"As far as a complete game, this was by far the best we have played all year," said Wildcats coach Tubby Smith. "We got off to a good start, and I think that was a big key to the game because it gave us a cushion."
Ty Washington scored 23 points and Horatio Webster added 18 for the Bulldogs, who have lost consecutive games to ranked opponents. Mississippi State, which has dropped three of its last five games after a 10-1 start, lost at Arkansas by 13 points Wednesday.
Kentucky has won four straight games at Mississippi State and holds a 74-16 lead in the all-time series.
After Bart Hyche dragged his pivot foot and was called for a walk, Padgett pump-faked in the lane on Whit Hughes and drew a foul as he made a scoop shot. Padgett completed the three-point play for a 71-66 lead. After a miss by Webster, Evans hit an 18-footer from the left corner before Edwards had a steal and layup to make it 75-66.
"Padgett really hurt us," said Bulldogs coach Richard Williams. "He made some shots in key situations. We lost him a couple of times by not defending like we had worked on in practice, and he made us pay for it."
Wayne Turner also had 10 points for Kentucky, which shot 45 percent (28-of-62) from the field and held a 39-31 rebounding advantage. The Wildcats' bench shot 6-of-9 from the field and accounted for 19 points, 16 by Evans and Jamaal Magloire.
White was the only other player in double figures for Mississippi State with 13 points. The Bulldogs shot 46 percent (26-of-57) from the floor and 7-of-19 from 3-point range.
(6) Kentucky 77, MISSISSIPPI STATE 71
KENTUCKY (77)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Edwards 33 4-13 3-4 1-5 3 1 12
Padgett 36 8-12 5-5 5-10 2 1 23
Mohammed 17 4-9 0-0 4-5 2 3 8
Turner 33 4-10 1-5 1-8 4 1 10
Sheppard 29 2-9 1-1 1-2 2 1 5
Smith 8 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 3
Evans 12 3-3 3-4 0-1 0 3 10
Magloire 23 2-4 2-2 1-6 0 3 6
Mills 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 28-62 15-21 13-37 14 13 77
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Percentages: FG-.452, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
6-20, .300 (Edwards 1-7, Padgett 2-3, Turner 1-4,
Sheppard 0-3, Smith 1-1, Evans 1-1, Mills 0-1).
Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 2 (Edwards,
Mohammed). Turnovers: 8 (Turner 3, Edwards,
Evans, Mills, Mohammed, Sheppard). Steals: 6
(Padgett 2, Edwards, Mohammed, Sheppard, Turner).
MISSISSIPPI ST (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Hughes 29 2-6 0-0 3-5 1 2 5
Webster 37 7-18 2-3 2-7 3 1 18
Washington 35 8-10 7-11 1-8 1 3 23
Myles 18 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
White 38 5-12 0-0 0-3 4 4 13
Moore 8 3-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 6
Hamilton 11 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Hyche 16 1-4 3-3 1-1 2 2 6
Roberts 5 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0
Redding 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 0
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TOTALS 200 26-57 12-17 7-27 14 16 71
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Percentages: FG-.456, FT-.706. 3-Point Goals:
7-19, .368 (Hughes 1-3, Webster 2-3, White 3-8,
Hamilton 0-1, Hyche 1-4). Team rebounds: 4.
Blocked shots: 1 (Hughes). Turnovers: 9 (Moore 3,
White 2, Hamilton, Hyche, Washington, Webster).
Steals: 2 (Moore, Webster).
__________________________________
Kentucky 41 36 - 77
Mississippi St 34 37 - 71
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 9,334. Officials: John
Cahill, Tom O'Neill, R.T. Day.