Filed under: Kentucky, Mississippi State, SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE — In 1996, No. 1 Kentucky rolled into the SEC tournament final on a 27-game winning streak. Waiting in their path? A spunky Mississippi State team then ranked No. 24 in the country. No one gave Mississippi State much of a chance of pulling off the upset in front of a partisan Kentucky crowd in New Orleans. Then? March Madness happened. An unheralded shooting guard from Nashville named Dontae’ Jones took the Bulldogs on his broad shoulders and put up 28 points on 12-of-18 shooting. Mississippi State stunned the nation with an 11-point win that sprang them into the tournament with renewed vigor. The Bulldogs would advance all the way to the Final Four.

Now, 14 years and four days later, the Bulldogs had a second chance at upsetting a big favorite.

They came within .1 seconds of pulling it off.

But with State leading by three with 4.9 seconds remaining, Eric Bledsoe toed the line. He made the first shot, and then intentionally missed the second shot. Amazingly, John Wall tracked down the rebound and missed a three. Grabbing the rebound, DeMarcus Cousins scored with .1 second left to send the game into overtime tied at 64. From there, the Wildcats would go on to snag a 75-74 victory, delivering perhaps the most painful loss in the history of Mississippi State basketball.

If there has been a better college basketball game all season, I haven’t seen it.

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