Kentucky came to fight in their gritty win at Mississippi State

The Wildcats made some big strides handling physicality.

Jan 11, 2025; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope looks on against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second half at Humphrey Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Wesley Hale-Imagn Images | Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball bounced back in a huge way when they defeated the No. 14 Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday night, but it wasn't easy. The Wildcats had to combat the physicality and aggressiveness of the Bulldogs, and they had the right game plan for it. Kentucky needed to keep the ball moving and take care of the ball, and they did that for the most part. The Wildcats had 21 assists on their 34 made shots, which ball movement was a huge key in their plan.

The Wildcats had a 5-point lead at halftime, and after starting the second half strong and leading by as much as 14 points, they let Mississippi State get back in the game, with the Bulldogs forcing some turnovers and getting points off them. Kentucky then had to gut out a clutch win down the stretch, and with Jaxson Robinson's season-high 27 points on 7-10 shooting from three-point range, three huge three-pointers from Ansley Almonor, and a clutch jumper by Lamont Butler to seal it in the final seconds, the Wildcats fought through the game of runs and stole one of many opportunities in the SEC for a quad 1 win.

Mark couldn't stop raving about his team's performance on Saturday, especially their fight and resiliency to not give up when things weren't going their way during the many swings of the game.

"These are tough kids, man. They are tough. They're tough because they'll fight physically, but they're tough because they fight so hard to be dialed in on what's happening, and they're getting better and better. They're understanding it more and more. ...No one else has done that this year, no one else has came in (Mississippi State) and won. It takes a tough group to do it, and that's what we got. ...These guys are gonna come fight. We're not gonna be perfect. We're gonna have hard times for sure. But, these guys want to represent Kentucky. They want it so bad, and they wanna take care of each other so bad. That's what makes it fun to coach."

Pope on Kentucky's toughness.

Kentucky needed to handle physicality better, and no better way to start improving on that than a big win over No. 14 Mississippi State in an absolute hostile environment. The physicality won't stop anytime soon in SEC play, especially with No. 10 Texas A&M coming to town on Tuesday.