Watch the Tape: Mississippi State Bulldogs

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This Kentucky basketball season has been a rollercoaster. On Tuesday night in Starkville, Big Blue Nation experienced that season-long rollercoaster within a two hour game. There were a lot of parallels to the LSU game from last Wednesday night, but this time it was the Wildcats coming out on top. The ‘Cats overcame a 13-point second half deficit to escape with a 91-89 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

After slowly chipping away at the Bulldogs lead throughout the second half, Rob Dillingham finally gave Kentucky its first lead of the game at 72-71 with 4:24 to play. That lead would be extended to 83-75 after two free throws by Dillingham with 57.4 seconds remaining. However, the game proved to be far from over. Mississippi State freshman guard Josh Hubbard connected on three three-point shots, Ugonna Onyenso allowed an And-1, and Reed Sheppard turned the ball over to ultimately let the Bulldogs tie the game with 8.1 seconds remaining. “Here we go again” thoughts quickly crept into the minds of Big Blue Nation, but the state’s favorite son was there to save the day. DJ Wagner brought the ball up the floor, passed to Sheppard with less than four seconds remaining, and the North Laurel graduate nailed a runner at the free throw line to win the game.

It would have been labeled a collapse if the Wildcats had lost the game, but luckily it didn’t come to that. There will be a time and a place to learn from a couple end of game miscues. However, for now, Kentucky deserves to celebrate yet another Quad 1 victory. Winning at Auburn, scoring 117 against Alabama, and then winning at Mississippi State is as impressive of a stretch as anyone has in college basketball. This team is hitting their stride at the right time and still isn’t even at full strength. The ‘Cats host Arkansas and Vanderbilt in their next two games before traveling to Knoxville to end the regular season. Taking care of business at Rupp Arena is all that matters now. Then, you get one more chance to put the nation on notice going into the postseason.

As always, we’ve been hard at work inside of the KSR Film Room breaking down Kentucky’s latest contest. Some bad defensive habits crept back to the surface, but the ‘Cats were good enough offensively to overcome their mistakes. Let’s dive on in and take a look at what happened in Kentucky’s 91-89 win at The Hump over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The Reed Sheppard Game

On Saturday, Big Blue Nation was treated to The Justin Edwards Game at Rupp Arena. Then, on Tuesday night in Starkville, we got The Reed Sheppard Game. Admittedly, we’ve seen stellar performances from Sheppard before so this wasn’t as surprising. However, putting up 32 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in a hostile environment is no easy feat. The superstar freshman scored half of his points in the final 8:30 of the game, including the game-winner, to will the Wildcats to victory. It was an incredible performance from the Kentucky native.

Reed Sheppard’s play down the stretch will get most of the attention, but he also helped to keep Kentucky in the game in the first half. Taking a shot like this is how you increase your overall volume. Regardless of depth, anytime he has this much space, Sheppard has to continue to let these fly. The Mississippi State defender ran into his own teammate trying to recover to the ball and it gave Sheppard all of the space he needed to knock in the big shot.

You can tell that Reed Sheppard has spent hours in the gym practicing this type of shot. Even the best shooters in the world can struggle with this “quick release” three. Notice how when Sheppard receives the ball there is absolutely no dip. The ball travels from his catch point directly to his shooting pocket in one quick motion. As the Wildcats were struggling to get stops and find their footing early in the game, shots like this helped them remain within striking distance.

Scoring 32 points is impressive enough on its own. However, when you can score 32 points while still dishing out 7 assists, you start to put together a truly special performance. Reed Sheppard attracts so much attention when he is on the basketball floor and it makes everything easier for his teammates. Getting Adou Thiero to cut along the baseline as the ball is driven is clearly something Coach Calipari and his staff have emphasized of late. This is a really effective way to utilize Thiero’s athleticism. Sheppard gets downhill by rejecting the ballscreen and then hits a cutting Thiero for the dunk. Just like that, the Wildcats cut their deficit to two points.

Reed Sheppard makes some really big mistakes on the defensive end of the floor. Some his ball watching came back to the surface, especially in the first half, against the Mississippi State Bulldogs as well. However, plays like this are why you live some of what he does. He plays with great overall instincts and simply has a knocking for stealing the basketball. Here Sheppard does a great job of jumping the lazy handoff and turns it into two points. That was a massive swing to give the ‘Cats some late momentum. Also, this was during a stretch where there hadn’t been a stoppage for over six minutes. To make this play while tired is really impressive.

Kentucky’s star freshman was at his best in winning time. His ability to not get sped up, even in the biggest moments, is truly special. Not many freshmen can play with this level of pace and poise in crunch time against an elite defense. Also, credit to the spacing that comes with Antonio Reeves and Rob Dillingham being on the perimeter. Absolutely no help.

Defensive Breakdowns + 50/50 Balls

Kentucky posted the best adjusted defensive efficiency in the country, per Bart Torvik, two weeks ago in wins over Ole Miss and Auburn. They were still in the Top 10 over a two week span that included the loss at LSU and the 117-95 win over Alabama. However, the Wildcats reverted to some old bad habits on Tuesday night against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They obviously did just enough to win the game, but there were some breakdowns on the way. Also, the ‘Cats continue to struggle coming up with 50/50 balls that sometimes feel more like 75/25 balls.

This loose ball scrum early in the game seemed to set the tone for what was to come. Adou Thiero makes a great play on the ball to get the deflection. However, despite four Kentucky players surrounding on Mississippi State player with the ball, #1 Tolu Smith ends up with a layup. Not coming up with the ball is one thing, but letting it lead to an uncontested layup is another.

Adou Thiero is between #4 Cameron Matthews and the basket on this drive. There is no reason to be staring at the ball. This is where communication comes into play too. Thiero needs to be letting his teammates know “I’ve got him, I’ve got him, I’ve got him” so they know not to help. Maybe he was doing that, maybe he wasn’t but either way Justin Edwards didn’t get the message. He got caught standing straight up and down while staring at the ball as his man, #5 Jones Jr. cut along the baseline. That miscue pulled Ugonna Onyenso out of position and #1 Tolu Smith eventually finished an And-1.

There is no denying that #13 Josh Hubbard went nuclear for the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday night. He is an excellent shooter who had made 76 three-pointers at a 35.5% clip coming into the game, but his 7-14 performance took things to a new level. That being said, the Wildcats weren’t properly ready to guard him in Starkville. Reed Sheppard was guilty of having too low of a pick point later in the game as well. Here, Rob Dillingham let himself get sucked down below the arc for no reason and it allowed Hubbard to dribble into an easy three.

Earlier we showed a clip of Justin Edwards getting caught ball watching. In this clip, it was Reed Sheppard’s turn. There is just no reason to be paying this much attention to #12 KeShawn Murphy. With Antonio Reeves between him and the basket there was nothing he was going to do that would require Sheppard to help.

If Kentucky had lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday night, this clip would haunt us for days to come. The ball is coming off of the rim right between Zvonimir Ivisic, Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner. However, the ‘Dawgs end up with the ball. Again, it isn’t so much about not coming up with the ball as it is leading directly to an easy two points for them. These type of plays can be back-breaking. Luckily, the ‘Cats survived this one.

Second Half Offensive Execution

Much has been made of Kentucky’s defensive improvements of late. However, it was a return to elite offense that lead to the win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The ‘Cats up 91 points against a borderline Top 10 defense to secure the road win. Down the stretch, the offense posted 1.77 points per possession in the final 12:42 of the game. Once again, Coach Calipari went back to floppy action and it led to some of the biggest shots of the second half. When you have really good players though you can run just about anything and it’ll look pretty darn good.

It is hard to find more beautiful offense than Antonio Reeves operating out of floppy action. Kentucky can just execute you to death in the half court when running this. Reeves did a great job of changing speed and direction to shake loose from his defender. Also, Adou Thiero set a very effective screen to allow Reeves to flare for the three.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs had led the entire game up until this point. Kentucky went back to floppy action once again and it led to a Rob Dillingham three-pointer that gave the ‘Cats a 72-71 advantage. His quickness and ability to change direction in a hurry allowed him to get open here. Also, it was a pinpoint pass by Reed Sheppard. Excellent offensive execution.

Early in this breakdown we showed a clip of Reed Sheppard hitting Adou Thiero as he cut along the baseline for a dunk. Thiero got three buckets off of that cut throughout the game in Starkville. However, he also deserves credit for helping “assist” on Rob Dillingham’s layup in this clip. Take a look at #4 Matthews at the front of the rim. As Dillingham gets downhill, Matthews looks back to find Thiero. Then, he is unwilling to step up and help for fear of giving up the lob dunk. Excellent read by Dillingham to see Matthews stay home and go lay it in himself.