Dontaie Allen had 12 3-pointers in two games against Mississippi State. (SEC Photo)
Kentucky fans might have wished coach John Calipari had tried to get the ball inside for a final shot against Mississippi State Thursday but State coach Ben Howland just knew Dontaie Allen was going to hit the shot. Instead, it went off the back of the rim and Mississippi State had a 74-73 win in Nashville Thursday to eliminate Kentucky from the SEC Tournament.
Allen had 20 of his 23 points in the second half when he hit five 3-pointers. It was his best game since he made seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points in an SEC win at Mississippi State in January. In his previous 10 games, he had scored 20 points total.
“Dontaie Allen has something to do with Mississippi State. I don’t know what it is. Whenever we play against Kentucky, he gets to be the best player on the court. He was phenomenal again,” Howland said.
“Going to the last shot of the game, my heart was all the way down in the pit of my stomach watching that shot go up. I am so thankful to God that shot curved off and Abdul (Ado) got the rebound. Our guys deserved to win the game today.”
Allen had 12 3-pointers in two games against Mississippi State and was open for the final shot. He called it a good look and so did UK Calipari.
“I’m just happy he missed. It would have been really gut-wrenching to have that go in after the fight that we showed to take the lead with seven seconds left,” Howland said. “Just very thankful. He’s a heck of a player. Allen really, really played phenomenally against us this year. We know he’s had 46 points in two games.”
Kentucky and Calipari had won 15 straight games against Mississippi State before Thursday’s loss.
“I’m really happy for our guys. We talked about the fact we haven’t beat them since I’ve been here. Then you’re adding some games on before that,” Howland said. “They’re the best program in our conference. When you go back and look at SEC wins, they have more wins, more tournament victory championships here in the SEC than the rest of the league combined.
So it’s just an incredible program. John is a Hall of Fame coach. For this win today, it’s really special for our team and for our program.”
