ESPN believes Kentucky will lose to Mississippi State in Starkville

Coming off the big blowout win over the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Kentucky Wildcats will have to make the trip to Starkville, Mississippi, to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. 

The two teams have already met once this season when the Bulldogs came to Lexington, and Kentucky won 90-77 behind a 27-point game from Antonio Reeves. The Wildcats shot 55.6% from the field in this game but only shot 30.4% from deep. Mississippi State's big man, Tolu Smith, had a big game, scoring 26 points. Slowing Smith will be the key for Kentucky to get this big road win. 

Last week, after the big win over Auburn, the Wildcats responded with a road loss to LSU. Kentucky will look to not let history repeat itself by taking down Mississippi State on the road after an emotional win over Alabama. ESPN believes history will repeat itself as it gives Kentucky only a 40.9% chance to win this game on the road. We know ESPN's analytics love home teams, but it's hard to keep betting against this Kentucky team. 

Coach Calipari had this to say about Kentucky's defense after the win over Mississippi State in Rupp Arena: "We made a little bit of an adjustment in pick-and-roll defense, executive decision. They liked it. I liked it. And now we are going to really zero in on getting really good at it. Antonio was really good. Robert was really good. Reed was really good. Tre, I told him, you can't play as many minutes, sub yourself. And he did. We still have got work to do playing two bigs. But we may have to do it if we are taking Tre out. I went with Justin some at four, not bad. It gives us a 6-7 athletic wing four."

Kentucky proved the ESPN matchup predictor wrong on Saturday against Alabama, and they will look to do it again when they take on Mississippi State in Starkville.