Surely Kentucky’s season-ending defeat against Mississippi State on Thursday evoked feelings of déjà vu. Make that déjà Blue.
In more ways than one, Dontaie Allen staged a revival meeting in the Southeastern Conference Tournament’s second round in Nashville. He not only matched his starburst performance in Starkville during the regular season, he exceeded it.
Allen’s scoring also propelled a second-half comeback that fell one shot short of advancing Kentucky to a quarterfinal game against regular-season champion Alabama on Friday.
Kentucky (9-16) trailed by 15 points early in the second half.
Then Allen, who had only three points in the first half, went to work. He scored 15 points in a seven-minute stretch to get Kentucky back into the game.
With the teams having played a double-overtime game in the regular season, it was no surprise that the game was decided in the final seconds.
Iverson Molinar made two free throws to put Mississippi State ahead 74-73 with 7.1 seconds left.
After a timeout, Kentucky got the shot it appeared to want. Allen took a 3-pointer from in front of the UK bench. But it went off the rim.
Allen made six of 13 3-point shots and scored 23 points. That matched the points he scored in the regular-season game against Mississippi State and fell one 3-point basket shy of what he made in that game.
Davion Mintz and Olivier Sarr chipped in 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Mississippi State improved to 15-13 despite big man Abdul Ado going scoreless in the second half after imposing his will in the opening 20 minutes.
Kentucky never led in the first half. The halftime score of 44-30 equaled the largest deficit UK faced in the opening 20 minutes. It also exceeded the previous high for halftime deficits this season: 12 against Notre Dame and the first Alabama game.
Mississippi State dominated around the basket. State outrebounded Kentucky 29-15. State also enjoyed a 36-12 advantage in points in the paint.
With UK making only four of 10 free throws, the need for a second-half comeback was inevitable.
As coach John Calipari spoke about Wednesday, he tried multiple options to change the tenor of the first half.
Ten UK players got in the game inside the first seven minutes. That included Terrence Clarke playing for the first time since the Louisville game on Dec. 26 and scoring for the first time since the North Carolina game on Dec. 19.
Allen entered the game before the second television timeout.
Calipari twice called timeouts.
None of it made much of a difference as State took the lead for good on a layup with 15:15 left. Another layup on the next possession prompted the first UK timeout.
With 7:56 left, State had 20 rebounds and 20 points in the paint. Ado led the way with 12 points. Frontcourt mate Tolu Smith added 11.
State’s only basket from outside the paint was a 3-pointer by Derek Fountain, a 6-foot-9 freshman, with 2:57 left in the half. It gave State a 37-24 lead.
How much of a struggle was the first half for Kentucky? Clarke was called for back-to-back lane violations. That gave Smith three tries to complete an and-one with 6:18 on the clock.
Nothing much changed early in the second half. Then Allen got hot.
With UK down 55-41, Allen made one of two free throws. Then he hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to bring Kentucky within 55-48. That prompted a State timeout with 14:22 left.
The ball went to Quentin Post, a 7-foot sophomore. He hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. He came into the game having made nine of 33 3-point shots this season.
His two free throws restored a double-digit lead for State at 60-50 with 12:15 left. It was Isaiah Jackson’s third foul. Seconds earlier, Sarr picked up his third foul.
Although Jackson picked up his fourth foul on a charge with 10:30 left, Kentucky kept charging.
Allen’s floater in the lane reduced the deficit to 62-57 and set the stage for drama down the stretch.
