Kentucky vs Mississippi State score today: Updates, highlights from UK basketball game

Posted by Admin January 11, 2025 Basketball

Mississippi State, Mark Pope joked, has “the bio” of seemingly every team in the SEC.

The Bulldogs are aggressive, offensively and defensively. They induce turnovers at a high rate. And they excel at offensive rebounds.

But they have two individuals that are hard to approximate elsewhere in guard Josh Hubbard and forward Cameron Matthews.

A 5-foot-11, 190-pound sophomore, Hubbard was one of the league’s best players as a freshman last season. He’s only built off that in 2024-25. He leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.90). And he ranks among the top 10 in the conference in multiple categories, including 3-point percentage (38.2) and 3-point makes per game (3.13) entering tonight’s game versus Pope’s Kentucky squad.

“He is a real talent,” Pope said. “He’s been doing it for a while. He’s really, really dangerous.”

Matthews, meanwhile, reminds Pope of one of the NBA’s most well-known players of the past decade.

“He’s very much a Draymond Green vibe,” Pope said. “He’s a really terrific, creative passer. He’s got an unbelievable sense of space and time away from the ball. He can see cutters. He can pass off the bounce. He can be really aggressive to the rim. He plays like a really, really big point guard. So he’s a unique piece for them.”

It’ll be a matchup of ranked squads tonight at Humphrey Coliseum: The Wildcats are No. 7 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25, while the Bulldogs are 13th and 14th, respectively.

Here’s what you need to know to follow today’s game from home:

The contest between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will air on SEC Network. Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will have the call.

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

You also can stream SEC Network on Fubo, which offers a free trial.

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.

Betting odds: Kentucky is a 5⅟₂-point road underdog (-110) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 161 points (-110). The money line odds are Kentucky +190, Mississippi State -230.

Oct. 23: exhibition vs. Kentucky Wesleyan ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 123, Kentucky Wesleyan 52
Oct. 29: exhibition vs. Minnesota State Mankato ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 98, Minnesota State Mankato 67
Nov. 4: vs. Wright State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 103, Wright State 62
Nov. 9: vs. Bucknell (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 100, Bucknell 72
Nov. 12: vs. Duke (Champions Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Duke 72
Nov. 19: vs. Lipscomb, (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 97, Lipscomb 68
Nov. 22: vs. Jackson State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 108, Jackson State 59
Nov. 26: vs. Western Kentucky (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 87, Western Kentucky 68
Nov. 29: vs. Georgia State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 105, Georgia State 76
Dec. 3: at Clemson (ACC/SEC Challenge) ∣ SCORE: Clemson 70, Kentucky 66
Dec. 7: vs. Gonzaga (Climate Pledge Arena; Seattle) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 90, Gonzaga 89 (OT)
Dec. 11: vs. Colgate (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Colgate 67
Dec. 14: vs. Louisville (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 93, Louisville 85
Dec. 21: vs. Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York) | SCORE: Ohio State 85, Kentucky 65
Dec. 31: vs. Brown (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 88, Brown 54
Jan. 4: vs. Florida (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 106, Florida 100
Jan. 7: at Georgia | SCORE: Georgia 82, Kentucky 69
Jan. 11: at Mississippi State, 8:30 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 14: vs. Texas A&M (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN2
Jan. 18: vs. Alabama (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN
Jan. 25: at Vanderbilt, 2:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
Jan. 28: at Tennessee, 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 1: vs. Arkansas (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 4: at Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 8: vs. South Carolina (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN/ESPN2
Feb. 11: vs. Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 15: at Texas, 8 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 19: vs. Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 22: at Alabama, 6 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 26: at Oklahoma, 9 p.m., SEC Network
March 1: vs. Auburn (Rupp Arena), 1/4 p.m., ABC/ESPN
March 4: vs. LSU (Rupp Arena), 7/9 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
March 8: at Missouri, noon, ESPN/SEC Network

Record: 12-3 (1-1 SEC)

Ansley Almonor (forward, senior)
Koby Brea (guard, graduate)
Lamont Butler (guard, graduate)
Andrew Carr (forward, graduate)
Collin Chandler (guard, freshman)
Grant Darbyshire (guard, junior)
Brandon Garrison (forward, sophomore)
Walker Horn (guard, junior)
Kerr Kriisa (guard, senior)
Trent Noah (forward, freshman)
Otega Oweh (guard, junior)
Travis Perry (guard, freshman)
Jaxson Robinson (guard, graduate)
Zach Tow (forward, junior)
Amari Williams (center, graduate)

Mississippi State went 21-14 overall last season, posting an 8-10 mark in SEC play. Its season ended in an 69-51 loss to Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs are 14-1 this season. Their lone loss was an 87-77 setback to Butler on Nov. 29 at the Arizona Tip-Off event in Tempe, Arizona. MSU is 2-0 in conference competition, routing South Carolina by 35 points (85-50) at home last week and topping Vanderbilt on the road, 76-64, on Tuesday.

Though UK has beaten Mississippi State nine straight times at Humphrey Coliseum, the Bulldogs haven’t lost at home this season, sporting a 7-0 record entering tonight’s game.

Click here to see the Bulldogs’ full 2024-25 schedule.

Want to learn the Bulldogs’ roster?

Click here for player bios and more.

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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.