Chris Livingston's 'All-Star' Second Half Keeps Kentucky Afloat in Road Win at Mississippi State
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Kentucky basketball needed all hands on deck in its 71-68 win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night inside Humphrey Coliseum.
Both guards Sahvir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick were again unavailable due to injury, leaving coach John Calipari's team — in his words — "on fumes" as the Wildcats tangoed with the feisty Bulldogs in a closely-contested showdown.
One of the wildcards in the slimmed crew that took the court in Starkville was forward Chris Livingston. It's been a hit-or-miss campaign for the 5-star, so UK was in dire need of the freshman to produce in a big way.
The first half was quite the opposite of what the doctor ordered.
In 12 minutes, Livingston didn't take a shot, failing to notch a point. Even worse, he was unreliable on the defensive end, falling victim to missed assignments as Miss State hung around in the opening period.
Towards the end of the half, he was responsible for a poor turnover that resulted in a bucket for MSU. He very nearly did the same exact thing the next time down the court.
Calipari had seen enough of the Akron, Ohio native for the moment, yanking him out the game to the bench, tossing a few heartfelt words his way after the fact.
"I had to take him out because he turned one over, almost turned another one over with a minute to go, and I took him out." Calipari said after the game.
While he had a pair of assists and rebounds, it was one of the worst halves of Livingston's young UK career. The Wildcats were amidst a must-win game, fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives, and his play was far from being on-par with some of his teammates.
"(Calipari) was just telling me I got to step up, be better for this team in order for us to get this win. I got to be better defensively and I got to be locked in offensively, Livingston said. "It was more of a mindset thing. Coach was on me, and also I didn't want to lose. I was playing as hard as I could, trying to make plays."
Leading 36-35 at the half, Kentucky couldn't afford another late-game collapse. Calipari followed his old "refuse to lose" mantra, doing what he could to instill the will to win in his bubble team.
While Antonio Reeves, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe were racking up points and helping the Cats chug along, it was Livingston that proved to be the X-factor in the final 20 minutes.
He took the mixture of praise and criticism, morphing it into a gutsy, hard-nosed 13-point second half that witnessed the forward fight for any and every ball that came his way. It was the same rough-and-tugged style that had Calipari labeling him "tough as nails" earlier in the season.
"That's just how Cal is, holding me to a high standard, being hard on me, expecting much more out of myself," Livingston said. "In the second half I just knew I had to play harder and make some plays to make up for how I played in the first half."
Shooting 3-6, cashing in on a 3-pointer as well as all six of his free-throw attempts, Livingston motored UK while also adding three rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block, playing all 20 minutes in the second half.
He also snagged Kentucky's 18th offensive rebound of the game, collecting a crucial board after Reeves missed a 3-pointer with less than eight seconds to go in the game, then stepped to the free-throw line and drained both of his freebies.
"Chris was an all-star today. Really proud of him," Calipari said. "Just settle down at halftime and come out and play, and he did."
Part of Livingston's success came down low, as he had a clear size advantage on the Bulldog forwards opposing him. Normally, it's Tshiebwe that sees a bundle of action in the low block, but UK guards were instead seeking the newly-energized freshman, taking them towards their second Quadrant 1 win of the season.
Calipari disclosed postgame that it was actually new student assistant and former point guard Tyler Ulis that suggested abusing the size advantage:
The results led to Livingston's fourth double-digit-point game of the season.
"I got to give Tyler credit, cause he said 'look, they got a small man on Chris, post them up.' And then you saw what we did. We went four or five straight times to post them up."
Without Livingston's surge, the Wildcats very easily could've fumbled their way to another devastating road loss, which would've further drove the nail into the proverbial coffin.
He bought into Calipari's mantra, and as a result enjoyed a selfless and successful second half of basketball — one that just might've kept Kentucky's season afloat.
"Not worrying about myself, not worrying about how many points I had, if I was making or missing shots, just doing what I needed to do for this team," Livingston said about his mindset. "I wouldn't say a must-win, but we had nothing to lose. It was a refuse-to-lose attitude, that's the energy we played with."
A grand total of 13 points, five boards, three assists, two steals and a block will certainly do the trick.
More on the win over Mississippi State HERE.
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