Before Kentucky lost a six-game losing game with a 78-73 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday, Wildcats coach John Calipari said he told his staff he hoped Dontaie Allen – a product in the state that recorded just 19 minutes. and seven points combined before the win – would help the team win the first SEC game.
Allen answered the call, finishing with a team high of 23 points and reaching 7-for-11 of the 3-point in a wild game, which also included the expulsion of Calipari with just over nine minutes to play.
“If you do, you prove your point, and that’s what you need to do if you get a chance,” Calipari said of Allen’s outing. “I’m so happy for him. I told the staff before the game that I hope he grows up because we had to win. ‘
Kentucky was entangled in the program’s worst piece of basketball in nearly 100 years. It has not lost six games in a row since 1927, three years before Adolph Rupp was hired into the program. It was also the first time the team had suffered six consecutive losses under Calipari.
Allen, a former Mr. Basketball in Kentucky and a rookie who missed last season due to injury said he never doubted his potential and that he continued to work, hoping Calipari would give him the opportunity to show off his talent to exhibit.
“To be honest, I do not think it was pressure because I put in the work,” Allen said. “I did not know when my opportunity would come. No one knows, so I just kept my head down and just worked hard. I am grateful for the opportunity I had tonight.”
The game looks like the previous six games Kentucky lost. The Mississippi state had the lead during the game until Kentucky was strong in regulation after Calipari’s expulsion.
In the two overtime, Allen made big hits, including an important three-point lead in the second overtime, to let the Wildcats (2-6, 1-0 SEC) win for the first time in over a month.
Calipari said he did not plan the eviction, which left assistant Bruiser Flint to manage the team. It was the result of a second technical error he suffered after an altercation with one of the officials with his team six points in the middle of the second half. . But he also said he hopes it will boost his players.
“I know you’re going to say, ‘Did you do this on purpose? ‘The first one? Yes, I did it because two or three things happened that we would not win to win if we did not. [fix]”he said.” My second one, it was like, “Yeah, OK.”
He added: “When I walked away, I said it was going to be a good or a bad thing.”
Olivier Sarr, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, said he expects the ejection based on the emotions Calipari displayed throughout the course of the game.
“For me, and I think the whole team, I think it was something we knew was going to happen, because I knew what Coach had to do with games like that,” Sarr said. “But for us, it was more just, ‘Okay, Coach is not here – we have to execute.’ ‘
Calipari said he hid in the locker room to watch his team celebrate after the game and “remember why I do what I do.”
He also said he is still focusing on helping his team win the NCAA Tournament. Before last season was the last time Kentucky had three or more losses from non-conferences during the conference, 2013-14, when the Wildcats made a turn in the Final Four. The Wildcats did not get the chance to compete for the NCAA Tournament last season, after three non-conference losses because the tournament was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I just look at football teams that played like 3-8 in bowling games,” he said. “We do not know where any of these things are going.”