as we go. That’s just the process.”

So, for now, it doesn’t sound like anything that will keep JQ out for too long, though it’s unknown if he’ll return for either of next week’s games at LSU and at Tennessee.

The Cats have started to piece it together in the front court, but there is no denying the potential Quaintance has. When healthy, he is an NBA lottery pick. Now let’s hope he can get back onto the court soon to help the Cats make a run.

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Kentucky

Kentucky vs Mississippi State score today, UK basketball game updates

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Kentucky vs Mississippi State score today, UK basketball game updates

LEXINGTON — Two days after Kentucky basketball gave up a game-ending 15-2 run in a 73-68 loss to Missouri, Mark Pope was asked to explain what went wrong.

In a sense, Pope answered it with another question: What didn’t go wrong for his club in those final 4 ½ minutes?

“It was everything, actually,” Pope said during a news conference Friday. “It was so much misfortune. It was so much stuff in our wheelhouse that we inexplicably didn’t execute the way we normally do. It was some poor communication. It was some poor internalization of the scout. It was some missed shots. It was some coaching error.

“… (All) of those things lead to that terrible, terrible 4 ½ minutes.”

Stream Kentucky vs. Mississippi State

After falling to 0-2 in SEC play for the first time in two decades (2005-06), the Wildcats have no time to feel sorry for themselves. And Pope won’t allow it.

“I think everybody has mental fatigue everywhere right now — if you’re putting your whole heart and soul into it,” he said of his team (9-6). “But that’s our job: to not let that have any impact on today or yesterday or tomorrow. One of the things I love about sports is it teaches you that you have to. It doesn’t matter how bad things get. You can’t go back and rewrite what happened.”

Kentucky only can look forward, which begins with tonight’s matchup with Mississippi State at Rupp Arena. The Bulldogs (10-5, 2-0) enter on a six-game win streak.

Courier Journal sports reporter Ryan Black is at Rupp Arena and will have live updates throughout the game — here and on X, formerly known as Twitter — and complete coverage after. You can follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

Follow along with live updates from today’s game between the Wildcats and Bulldogs below:

TV channel: SEC Network
Livestream: Fubo (free trial)

The game between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will air nationally on SEC Network.

Authenticated subscribers can access SEC Network via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app.

Those without cable can access SEC Network via streaming services, with Fubo offering a free trial.

Stream Kentucky vs. Mississippi State on SEC Network

Betting odds: Kentucky is a 10 ⅟₂-point favorite (-112) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 153 ⅟₂ points (-112/-108).

Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the UK radio network call on 840 AM in Louisville and both 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington.

You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.

Oct. 17: Blue-White game (Click here to read takeaways from the intrasquad scrimmage.)
Oct. 24: exhibition vs. Purdue (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Purdue 65
Oct. 30: exhibition vs. Georgetown University (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Georgetown 84, Kentucky 70
Nov. 4: Nicholls (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Nicholls 51
Nov. 7: Valparaiso (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 107, Valparaiso 59
Nov. 11: at Louisville (KFC Yum! Center) | SCORE: Louisville 96, Kentucky 88
Nov. 14: Eastern Illinois (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 99, Eastern Illinois 53
Nov. 18: vs. Michigan State (Champions Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York) | SCORE: Michigan State 83, Kentucky 66
Nov. 21: Loyola University Maryland (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 88, Loyola Maryland 46
Nov. 26: Tennessee Tech (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 104, Tennessee Tech 54
Dec. 2: North Carolina (Rupp Arena; ACC/SEC Challenge) | SCORE: North Carolina 67, Kentucky 64
Dec. 5: vs. Gonzaga (Bridgestone Arena; Nashville) | SCORE: Gonzaga 94, Kentucky 59
Dec. 9: North Carolina Central (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 103, North Carolina Central 67
Dec. 13: Indiana (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 72, Indiana 60
Dec. 20: vs. St. John’s (CBS Sports Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) | SCORE: Kentucky 78, St. John’s 66
Dec. 23: Bellarmine (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 99, Bellarmine 85
Jan. 3: at Alabama | SCORE: Alabama 89, Kentucky 74
Jan. 7: Missouri (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Missouri 73, Kentucky 68
Jan. 10: Mississippi State (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 14: at LSU, 7 p.m.
Jan. 17: at Tennessee, noon
Jan. 21: Texas (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
Jan. 24: Ole Miss (Rupp Arena), noon
Jan. 27: at Vanderbilt, 9 p.m.
Jan. 31: at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 4: Oklahoma (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m.
Feb. 7: Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 14: at Florida, 3 p.m.
Feb. 17: Georgia (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m.
Feb. 21: at Auburn, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 24: at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Feb. 28: Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m.
March 3: at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.
March 7: Florida (Rupp Arena), 4 p.m.