Josh Hubbard will aim to lead Mississippi State to its seventh straight victory when the Bulldogs face underachieving Kentucky on Saturday night in Southeastern Conference play at Lexington, Ky.
Hubbard averaged 34 points in Mississippi State’s first two conference games. He matched his career high of 38 during a 101-98 overtime road victory over Texas on Jan. 3 and tallied 30 in Wednesday’s 72-53 rout of visiting Oklahoma.
Hubbard has scored 30 or more points in three of the last five games for the Bulldogs (10-5, 2-0 SEC). The exploits raised Hubbard’s scoring average to 23 per game.
“He’s developing now as a scorer,” Bulldogs coach Chris Jans said of Hubbard. “He’s always been a scorer but the levels of scoring, the finish package he has with the high releases and the floaters.
“Being able to take more quality shots, then if things aren’t going his way, ‘OK, I’m going to get to the line, I’m going to get to the cup’ and figure out a way to help my team.”
Jayden Epps (16.0) is the only other Mississippi State player averaging in double digits.
Kentucky (9-6, 0-2) is reeling after opening SEC play with an 89-74 road loss against then-No. 14 Alabama on Jan. 3 before succumbing 73-68 to visiting Missouri on Wednesday.
The Wildcats led by eight against the Tigers with 4:37 to play before Missouri ended the game with a 15-2 run — including the last eight points — to deliver Kentucky a bitter defeat.
“This is tough, it is not the way we intended to start SEC,” Wildcats coach Mark Pope said. “But it is exactly what we have in our hands right now. When you go through hard times, which everybody does, the question is how much does it take to break you? And I’m not about to break, this group is not about to break.”
Big man Brandon Garrison said the team’s morale remains good despite the collapse.
“We’re trying to win every game of course, but we have to keep our heads high and try to forget about this game and go to practice and get better and go and get this win on Saturday,” Garrison said.
Otega Oweh led Kentucky with 20 points against Missouri. He has reached that mark in four of the last six games after not reaching it all over his first nine games.
Oweh averages a team-best 15.1 points per game. Mouhamed Dioubate (11.2) and Denzel Aberdeen (11.0) also average in double digits.
Hubbard was held to 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting when Kentucky registered a 95-90 road victory over the Bulldogs last season in Starkville.
