Take a bow, Kentucky fans.
The Big Blue Nation’s repeated calls for favorite son Dontaie Allen to play — and shoot more — proved Albert Einstein-wise.
Allen’s seven 3-pointers propelled Kentucky to a 78-73 double-overtime victory at Mississippi State on Saturday night.
Allen, who came into the game having played 19.23 minutes this season, scored 23 points. His scoring was not only abundant but timely. With UK clinging to a 71-70 lead in the second overtime, Allen made back-to-back baskets.
The first brought to mind stats savant Ken Pomeroy rating UK dead last in luck. Allen banked in a jumper from the top of the key.
On UK’s next possession, Allen swished a 3-pointer to build a 76-70 lead with 2:29 left.
Kentucky, which played without Terrence Clarke (ankle) and Keion Brooks (calf), snapped a six-game losing streak and improved to 2-6 overall and 1-0 in the Southeastern Conference.
Mississippi State fell to 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the SEC.
When asked in December about a pivotal moment that can turn a season around, Kentucky coach John Calipari cited his ejection at Arkansas last season.
Calipari apparently tried to see if another ejection might ignite this UK team saddled with a six-game losing streak.
Referees tossed Calipari with 9:04 left in the second half.
As if on cue, Kentucky went on an immediate 10-0 run.
If Calipari’s ejection did not spark Kentucky, surely Allen’s shooting did. The former Kentucky Mr. Basketball’s third and fourth 3-pointers of the game bookended the 10-0 run.
Trailing 61-59 inside the final minute, Kentucky went to Olivier Sarr. He missed a post-up shot, but his put-back tied it with 51.9 seconds left.
Both teams missed multiple shots in the remaining time. State missed twice (the second a point-blank tip-in).
After a timeout with 14 seconds left, Kentucky got three chances. Allen missed a 3-pointer, Lance Ware missed a contested put-back, then Sarr missed a desperation mid-range shot.
With the score tied at 65-65, Allen hit his sixth 3-point shot to give Kentucky the lead with 67 seconds left.
Iverson Molinar’s 3-pointer with 42.2 seconds left tied it.
Davion Mintz tried to give UK the lead. But his heavily contested floater in the lane was blocked. He touched it as he went out of bounds, giving State a chance to win it.
Molinar missed a three, which sent the game into a second overtime.
Kentucky’s ever-evolving team played a lot of zone defense in the first half. The Cats also shot better (4 of 8 from 3-point range) and showed competitiveness (reflected by an 11-5 advantage in second-chance points and eight blocks).
Despite that positive news, Kentucky trailed 35-30 at halftime.
Although UK trailed by as much as four points early, good shooting led by Devin Askew kept it close. Askew’s baseline pull-up gave UK its first lead, 11-9, with 13:38 left.
The lead crested at 21-16 on a put-back by Jacob Toppin.
Kentucky had only one basket in the final 10:36 that was not a put-back, and UK had three of those in that span.
The exception was a 3-pointer by Allen with 1:30 left.
The deficit grew to 37-30 early in the second half. Then State got generous, committing turnovers on four straight possessions.
State’s lead grew to 47-39 when Sarr was called for blocking on a drive by Ado. That resulted in a three-point play.
A non-call when Calipari thought Molinar palmed the ball before a basket to put State ahead 52-46 led to the UK coach’s ejection.
Jalen Johnson made 3 of 4 technical free throws to put Kentucky behind 55-46 with 9:04 left.
