LEXINGTON, Ky. — Antonio Reeves scored 27 points and No. 8 Kentucky beat Mississippi State 90-77 on Wednesday night for coach John Calipari's 400th victory with the Wildcats.
Kentucky (13-3, 3-1 SEC) shot 62% in the second half and 56% overall to provide a historic victory for the Hall of Famer, who became the third-fastest active coach in achieve that with one program, in 516 contests. . Bill Self reached 400 wins in 484 games with Kansas and Mark Few reached 400 in 499 starts at Gonzaga.
Calipari downplayed the achievement and said he wasn't paying attention to the numbers, but noted, “You stick around long enough and you have enough really good players, a lot of those things happen.”
Calipari is the second coach to win 400 games with the Wildcats, following Adolph Rupp, who won 876. He is the fourth coach to win 400 games at an SEC school, the others being Rupp, Billy Donovan (467 at Florida) and Dale Brown (448th at LSU).
Mississippi State is 1-18 against Kentucky since Calipari became the Wildcats' coach. Wednesday marked the Bulldogs' ninth straight loss at Rupp Arena.
Rob Dillingham added 16 points for the Wildcats, who made 23 of 31 two-point attempts.
Tolu Smith scored 26 points for the Bulldogs (12-5, 1-3). They lost their third of four SEC games, failing to rebound from a home loss to Alabama. Mississippi State shot 35% in the first half and 53% in the second.
Meanwhile, the SEC's top-scoring offense, ranked second nationally, maintained its per-game average against a defense that entered the game allowing just under 65 points per outing to rank second in the league.
Kentucky's sharp shooting helped it build a 47-29 halftime lead and forge a cushion after the Bulldogs rallied to within 49-43 just after the break. Kentucky outscored Mississippi State 12-3 in a span of 2:51 for a double-digit lead and stayed ahead to bounce back from a 97-92 overtime loss at Texas A&M on Saturday.
Reeves was 8 of 12 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and made nine free throws without missing. He scored 16 points in the first half to lift the Wildcats, and Dillingham added 10 at halftime. Tre Mitchell added 15 points and Aaron Bradshaw 11 for Kentucky.
“To be honest, we're going in the right direction, we're definitely moving forward,” Reeves said after matching his second-highest scoring effort this season. “We felt more comfortable going out and just scoring.”
Each team grabbed 33 rebounds, although Kentucky held a 26-19 advantage on the defensive glass.
Just when the Wildcats seemed to calm concerns about their defense, they allowed the Bulldogs back into the game with sloppy play on both sides. But they regrouped from that pause and didn't really feel threatened despite being outscored 44-38 in the paint. And their defense was quite effective in the first half, scoring 10 points on eight turnovers and shutting out the Bulldogs.
“We practiced for two days on defense and tried to get better because we all know we're a really good offensive team,” said Bradshaw, who had six rebounds and two blocks. “But we were a little weak in defense, so we knew we had to choose [it] above.”
Kentucky will next host Georgia on Saturday night.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
