College basketball final: Kentucky 82, Mississippi State 74 in overtime

After back-to-back road games, the Kentucky Wildcats return home to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs in an SEC game at Rupp Arena. ESPN has the television coverage, beginning at 9 p.m.

The Wildcats are 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference after Saturday’s 80-71 loss at now No. 1-ranked Auburn. Mississippi State is 13-5 overall and 4-2 in the league. Ben Howland’s team is coming off a 78-60 win over Ole Miss on Saturday.

Scroll down to find the dedicated Twitter feed below for more updates.

Final: Kentucky 82, Miss State 74 in overtime.

Veteran leadership leads Kentucky past Mississippi State in overtime

Final box

Halftime box

Note: Kellan Grady scored UK’s first eight points in overtime.

Note: Mississippi State’s Iverson Molinar finished with 30 points. He hit two free throws to tie the game at 72-72 with 22.2 left in regulation. Molinar was 13-of-21 from the floor on the night. It was the fourth time in State’s last five games that he has scored 20-or-more points.

Note: Oscar Tshiebwe had 21 points and 19 rebounds in regulation. He finished with 21 points and 22 rebounds. He had 10 rebounds by the eight-minute mark of the first half. He finished the first half with nine points and 12 rebounds.

Note: Jacob Toppin started the second half in place of Keion Brooks.

Note: Mississippi State missed 16 of its first 21 shots.

Note: With MSU missing center Tolu Smith, the Bulldogs were outrebounded 22-11 in the first half. UK outrebounded the Bulldogs 39-28 in regulation.

Note: No, Shadeon Sharpe did not play.

Note: Dontaie Allen scored his first basket since Nov. 29.

Kentucky hangs on to improve to 6-2 in SEC

The Wildcats are now 16-4 overall and 6-2 in the SEC after the 82-74 overtime win over Mississippi State. Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 21 points and 22 rebounds. Kellan Grady added 18 points. Iverson Molinar led Mississippi State with 30 points. The Bulldogs are now 4-3 in the SEC. Mississippi State missed six of its seven shots in overtime.

Kentucky led by 15 points, 53-38, with 12:24 left before Mississippi State made its comeback.

Tshiebwe’s 21st rebound was a big one

When Wheeler missed the second of two free throws with 37.4 seconds left, Tshiebwe got the rebound. Wheeler was fouled and went back to the line. He made one of two for an 82-7r lead which wrapped it up.

Kellan Grady to the rescue

After missing the possible game-winning shot in regulation, Grady has scored all eight of Kentucky’s points in overtime as the Cats have an 80-74 lead with 1:09 left. Grady now has 18 points on the night. Iverson Molinar has 30 for Mississippi State.

We are headed to overtime

Molinar made two free throws with 22.2 seconds left to tie the game at 72. UK’s Kellan Grady missed a three-pointer at the top of the key and State’s Cameron Matthews grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded. This is UK’s first overtime game this season.

Molinar finished regulation with 28 points. UK’s Tshiebwe has 21 points and 19 rebounds. He hit two free throws with 32 seconds left to give the Cats a 72-70 lead.

UK up 69-66 with 2:33 left

Sahvir Wheeler’s drive and bucket pushed the host Cats up 69-64, but Molinar answered with a basket with 2:33 remaining. He has 22 points for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State has shot 59.3 percent from the floor this half.

Kentucky leads 66-64 with 3:24 left

Mississippi State tied the score at 62 when D.J. Jeffries made two free throws at the 4:16 mark, then tied it again at 64 when Molinar scored at 3:44. Molinar has 20 points. UK went back in front thanks to a Tshiebwe bucket at the 3:24 mark. He has an and-one free throw when we come out of the TV timeout. (He made it.) Oscar has 20 points and 18 rebounds on the night, despite spending part of the second half in the UK locker room.

Jacob Toppin suffers bad slip

The junior forward slipped and fell while driving to the basket with 9:30 left. Play was stopped and he was helped to the bench, limping noticeably. He was later taken to the UK locker room. Oscar Tshiebwe is also in the locker room.

A few minutes later, State cut the Kentucky lead to 59-55 with 6:23 remaining as Calipari calls time. Iverson Molinar is up to 18 points for the Bulldogs. Toppin returned from the locker room during the timeout. Tshiebwe emerged a short time late.

Kentucky stretches lead back to 15

State cut the Kentucky lead to 47-38 with 13:47 left on a Molinar basket. But UK responded with two baskets by Tshiebwe and one from Wheeler to push the lead back out to 53-38 and prompt Howland to call time with 12:23 remaining. Kentucky is shooting 51.2 percent. Mississippi State is shooting 35.0 percent. Tshiebwe has 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Molinar heating up for Mississippi State

Iverson Molinar has scored 20-or-more points in three of State’s last four games. He has scored four points early in the second half, bringing his total to 12. The 6-foot-3 guard from Panama entered the game averaging 17.7 points and 4.3 assists. He scored 28 points in MSU’s win over Georgia earlier this season. UK leads 45-33 with 15:26 remaining.

Kentucky leads by 13 at halftime

John Calipari’s team took a 37-24 lead into the locker room at the half. Oscar Tshiebwe led the Cats with nine points and 12 rebounds. Dontaie Allen scored five points off the bench. Picking up two personal fouls, Sahvir Wheeler played just seven minutes in the first half. Mississippi State shot 29.6 percent from the floor, hitting just eight of 27 shots. Iverson Molinar led the Bulldogs with eight points. The State guard was 3-of-5 from the floor. His teammates were 5-of-22.

A cold first half for Mississippi State

With 3:03 left in the first half, the Bulldogs have made five of 21 shots for 23.8 percent. Ben Howland’s team has made just one of its six three-point attempts. UK is 12-of-23 from the floor, including 2-of-8 from three-point range. Oscar Tshiebwe leads the Cats with nine points and 12 rebounds. Jacob Toppin hit his first three-pointer of the season. It was just his second attempt. UK leads 30-18.

Dontaie Allen goes high for follow jam

The former Pendelton County star, who has played sparingly in SEC action this year, went up, up, up to jam home a rebound off a miss to put Kentucky up 25-13 with 7:57 left in the first half. It was Allen’s first made field goal since Nov. 29.

Tshiebwe with seven rebounds already

The Kentucky center has four points and seven rebounds as UK leads 18-13 with 11:09 left in first half. Cats have made seven of 13 shots. State is four-of-12 from the floor. UK has a 7-2 advantage in fast break points.

Kentucky off to a hot start from the floor

The Cats hit five of their first six shots to take a 12-9 lead at the 15:35 TV time in the first half. Sahvir Wheeler has six points, including an old-fashioned three-point play on a quick drive to the basket. Mississippi State is 3-of-7 from the floor.

UK-Mississippi State starting lineups

Kentucky starters: Keion Brooks, Kellan Grady, Oscar Tshiebwe, Davion Mintz, Sahvir Wheeler. Mintz replaces TyTy Washington, who is out with an ankle injury.

Mississippi State starters: Garrison Brooks, Iverson Molinar, Shakeel Moore, Cameron Matthews, D.J. Jeffries. Matthews replaces Tolu Smith, who is out with a partially dislocated kneecap.

Breaking news: Chris Mack appears to be out at Louisville

It appears Chris Mack has coached his last game at Louisville. The university has called a board meeting for Wednesday amid reports that the university and Mack are negotiating a separation agreement. The Cardinals have lost five of their last six games and dropped to 11-9 overall and 5-5 in the ACC with a 64-52 loss at Virginia on Monday night. Mack is 68-37 at Louisville.

[With Louisville basketball struggling, is Chris Mack the Cardinals’ Billy G?]

Officials for Kentucky-Mississippi State

Doug Shows, Anthony Jordan and Patrick Evans are the officials for the game at Rupp Arena. This is the third Kentucky game Shows has worked this season. He also worked UK’s win over Western Kentucky at home and Vanderbilt on the road. Jordan has worked UK’s games with Ohio and Georgia. Evans worked the Southern and High Point games.

Both teams will be without key starters

ESPN reports that UK guard TyTy Washington will miss Tuesday night’s game with the ankle injury he suffered Saturday at Auburn. Kentucky’s second-leading scorer left the game with 8:20 left in the first half after landing on teammate Oscar Tshiebwe’s leg. He did play the remainder of the game. UK led 25-16 at the time of Washington’s injury but lost by nine points. Washington is averaging 13.6 points and 4.4 assists per game.

Mississippi State will be without power forward Tolu Smith, who is averaging 13.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. The 6-11 Smith is averaging 13.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Smith partially dislocated his knee near the end of the win over Ole Miss.

It appears UK’s Sahvir Wheeler will play. Wheeler missed a stretch of the Auburn game after running into a Walker Kessler screen.

What the computers say about the matchup

Kentucky is No. 9 in the latest NCAA NET rankings. The Wildcats are 3-4 in Quad 1 games. Mississippi State is 47th in the NET rankings. The Bulldogs are 1-2 in Quad 1 games.

Kentucky is ranked sixth in Ken Pomeroy’s latest adjusted overall efficiency rankings. UK is ranked fourth on offense and 30th on defense. Mississippi State is 45th in the kenpom rankings. The Bulldogs are 23rd on offense and 103rd on defense. UK is 10th and MSU 42nd in the Sagarin ratings.

Some pregame reading material

Is UK’s door open for Shaedon Sharpe?

SEC basketball schedule and standings heading into mid-week games

John Clay Podcast: Kentucky-Mississippi State preview

Sahvir Wheeler can expect more blindside screens

Clarion-Ledger’s UK-MSU preview and prediction

Kentucky basketball roster and statistics

Mississippi State basketball roster and statistics

A Twitter List by johnclayiv

Where to watch, how to follow Tuesday’s UK men’s basketball game vs. Mississippi St.

Auburn beat Kentucky on Saturday, but who will be the better team come March?

Trap game? Kentucky says Mississippi State’s too good for that label

Joe B. Hall remembered as ‘a real competitor,’ Breakfast Club regular

When can Shaedon Sharpe play? Kentucky coaches offer another update on the star recruit.