Dontaie Allen’s play leads Oscar Tshiebwe to ask, ‘Where did you come from?’

Mississippi State continued to bring out the best in Dontaie Allen on Tuesday night.

After having not made a shot since November and after playing only five minutes in games this month, Allen helped spark Kentucky’s 82-74 victory over the Bulldogs.

Allen’s five points began with a high-flying putback dunk that sparked raucous cheers. So did his first three-pointer since the Central Michigan game on Nov. 29. Ditto for an emphatic rejection of Iverson Molinar’s driving shot that marked Allen’s first block since UK played Robert Morris in the home opener.

“I knew he was locked in,” teammate Kellan Grady said. “He was shooting in the gym three hours before practice yesterday.”

Last season Allen scored a career-high 23 points twice against Mississippi State. The first starburst came after he had played only 20 minutes and scored a total of seven points in the previous seven games.

The second 23-point game came in the SEC Tournament. In the immediately preceding nine games, Allen made only two of 18 shots (two of 15 from beyond the arc) and totaled eight points.

In the two games against State last season, Allen made 13 of 24 three-point shots. That accounted for 42 percent of the three-pointers he made all season. His combined 46 points was 38.9 percent of his season’s scoring.

Not for the first time, UK Coach John Calipari said hustle and effort — especially with defense and rebounding — determine playing time. “Playing harder than the other guy,” he said. “Playing with unbelievable energy.”

Calipari noted that Allen got beat on defense twice.

But Allen showed that offense can be a spark.

The putback dunk Tuesday night came on a miss by Grady. “Which I’ve never seen Dontaie do,” Grady said. “I knew he was channeled into today’s game.”

To get the dunk, Allen went over — of all people — Mr. Rebound himself, Oscar Tshiebwe.

“I thought that was Jacob Toppin,” Tshiebwe said with a smile. “I look and see it’s Dontaie. Wow. Where did you come from?

“I’m so proud of him.”

Tshiebwe suggested Allen might feel the strain of being a home-state hero whose every shot attempt produces a palpable sense of anticipation from the home crowd.

“He puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Tshiebwe said. “When he doesn’t make a shot, he just thinks differently. I told him, it’s not the end of the world.”

Then Tshiebwe jokingly added, “Keep shooting. I like that. It’s my rebound.”

800th victory

It was Calipari’s 800th “on-court victory.”

“It means I’ve been doing this a long time,” he said. “And I had a lot of good players.”

Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland saluted the milestone.

“John has done an amazing job during his career,” Howland said Monday. “He’s a Pittsburgh guy originally, so he was highly thought of when I arrived at Pitt. He has had an amazing career. (He has) done a great job.”

In his coaching career, Calipari has led three different programs to a Final Four: UMass in 1996, Memphis in 2008 and UK in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

“He’s been phenomenal at Kentucky and really had them consistent throughout his tenure there,” Howland said. “He’s changed the game, the way they went with freshmen. His recruiting classes have been amazing everywhere he’s been, especially at Kentucky. And he’s got a lot left in him. I’ll be happy for him when he gets to 1,000. But I would like to hold off 800 at least one more day.”

Make or break?

Like Kentucky, Mississippi State is in the midst of a challenging part of its schedule. From Jan. 15 through Feb. 16, the Bulldogs will play 10 games. Six of those games will be against teams in the NET’s top 25 going into Tuesday’s play: Home-and-home against Alabama (22), at Kentucky (nine), at Texas Tech (13), home against Tennessee (11) and at LSU (10).

State’s other games in this span are at Florida (44), at Arkansas (55) and home against South Carolina (109) and Ole Miss (119).

In his bracket updated Tuesday, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had Mississippi State among the first four out of the NCAA Tournament.

“Every win is critical and important,” Howland said. “A win at Rupp Arena would be huge from the standpoint that they’re one of the top teams in the country, and that automatically bolsters your résumé, if you can get a win like that in an incredibly tough venue against a great team that is playing really well. They’re in the top 10 both in NET and in the KenPom rankings. And deservedly so. They’re really good.”

Looking ahead

Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and sideline reporter Holly Rowe will call the Kentucky-Kansas game on Saturday for ESPN. Game time is 6 p.m. ET.

‘Granddad’ Grady helps Kentucky look like it’s aging like a fine wine

Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s overtime win over Mississippi State

Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 82-74 OT win over Mississippi State

Box score from Kentucky basketball’s 82-74 overtime win over Mississippi State

What Calipari said about injuries, Dontaie Allen and more after win over Mississippi State

First Scouting Report: Can Kentucky prevail in blue-blood battle at Kansas?