Heading into its matchup against Mississippi State on Jan. 10, Kentucky men’s basketball was on the verge of its worst start in conference play since 1975 after dropping its first two SEC games to No. 14 Alabama and Missouri.

With what felt like all the pressure in the world on its shoulders — and early projections already placing the Wildcats outside the NCAA Tournament field — Kentucky entered its third conference matchup in a now-or-never situation.

For weeks, Kentucky’s problem had been manifesting front and center. It wasn’t about who was on the floor, but how they played together.

In the offseason, Mark Pope had assembled one of the best teams in the nation.

The 15-man roster Kentucky built was filled not only with some of the top-ranked freshmen in the country, but also elite additions from the transfer portal — including future first-round NBA Draft picks and a reigning national champion — and returned one of the nation’s best players from last season in Otega Oweh.

However, for the past couple of months, there had been no clear answer on how to get some of the top talent in the country to work together, and even when they would play as a unit, it was never consistent.

The Cats proved they could play as one, but had only shown it against mid-major teams. Any time Kentucky faced an opponent of that caliber, that aspect of the game would seemingly disappear.

No one could quite explain it, and Pope openly admitted it on more than one occasion. He didn’t know exactly what was going wrong.

But suddenly, it all started going right, and Kentucky put out a performance that few believed the team still had in them.

That breakthrough came Saturday night against Mississippi State, when Kentucky put together its most connected effort of the year against a Power Five opponent.

In its 92-68 victory, the Cats put up their highest first-half and total point output against a high-caliber opponent in nearly two months, the last coming against Louisville on Nov. 11.

That production came through ball movement, balance and teamwork. The success and scoring were spread across the lineup. Four Wildcats scored in double figures, led by Otega Oweh, but the offense was fueled by its willingness to play for one another.

Kentucky assisted on 21 of its 37 made field goals and committed just nine turnovers, while posting its highest shooting percentages from both the field (55.2%) and 3-point range (40.9%) against a Power Five team this season.

“I will be honest with you guys, you know, 21 assists is the most we’ve had against a high-major team by five, and it just is amazing what happens when you pass the ball to your teammate a little bit,” Pope said following the win.

The Cats had their first spark of success after a less-than-inspiring start. Only 5½ minutes into the game, Kentucky found itself down by 12 points.

It’s a situation that BBN had seen one too many times this season, and with the way history had played out, it wasn’t one anyone had high hopes of overcoming.

However, for what felt like the first time all season, the Cats were ready to claw their way back. At the 10-minute mark, Kentucky began what became a 12-0 scoring run with an Oweh jumper.

Through the two-minute scoring stretch, the Cats scored five straight field goals, with four of the five baskets coming directly off two steals and two defensive rebounds.

Three of the baskets came from assists, and a Jasper Johnson 3-pointer gave Kentucky its first lead of the game — and eventually the lead at halftime.

“We just kept the ball moving and tried to make the defense rotate a lot. There’ll be some possessions where we might take a quick shot when we didn’t really need to, but we kind of just made plays for each other,” Williams said following the win.

“So we just really emphasize protecting the ball and making plays for each other, and it works.”

The most significant part of the stretch?

All six players who were on the court during those two minutes were involved, whether it was Malachi Moreno and Collin Chandler on the defensive side, Mouhamed Dioubate on the assist side, or Kam Williams and Oweh in transition. Every single play involved one or more players.

“It’s unbelievable how fun this game can be when you play it with your team. It is unbelievable how fun and inspiring and contagious it can be,” Pope said. “It’s contagious. We’ve seen that in runs when we are getting out in transition and guys kind of fall in love with making plays for each other.”

Oweh echoed Pope’s words, and although the senior has emerged as Kentucky’s leading offensive weapon by a wide margin, he knows better than anyone that teamwork fuels success.

“We just have to really focus on making plays for teammates. Everyone eats. I feel like everyone eats, everyone does well,” Oweh said. “That’s going to catapult us to a different level. I think going into the game, really focused on making plays for teammates, on top of that, having high intensity on defense.”

While the newfound “play for each other” mentality was unexpected from a team that had clearly struggled with it all season, it was something the Wildcats had been dialing in on for a while.

“Coach Pope, all week, every single day, he’s always preaching to make plays for teammates, but it’s on us to actually do it when we get to the game,” Oweh said.

“We have so much talent that we could break guys down one-on-one, but that’s kind of what teams want. Once we get the ball moving, make them move a couple of times and make certain decisions, that’s when we’re at our best. That’s what we did today. We let the ball move and do the work for us.”

The simple concept of teamwork has, unsurprisingly, proven incredibly beneficial for the Cats all season. In every game Kentucky recorded at least 21 assists, the Cats are 8-0, averaging a 35-point margin of victory.

However, when they had 20 assists or fewer, the Cats’ success dropped to 2-6, and more notably, they averaged a seven-point loss.

All season, the nation has criticized Kentucky for falling far below expectations and, in turn, pushed fans across social media to search for answers for a team that, despite being one of the best-built rosters in the nation, couldn’t win the games that mattered.

However, with a conference win finally under its belt, Kentucky may have found its answer and proved not only to itself but to everyone else that it is capable of playing a selfless brand of basketball.

“I feel like the last couple of games, we haven’t really been able to show it, and I think tonight we were really able to show people who we really are and take a big step forward,” Moreno said.

The truth is that after it all, the answer to Kentucky’s early-season problems may have been simpler than expected — teamwork.