Kentucky’s sixth game away from Rupp Arena didn’t begin the same as the five that preceded it.

And that ended up being a very good thing for the Wildcats.

UK’s offense — led by a sharpshooting Jaxson Robinson — showed up early, and the sixth-ranked Cats built a double-digit lead before having to rally late for a 95-90 victory against No. 14 Mississippi State in Starkville on Saturday night.

In its first five games away from home this season, Kentucky went into halftime having dug a deep hole for itself. The Cats’ deficit at the break was at least seven points in each of those games. On Saturday night, UK came out firing. The result was a 49-44 halftime lead. And the Cats needed all the padding they could get in the end to pull out a major victory on the road in the SEC, which will be a difficult place to play all season long.

Robinson scored 16 points and went 4 for 5 from 3-point range in the first half before a lights-out start to the second half to finish with 27 points. He was 7 for 10 on 3-pointers.

Otega Oweh had 15 points and eight rebounds, and he has now scored in double digits in all 16 of his games as a Wildcat. Andrew Carr added 13 points and six rebounds, Ansley Almonor finished with 11 points — hitting some big 3-pointers late in the game — and Amari Williams tallied 10 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, with Lamont Butler going for 10 points and eight assists.

Carr was listed as questionable for the game on the SEC’s injury report — and coach Mark Pope called him a game-time decision heading into warmups — but he was able to go for UK.

As a team, the Cats shot 8 for 17 from deep in the first half, outrebounding the Bulldogs 21-17 and limiting them to just five second-chance points before the break. Kentucky ended the game at 16 for 32 from 3-point range and 41-33 on the glass, which had been a point of concern for the Cats in some of their weaker performances earlier in the season.

Those slow starts away from Rupp were also concerning for Pope’s team.

UK managed to fight back from a nine-point halftime deficit for a win over Duke in Atlanta on the second week of the season, and the Cats clawed their way past Gonzaga after falling behind by 16 at the break in Seattle last month. But three other poor first halves — down seven points at the break at Clemson on Dec. 3, nine against Ohio State in Madison Square Garden three weeks ago, and, most recently 13 at Georgia on Tuesday night — all resulted in losses.

On Saturday, the Wildcats never trailed Mississippi State by more than six points in the first half, and that was an 11-5 deficit that came before the first TV timeout of the game. UK went on a 7-0 run from there and never trailed by more than three points again.

The Cats scored the first five points out of halftime — to take a 54-44 lead — and Robinson ended up hitting three 3-pointers before the first TV timeout of the second half. By the time that whistle came, Kentucky was up 64-51.

UK led by as many as 14 points — a 68-54 advantage — before Mississippi State went on a 12-0 run to narrow the gap to just two points. Later in the half, a six-point possession for the Bulldogs — Robinson was called for an off-ball foul, sandwiched between two MSU 3-pointers — gave them an 80-78 lead over the Wildcats with 8:17 remaining.

After that, Almonor nailed back-to-back 3-pointers and then Oweh hit a midrange jumper, an 8-0 run in a span of 90 seconds to put the Cats up for good. After a pair of Mississippi State free throws, Almonor made another 3-pointer to give Kentucky an 89-82 advantage.

Robinson’s 27th point — one shy of his career high — came on a jumper to give UK a 93-90 lead with 1:05 left.

The Wildcats improved to 13-3 and 2-1 in the conference, dealing the Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1) their first loss in league play and only their second of the season. The other came against Butler on Nov. 29.

It was Kentucky’s 19th consecutive regular-season victory against Mississippi State and the 10th straight for the Cats in Starkville, extending one of the longest SEC road winning streaks in program history.

Kentucky will return for two home games in Rupp Arena next week, but the competition won’t get any easier.

The Cats are set to play No. 12 Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN2) and then No. 5 Alabama at noon Saturday (ESPN).

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