After 12 years of misery, Bulldogs top Wildcats at SEC Tournament

Mississippi State gets first win over Kentucky since 2009

When the shot left Dontaie Allen's hands on Thursday, the last 12 years of history between Mississippi State and Kentucky said the ball was going in. 

Time was about to expire. Mississippi State had a one-point lead. The Wildcats' Allen had a wide-open look from long distance and fired away. The basketball arched its way towards the basket through the Nashville, Tennessee, air at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Meanwhile every Bulldog held their breath – haunted by the previous dozen years of heartbreak at Kentucky's hands. That included the MSU head coach.

“My heart was all the way down in the pit of my stomach watching that shot go up," Ben Howland admitted postgame.

Clank...The ball banged off the rim into the waiting arms of State center Abdul Ado. Game over. After more than a decade of misery at the hands of Kentucky, this time at the final buzzer, the only one feeling blue was Big Blue. MSU held on for a 74-73 win to move on in the SEC Tournament. And as an added bonus, the Bulldogs at long last were able to get the Kentucky monkey off their backs.

"This is great," Ado said postgame. "I can't put it into words how much it means to me. I was just telling (MSU guard) Deivon (Smith) that this is the first time I've beaten them since I've been here."

MSU's frustrations against Kentucky of course far stretch past Ado's five-year tenure as a Bulldog. The last time Mississippi State had beaten the Wildcats prior to Thursday was on February 3, 2009. Ado – now 23 years old – was then just a kid at 11. But on Thursday, Ado was a grown man blazing a trail for the Bulldogs to exorcise the blue demon that'd haunted them for so long.

Ado, who is usually known more for his defense, was the heartbeat of MSU's offensive attack in the first half. He scored all 12 of his day's points in the contest’s first 20 minutes. 

Howland said the Bulldogs had a strategy to take it straight to Kentucky down low in the paint. Ado led the charge going 6-for-6 from the field as State pulled out to a 44-30 lead before the intermission.

“I thought Abdul was fantastic," Howland said. "I’m really, really proud of him for how he showed up (Thursday). He was a man out there.”

But as has so often been the case in the past, it was almost as though Kentucky was just choosing to set MSU up only to snatch all joy away eventually. The Wildcats started to do just that. 

Fueling Kentucky's surge was Allen. Allen has been a role player for the Wildcats all year long. But he scored 23 against MSU in Kentucky's double-overtime win back in January and he scored 23 more on Thursday. A total of 20 of those came in the second half as Allen sank five 3-pointers on the way to helping the Wildcats come all the way back to claim a lead.

"Dontaie Allen has something to do with Mississippi State," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "I don't know what it is. Whenever we play against Kentucky, he gets to be the best player on the court."

On this day though, as good as Allen was, he wasn't going to get the chance to be the hero. That role went to a young man in maroon. 

Iverson Molinar led the Bulldogs with 21 points on Thursday. Eight of them came in the final 3:07 to rescue MSU. 

State was down 71-66 when Molinar started his late-game heroics with a 3-pointer. He'd drill another less than a minute later to give MSU a one-point lead. After Kentucky quickly went back in front 73-72, Molinar was fouled on a shot attempt with just seven seconds left. As he headed to the free-throw line for two shots, Molinar's coach gave him words of confidence.

“I told him, ‘(You’re) making these both,’” Howland said. “And he did. He showed a lot of toughness – a lot of mental toughness. I’m really proud of him.”

The Bulldogs were in front by a point after Molinar's freebies, but Kentucky still had seven seconds left and the ball. It was the perfect scenario for the Wildcats to add another in a long series of gut-punches to the Bulldogs. 

And when Allen's final shot went up, it could only be assumed there was about to be a Kentucky celebration...Only there wasn't. Finally, an MSU-Kentucky basketball game was wrapped in maroon and white again. It marked Howland's first-ever win over Kentucky since he took over as State's head coach in 2015. It's also the first time John Calipari has lost to MSU since he took over the Wildcats in 2009.

"I’m so thankful to God that (last) shot caromed off and Abdul got the rebound because our guys deserved to win the game (Thursday) and I’m really proud for them," Howland said.

And because the Bulldogs beat Kentucky, they'll now play at least one more game this year. MSU faces the SEC Tournament's No. 1-seed, Alabama, on Friday at 11 a.m. central. State will be trying to ride the high of the Kentucky win to an upset of the league's regular-season champion. Having already lost to the Crimson Tide twice this year, Howland knows Friday will be tough.

“We’re going to have our hands full and we’re going to have to have similar effort to what we had (Thursday) to have a chance to beat Alabama," Howland said. "We’re going to have to really rest up and recover here because we’re playing the best team in our league next.”

Alabama is a heavy favorite to beat MSU on Friday, given the matchup on paper and this year's two previous Bulldog-Crimson Tide games. But 12 years of paper and history said Kentucky would find a way to crush Mississippi State's hopes on Thursday. It didn't happen.

Maybe it was one win. Or perhaps it's a sign this young Mississippi State team that has been riddled with inconsistency for much of this year is finally growing into a group that can overcome obstacles – even longstanding ones like Kentucky.

"We overcame adversity (Thursday) and it feels like we've gotten a lot better at that from the beginning of the year," Molinar said.

(TO WATCH BEN HOWLAND'S FULL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERNCE, CLICK HERE. YOU CAN WATCH ABDUL ADO'S FULL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE WITH THE VIDEO AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.)

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