PJ Washington scored a game-high 21 points as No. 8 Kentucky continued its mid-January run with a 76-55 victory over No. 22 Mississippi State on Tuesday night in Lexington, Ky.

Tyler Herro added 18 as the Wildcats (15-3, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) won their fifth game in a row.

Quinndary Weatherspoon led Mississippi State (14-4, 2-3) with 19 points. Tyson Carter added 11 for the Bulldogs, whose two-game win streak ended.

After leading by eight at halftime, Kentucky saw its edge dwindle to 41-39 when Weatherspoon hit a layup at the 13:39 mark.

However, a violent block by the Wildcats' EJ Montgomery led to a dunk by Nick Richards, and soon Herro was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws. Just like that, the Wildcats were back in charge at 49-41.

Kentucky's largest lead was the final margin.

Kentucky built a 34-26 halftime advantage with an early flurry. After falling behind 4-0, the Wildcats scored 10 straight points on the way to a 20-7 lead with 13:19 remaining in the first half.

Herro had six of the 20 points with a pair of 3-pointers. Johnson added five. Herro finished the first half with a team best 11 points. Washington had nine at the break.

Mississippi State got eight first-half points from Weatherspoon but made only 30.3 percent of its shots before halftime, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range.

Kentucky shot 41.9 percent from the floor in the first half and finished at 44.1 percent. Mississippi State wound up at 31.1 percent on the night.

The Bulldogs entered the game averaging 9.2 made 3-pointers per game. Kentucky, meanwhile, was allowing teams to shoot 36.9 percent from 3-point range, which ranked 306th out of 351 teams nationally.

On Tuesday, Mississippi State was 3 of 20 from 3-point range, 15 percent. Kentucky hit half of its 16 long-distance shots.

The Wildcats are now two-thirds of the way through a three-game gantlet against AP Top 25 teams. Over the weekend, Kentucky won 82-80 at then-No. 14 Auburn. On Saturday, the Wildcats host No. 9 Kansas as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Mississippi State hosts Auburn on Saturday.

--Field Level Media