The Kentucky Wildcats are building some serious mettle. It’s the most mettle they’ve built in the regular season in what feels like a long time after a thrilling 95-90 road win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Not only do the Wildcats have four wins over top-15 teams in Mark Pope’s first season as the head coach, but they also have four wins over teams in the top 12 in the NET rankings.

This, according to Rare Rookies on Twitter.

This Wildcats team is also really good at responding to adversity. To go on the road Saturday night and beat a really good Mississippi State team four days after losing to the Georgia Bulldogs says a lot about this team’s mettle.

Kentucky beat Gonzaga four days after losing at Clemson, and they beat Gonzaga in their home state in Washington. The Wildcats won two straight home games after losing by 20 points against Ohio State. This was their latest response to adversity, and it speaks to the mettle this team has and the culture Mark Pope is building in Lexington.

Kentucky is now 13-3 overall and 2-1 in SEC play. Next week is a monster week for the Wildcats, with home games against No. 10 Texas A&M on Tuesday and No. 5 Alabama on Saturday. That’s the SEC this year!