Mississippi State poses threat as "trap game" for Kentucky

Kentucky Men’s Basketball is in the midst of its toughest stretch of games so far this season. After a much-bemoaned non-conference slate of games that saw very little competition, UK is currently in the thick of regular showdowns against ranked opponents.

Tuesday’s late-night matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs will be sandwiched right in between two top 10 matchups, both of which come on the road. The first was a loss to the now-No. 1 ranked Auburn Tigers this past Saturday with the second coming against No. 5 Kansas this weekend. Oh yeah, UK will hit the road again the following weekend to take on a dangerous Alabama team.

With that in mind, it would be easy for the Kentucky players to look ahead to those high-profile games and not put as much focus on the one directly in front of them. Those are commonly referred to as “trap games”, and Wildcat associate coach Orlando Antigua understands how that might impact his team’s mindset moving forward.

Coach Antigua began his Monday press conference by imploring the Big Blue Nation to create a rowdy atmosphere inside of Rupp Arena for Tuesday night’s 9:00 p.m. EST tipoff. With so many good teams on the docket, it’s important to stay locked in, and the fans can help in that aspect.

“We’re playing a really good Mississippi State team,” Antigua said on Monday. “They’re 4-2 (in SEC play), they’re well-coached, they’re a physical team. Any advantage that we can have, especially at home, we need to have.

“And understanding how this game could be looked at as a trap game. When you’re anticipating Kansas on Saturday, coming off an Auburn (loss)–second-ranked team in the country on the road–but we know that this is a really tough game and it’s gonna be a physical, hard-fought game because of what Mississippi State brings to the table.”

Mississippi State will come to Lexington with a 13-5 overall record, but without too many resume-building victories. The Bulldogs lost to Louisville, Minnesota, and Colorado State early in the season before falling to Ole Miss and Florida in SEC play. However, MSU did manage to take down Arkansas and a then-No. 24 ranked Alabama squad before exacting revenge on Ole Miss by 18 points in its most recent win.

Just by scanning Mississippi State’s schedule, this would meet the criteria of a trap game for UK. Add in the fact that the Bulldogs will likely be without second-leading scorer Tolu Smith and this could be an easy overlook for the ‘Cats.

But on the flip side, Kentucky junior forward Jacob Toppin isn’t even taking into consideration how this might be a trap game, the preferred mindset to have from a player. Every game is a trap game because it’s the next game on the schedule. He did, however, agree with his coach in that the Bulldogs will get physical and try to muck up the rhythm.

“I don’t know why you would consider it a trap game,” Toppin said on Monday. “They’re (MSU) a very good team. I don’t know their record but they have been winning games and they’re very physical. I don’t think it’s a trap game at all, I think we gotta go out there and fight for 40 minutes. And that’s what we’re gonna do. Like I said, the game is gonna be very physical so we gotta be ready to fight from the jump.”

Depending on the status of Kentucky guards TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler, the ‘Cats could be at a disadvantage going into this matchup. That factor alone should have UK laser-focused on the task at hand.