NASHVILLE, TENNEY. – Iverson Molinar notched five of his 21 points in the final 3:07 and Mississippi State defeated Kentucky 74-73 to capture the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament on Thursday.
Mississippi State made just 3 of 14 from 3-point range until Molinar trailed the 3S on two straight possessions to take a 72-71 lead – as many as 15 before halftime. later. He rolled a 3 on his next possession and Olivier Cir gave Kentucky a 73-72 lead at 1:18.
Molinar, an 81% free-throw shooter, led by two points with 7.1 seconds to lead by one point. Davian Mintz canceled it in court and found Ellen, a hot-shooting dunty on the wing, but the shot bounced off the rim.
Mississippi State (15-13) faced top-seeded and No. 6 ranked Alabama on Friday. The Bulldogs lost eight and five points in both regular season meetings.
Kentucky (9-16) will not play in the NCAA tournament, with Duke – the first time both programs have missed the same year since 1976.
Mississippi State dominated the inside of the first half, outscoring Kentucky 36-12 in the paint and outscoring 29-15. Six-foot-11 senior Abdul Addo scored 12 first-half points and forward Tolu Smith had nine points and seven rebounds. Edo made all six of his shots as the Bulldogs shot Kentucky 32.4% while 57.6%.
But Allen, a freshman, led Kentucky in the second half with 20 of 23 points and five of his six 3-pointers.
Allen saved his sixth 3-pointer with 6:22 left to beat Kentucky by 12–2 on a score of 65–64. And a minute later, Mintz made his fourth, after an aggressive counterattack, making it 71–66.
Kentucky made seven of the first 11 in the second-half 3-pointers.
Smith finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Addo added 12 points and nine rebounds for Mississippi State. DJ Stewart had nine points, seven rebellions and 10 assists.
Mintz had 16 points and eight assists and Sear added 14 points from Kentucky. Terence Clarke, a top-10 national recruit in the 2020 class, played in his first game sign 26 due to injury and scored two points in 10 minutes.
Allen scored a career-high 23 points with seven 3-pointers in the only regular-season meeting between the teams – a 78–73 double overtime win for Kentucky in January. 2. Kentucky coach John Calipari was ruled out after consecutive technical releases with 9:04 left in foul regulation.
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