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% overall to provide the milestone victory for the Hall of Famer, who became the third-fastest active coach to achieve that with a program.
Calipari is the second 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 against Kentucky since Calipari became the Wildcats’ head coach. Wednesday marked the Bulldogs’ ninth straight loss at Rupp Arena.
Rob Dillingham added 16 points for the Wildcats, and Tolu Smith had 26 points for the Bulldogs (12-5, 1-3). They dropped their third of four SEC games, failing to regroup from a home loss to Alabama. Mississippi State shot 35% in the first half and 53% in the second.
Kentucky’s accurate shooting helped 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 span 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 nine free throws without a miss. He scored 16 points in the first half to jump-start the Wildcats, with Dillingham adding 10 by halftime. Tre Mitchell added 15 points and Aaron Bradshaw 11 for Kentucky.
Just when the Wildcats seemed to quell concerns about their defense, they allowed the Bulldogs back in the game with sloppy play on both ends. But they regrouped from that lull and weren’t really threatened despite being outscored 44-38 in the paint.
Kentucky next hosts Georgia on Saturday night.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.