This past Tuesday night the Wildcats faced their second “true” road game of the season. Kentucky went on the road to Athens, Georgia to take on the Bulldogs. Unfortunately, the Wildcats fell to 1-1 in SEC play as Georgia pulled out the upset over the top-10 Wildcats, 82-69.

For the Bulldogs to get their first win over a top-10 win in over five years it really boiled down to a few things. Georgia was obviously more physical than Kentucky from the start, leading to the Bulldogs shooting 38 free-throws from the charity stripe. This, along with out-rebounding the Wildcats 41-34, definitely helped Georgia to move to 13-2 on the season and to finding their first win in conference play.

Kentucky now moves on to another road game tonight, this one coming in Starkville, Mississippi for their third true road game of the season. They’ll be taking on another Bulldog team that is extremely talented and well-coached by head coach Chris Jans. Mississippi State’s lone loss this season was a ten-point loss to a less-than-average Butler team. Their key wins on the season are over Memphis and Pitt.

Kentucky has only lost once to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the last 5,820 days, with that second loss dating back to 2009 — before John Calipari ever set foot in Lexington as the head coach. The last loss mentioned before was during the 2021 SEC Tournament, just a few weeks after beating them on their own court. Kentucky is currently on a nine-game winning streak when playing in Starkville and they have won 19 of the last 20 meetups at any location.

It was apparent that road games were going to be hard to win this year in the SEC. That being said, if Kentucky wants to make some noise and compete for the SEC title this season then the Wildcats need a bounce-back win tonight. Not saying this is a “must-win” game but it would definitely get them back on track before they play host to another top-15 team in the Texas A&M Aggies next Tuesday night.

As stated above, Kentucky has definitely had the Bulldogs’ number over the last decade and a half. However, it’s obvious that a streak like that can’t always continue. It has to end at some point. Kentucky has been dominate in the series but there is always a chance for an upset and I don’t know if I am comfortable enough to predict a Kentucky win on the road in a sell-out SEC environment this round. I think it will be closer than the ugly loss against Georgia, but I am picking the Bulldogs to win tonight.

I have Kentucky losing two straight SEC games, this one by a score of 84-80. Kentucky’s MVP will be Otega Oweh.

Some other predictions from Cats Coverage staff include:

Jack Wagner: 80-73, Mississippi State. MVP – Amari Williams

Tanin Smith: 81-70, Kentucky. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

Jacob Childers: 81-77, Kentucky. MVP – Amari Williams

Tres Terrell: 88-83, Kentucky. MVP – Otega Oweh

Nate Unthank: 96-86, Kentucky. MVP – Lamont Butler

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