By Nick Gray | Basketball beat writer

[email protected]

The early returns of ‘Camp Cal’ in UK’s conference opener on Wednesday came in the forms of missed shots and turnovers, fast-break layups and open shots for the opposing team.

Once the Cats shook off the ice of 11 days of practice after practice, the paint and game opened up in the favor of UK.

It took the Cats over nine minutes to record their first points in the paint. 44 such points later, UK came away with the 85-63 win over Mississippi State University before 23,638 at Rupp Arena.

The Cats started 2-of-13 from the field as Mississippi State (10-4, 0-1 SEC) pushed out to a 10-point lead before the first television timeout. UK’s struggles came against the Bulldogs zone that collapsed inside on Cats players in the paint and on the post.

“I think we settled in the first half,” UK assistant coach John Robic, who filled in for head coach John Calipari at the post-game press conference, said. “We were getting pushed off the block when we didn’t have to be pushed off the block.”

“We hadn’t played a game in about two weeks, so we were coming back (from a long layoff),” sophomore forward Alex Poythress said. “We just had to pick it up.”

Down 18-10, sophomore forward Willie Cauley-Stein and freshman guard Andrew Harrison each scored four points in an 8-2 spurt. Freshman guard James Young’s dunk evened the score at 20, and the two teams jostled for position for the final 8:09 of the first half.

The Bulldogs had a six-point possession as a result of a Flagrant One foul by freshman guard Aaron Harrison on a dunk by Mississippi State junior forward Roquez Johnson. Two free throws and a layup later, the Bulldogs led by six and controlled the advantage at halftime, even as UK’s offense was revving up.

“We weren’t ready for the game when it started. It took us some time,” Robic said.

UK traded the lead with Mississippi State for the first few minutes of the second half before the Cats busted towards the rim, led by sophomore forward Alex Poythress.

Poythress, who Calipari has said is playing his best basketball at UK in practices, had five field goals, all dunks. A trio of the dunks brought the crowd to its feet and spearheaded the Cats’ key run in the second half.

The first dunk, with 11:55 to go and UK leading 57-51, was the finish of a lob from freshman guard James Young. The second dunk started with another lob, completed by Poythress with one hand that drew the loudest cheers of the night from the Rupp Arena crowd with 7:52 left.

The sophomore forward’s final dunk, of which Poythress deemed his favorite dunk of the night, was a reverse slam that gave the Cats their largest lead to that point, 74-53, with 6:09 remaining.

UK, after being knotted at 47 with the Bulldogs early in the second half, put together a 27-6 run to wrestle ahold of the game.

“It’s a shame that people are going to turn on SportsCenter tonight, they’ll see the final score and they’ll think it’s a blowout,” Mississippi State head coach Rick Ray said. “I just don’t think that is indicative of how we played in the first half.”

Young scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds, while freshman forward Julius Randle grabbed 14 rebounds, a team high. UK won the rebounding edge 44-28.

Guard Craig Sword had 19 points to lead Mississippi State.

Calipari left the arena following the game to travel to a local hospital to see his son, Brad, who had knee surgery after an injury during a high school basketball game.

The Cats propel into conference road play on Saturday when Vanderbilt University hosts the Cats in Memorial Coliseum at 3:30 p.m. The Commodores lost to the University of Alabama on Tuesday to begin their conference slate.