Calipari reaches 400 victories with Kentucky

Jan 17, 2024, 09:54 PM ET

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% general to offer the milestone success for the Hall of Famer, who ended up being the third fastest active coach to achieve that with a program, in 516 contests. Bill Self reached 400 wins in 484 games with Kansas, and Mark Couple of hit 400 in 499 outings at Gonzaga.Calipari minimized the achievement and said he wasn’t focusing on numbers however noted,”You remain enough time and you have enough really good players, a lot of those things happen.”Calipari is the 2nd coach to win 400 games with the Wildcats, following Adolph Rupp, who won 876. He’s the fourth coach to win 400 games at an SEC school, the others being Rupp, Billy Donovan(467 at Florida )and Dale Brown( 448 at LSU ). Mississippi State is 1-18 versus Kentucky since Calipari became the Wildcats coach.

Wednesday marked the Bulldogs ‘ninth straight loss at Rupp Arena.Most Wins At SEC School (Guys’s D-I)Coach School Wins Adolph Rupp Kentucky 846 * Billy Donovan Florida 467 Dale Brown LSU 448

John Calipari Kentucky 400 * 30 of 876 wins came

before UK joined SEC– ESPN Stats & Details Rob
Dillingham added 16 points for the Wildcats, who
made 23 of 31 2-point attempts.Tolu Smith had 26 points for the Bulldogs(12-5, 1-3). They dropped	their third of 4 SEC games,
stopping working to regroup 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, kept its per-game average versus a defense that entered the game allowing just under 65 points per outing to rank second in the league.Kentucky’s precise shooting assisted it build a 47-29 halftime lead and forge a cushion after the Bulldogs rallied to 49-43 just after the break. Kentucky outscored Mississippi State 12-3 over a 2:51 period for a double-digit lead and stayed ahead to rebound 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 9 free tosses without a miss. He scored 16 points in the very first half to jump-start the Wildcats, with Dillingham including 10 by halftime. Tre Mitchell added 15 points and Aaron Bradshaw 11 for Kentucky.Editor’s Picks 2 Related “We’re simply headed in the best instructions, to be honest, definitely progressing,” Reeves stated after matching his second highest scoring effort this season.”We feel more comfy about ourselves going out there and simply scoring.”Each team got 33 rebounds, though Kentucky had a 26-19 edge on the defensive glass.Just when the Wildcats appeared to stop issues about their defense, they permitted the Bulldogs back in the game with sloppy play on both ends. But they regrouped from that lull and weren’t really threatened regardless of being outscored 44-38 in the paint. And their defense was pretty reliable in the very first half, scoring 10 points off eight turnovers and shaking off the Bulldogs. “We practiced for 2 days on defense and attempted to improve due to the fact that all of us understand we are a truly excellent offensive group, “said Bradshaw, who had 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. “However we have been kind of slacking on defense, so we understood we needed to pick [it] up.”Kentucky next hosts Georgia on Saturday night.ESPN Statistics & Details and The Associated Press added to this report.