Mississippi St. 64 - 73 Kentucky (No. 2,079)

Rick Stansbury was born in Battletown, Kentucky, played basketball for Meade County High School, and played college ball at Campbellsville College, but somewhere along the line he developed a different understanding of the game than most Kentuckians. People from Kentucky are generally taught to respect the game. Play hard. Make your free throws. Get back on defense. All the bromides that are yelled almost every night at a high school somewhere in the Commonwealth during basketball season. That's the Kentucky creed, handed down from Coach Rupp himself. The ultimate expression of the creed, perhaps, was the Unforgettables -- UK's 1991-92 team that lost to Duke in the Elite Eight. That team had four guys (three from Kentucky and one from Indiana) who were supposed to spend their college careers sitting on the bench, but John Pelphrey (from Paintsville), Deron Feldhaus (from Maysville), Richie Farmer (from Manchester), and Sean Woods (from Indianapolis, Indiana) came this close to making the Final Four -- because they were in great shape and they played the game the way it's supposed to be played. That's why their names are in the rafters at Rupp Arena.

But Stansbury is a heretic. His teams at Mississippi State are the Oakland Raiders of basketball. Their whole demeanor and approach to the game is about as far from the Unforgettables as you can imagine. Stansbury has evidently decided that the way to succeed at Mississippi State is to recruit really talented kids with questionable attitudes -- and then hope that they'll show up for the big games. Almost every year, it seems like Mississippi State fields the same basic team: a bunch of head cases with worlds of talent who regularly blow games to teams like Auburn and Georgia. And then, when Kentucky turns up on the schedule, they circle the wagons and play out of their minds.

Because of this mix of talent and desperate effort, MSU has become one of the most dangerous opponents on UK's schedule. Look at the results since 2002 (home team listed first):

01/05/2002: Mississippi St. 74 - 69 Kentucky (OT)

02/23/2003: Kentucky 70 - 62 Mississippi St.

03/16/2003: Kentucky 64 - 57 Mississippi St. (SEC Championship Game, New Orleans)

01/13/2004: Mississippi St. 66 - 67 Kentucky

02/19/2005: Kentucky 94 - 78 Mississippi St.

02/01/2006: Mississippi St. 66 - 81 Kentucky

01/13/2007: Kentucky 64 - 60 Mississippi St.

03/09/2007: Mississippi St. 84 - 82 Kentucky (OT) (SEC Semi-Finals, Atlanta)

01/15/2008: Mississippi St. 69 - 64 Kentucky

02/03/2009: Kentucky 57 - 66 Mississippi St.

02/16/2010: Mississippi St. 75 - 81 Kentucky (OT)

03/14/2010: Kentucky 75 - 74 Mississippi St. (OT) (SEC Championship Game, Nashville)

02/15/2011: Kentucky 85 - 79 Mississippi St.

With the exception of the 2005 and 2006 games, every one of those games was very difficult -- four of them went to overtime.

So I have been dreading this return to Starkville all season. My only hope was that MSU was due to have a low-scoring game -- in their three games against Calipari-coached teams, they made 10, 10, and 12 three-pointers respectively.

But that hope seemed to go out the window quickly, as MSU (which had just lost three straight games to fairly mediocre teams) came out on fire. In the first half, they went 6-12 from three-point range and 7-7 from the line. Meanwhile, they were showing an unaccustomed intensity on defense. They are normally one of the worse defensive teams in the SEC, but they were all over the place in the first half, holding UK to 38.7 percent shooting. Plus, they hammered Kyle Wiltjer, sending him to the sidelines with an undisclosed injury after only four minutes. He did not return, and the Cats trailed 41-28 at the half -- their biggest deficit of the year.

Cal said after the game that MSU should have been up 20 at the break, but they were worried about getting to halftime with a big lead. In the locker room, Cal told his team they were only down six baskets, and he made a key defensive change. In the first half, Dee Bost (the long-time MSU point guard) had torched the Cats for 16 points. Cal had not put Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (the UK defensive stopper) on Bost because he wanted to press MSU, and MKG's role in the press meant that he couldn't guard Bost. Now Cal assigned MKG to Bost, called off the press, and awaited results.

Meanwhile, back in Northern Virginia, Number3Son and I were very nervous. Before the game I had warned Number3Son of how dangerous MSU could be. Now, looking anxiously at the blackboard where we keep score and the other blackboard that contains the SEC Standings, Number3Son said he was afraid we would be falling to 12-1. But he stayed anyway, in the hopes that his hero, Doron Lamb, would finally get hot. Meanwhile, Number1Son and SmartGirl each made rare appearances in the rec room during a UK game -- they could presumably sense the unusual tension in the air.

The next 45 minutes or so were quite frantic. Number3Son and I, who have been able to watch most of the games this year in peace and comfort, were hollering after almost every play, and I kept pointing out key moments to Number1Son and SmartGirl (who were very patient with their father). Kentucky was playing much, much better -- they cut MSU's lead to 43-39 in only four minutes. But now Teague had gotten into a funk, making silly turnovers and fouls and not getting back on defense. And Darius Miller, who had been cold, was so hesitant to shoot that Cal pulled him from the game. Meanwhile, strange stuff was happening on the court. Davis made a spectacular steal and dunk to make the score 45-41 -- but he was called for a silly technical foul for hanging on the rim, and the two FT's made it 47-41. Then UK benefited from some make-up calls, and cut the lead to 50-47. A few minutes later, Teague was called for his fourth foul, and MSU's free throws made the score 55-48 with 8:06 left. Teague's foul trouble gave Miller another chance (Calipari later said Miller would not have returned otherwise), and Miller's three-pointer made it 55-51. But a few possessions later, with MSU leading 57-53, Lamb missed a three-pointer and Dee Bost buried his own three-point shot to make the score 60-53 with only 6:28 left. Kentucky called time.

During the timeout, I told Number3Son that we pretty much had to shut out MSU the rest of the way, and he said that any UK player who gave up a basket at this point should be "punished." But I still hadn't given up, because I was convinced that the MSU players -- who were not used to putting out this sort of effort, having not done so all year -- were starting to tire. (Maybe the press was more effective than I thought.)

And down the stretch, their tiredness -- and a revived Darius Miller -- made all the difference. Coming out of the timeout, Miller drew a foul on a three-point shot (the MSU fans were furious, but I thought it was a good call) and made all three free throws. 60-56. Then Miller stole a lazy pass, and MKG hit a runner in the lane. 60-58. MSU responded with its own jump shot to make the score 62-58, but the Bulldogs were no longer capable of playing the physical man-to-man defense they had played in the first half. Instead, they were trying to hang on with a sagging zone. But down the stretch, MSU's lack of energy killed them:

4:44 left: Miller nails a three-pointer. 62-61, MSU

4:16 left: Dee Bost misses a layup, Davis gets the rebound and feeds to MKG, who misses a layup, gets his own rebound over two or three tired Bulldogs, and scores. 63-62, UK (MKG was fouled, but missed the free throw).

3:52 left: After another MSU miss, Davis is fouled while battling for the rebound. But MSU insists that MKG was fouled, and so he ends up having to take the FT's. Karma punishes MSU, as MKG makes them both. 65-62, UK.

3:40 left: Renardo Sidney, MSU's overweight center (who could be great if he were in shape), is fouled but misses two huge free throws. Lamb draws a foul at the other end and makes a free throw to put UK up 66-62.

2:10 left: After another MSU miss, UK holds the ball for almost the entire shot clock -- and then Davis drives all the way threw the exhausted Bulldogs for an easy lay-up. 68-62.

1:27 left: After MSU finally makes a jump shot to cut UK's lead to 68-64, the Bulldogs go back into their 2-3 zone. The Cats patiently pass the ball around and around -- and finally hit Miller, who nails another three-pointer to make the score 71-64 and effectively put the game away.

And that's why you have to respect the game. Down the stretch, UK had no bench (Teague had four fouls, Wiltjer and Vargas were in no position to play), and Cal had to rely on five guys (Jones, MKG, Miller, Lamb, and Davis) who had each played more then 30 minutes. Plus the Cats were on the road. Plus they had spent much of the last hour trying to overcome a double-digit deficit on the road. But our guys were grabbing rebounds and making plays, while the Bulldogs were spent.

Finally, with UK up 73-64 and less than 30 seconds to go, Number3Son said he thought UK was going to win after all. We ran up to tell SmartMom what had happened. High fives all around. And I hope we don't have to go back to Starkville for at least two years.

The Cats are now 13-0 in the SEC and 27-1 overall. They have clinched at least a tie for the SEC regular-season crown. They had five players in double-figures (Jones had 11 points and 6 rebounds, MKG had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Davis had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Lamb had 11 points, and Miller had 12 points, all in the last nine minutes). They overcame an MSU team that went 9-20 from three-point land and 11-15 from the line -- but which made only 32 percent of its shots in the second half.

Shooting Note: The Cats went 6-16 from three-point range (37.5 percent) and 17-21 from the line (81.0 percent). Davis, Lamb, MKG, and Miller all hit big free throws down the stretch, while Miller's three three-pointers were absolutely critical to their victory. We will hope this type of shooting continues.

Final note for Eric: After the game, the UK radio guys interviewed Davis, but he gave all the credit for the victory to Miller. He said that Miller is the team leader, and that playing with him is like having Coach Cal on the floor.