Kentucky’s resilience and resolve were on display again Wednesday night against Texas. In a back-and-forth battle, where the Wildcats saw one of their best three-point shooters in Kam Williams go down with a broken foot, the Wildcats trailed for just 25 seconds in the second half and made six free throws in the final 1:19 for an 85-80 win. The Wildcats shot 30-of-35 from the free-throw line, including 23-of-27 in the second half.
The Wildcats will look to extend their winning streak to five straight
Saturday afternoon against the Ole Miss Rebels. Ole Miss is a solid team that’s won three of four since starting 0-2 in SEC play and losing four straight during non-conference play. They may not be as potent a team as they were last year, but the Rebels are still a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations and one playing much better of late.
With inclement weather expected in Lexington on Saturday, the game will tip off at 11 a.m. E.T., one hour from the original start time. Let’s look at players to watch on Ole Miss, keys to the game, and score prediction ahead of Saturday morning.
Players to Watch on Ole Miss
1. No. 0: Malik Dia — 6-9, 250 lbs. Sr. Forward; Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Belmont Transfer)
Stats: 13.6 pts, 6.8 rebs, 43.7 FG%, 29.3 3-PT FG%, 69% FT, 24.7 mpg
Dia is in his second season with the Rebels, and he is now tied for the team lead in scoring after finishing third on last year’s team that went to the Sweet 16. It was Dia’s 18 points and eight rebounds that helped Ole Miss beat Iowa State in the Second Round last year to advance to the second weekend.
Playing all 36 of Ole Miss’s games, Dia tied the school record for the most games played in one season. He also led the Rebels in rebounding at 5.7 rebounds per game.
This season, Dia has four 20-point games, including 21 points against Missouri. Since that game, though, Dia has not scored in double digits, including just two points against Auburn on Tuesday.
Prior to Ole Miss, Dia was an All-MVC Third Team player at Belmont in 2023-24. Dia led the Bruins with 193 total rebounds and 26 blocks, while finishing second in scoring at 16.9 points per game.
2. No. 2: AJ Storr — 6-5, 205 lbs. Sr. Guard; Rockford, Ill. (Kansas Transfer)
Stats: 13.6 pts, 3.5 rebs, 42.6 FG%, 36.9 3-PT FG%, 74.7 FT%, 25.3 mpg
Storr is tied with Dia for the team lead in scoring. Ole Miss is Storr’s fourth team in four seasons playing college basketball.
Storr’s sophomore season at Wisconsin was his best season, leading the Badgers with 16.8 points per game, 43.4 percent shooting from the field, and 81.2 percent from the free-throw line. In addition, Storr averaged 22.5 points per game in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, scoring a career-best 30 points in a win over Northwestern in the quarterfinals.
In SEC play this season, Storr has raised his season scoring average by over two points per game. He has two games with over 25 points in SEC play, and that’s with not starting each of the last five games. Storr has three games this season with four three-pointers.
3. No. 6: Ilias Kamardine — 6-5, 185 lbs. Sr. Guard; Marseille, France
Stats: 11.3 pts, 3.3 rebs, 78 ast.-43 TO, 23 stl, 44.2 FG%, 30.7 3-PT FG%, 71.1 FT%, 30 mpg
Kamardine leads the Rebels in assists with six games of five+ assists. He also has seven games with multiple steals.
4. No. 23: Patton Pinkins — 6-5, 200 lbs. Fr. Guard; Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Frenship High School)
Stats: 8.7 pts, 1.8 rebs, 50.9 FG%, 43.4 3-PT FG%, 82.4 FT%, 20.6 mpg
In his first season of college basketball, Pinkins is already becoming a sharpshooter. He has three games in his last seven with three three-pointers. Although he only has two games with five or more three-point attempts, Pinkins is still capable of making an impact from beyond the arc. He has four games with double-digits in SEC play.
Pinkins was a top-100-ranked player nationally by most recruiting services, as high as No. 78 by Rivals. He was ranked as the No. 14 shooting guard in the 2025 class by 247Sports, and was a four-star recruit according to 247Sports, Rivals, and ESPN.
5. No. 13: Kezza Giffa — 6-1, 175 lbs. Sr. Guard; Paris (High Point Transfer)
Stats: 7 pts/gm., 1.3 rebs, 45.5 FG%, 38.5 3-PT FG%, 82.8 FT%, 16.8 mpg
Giffa was a two-time First-Team All-Big South player at High Point, where he averaged 14.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game and shot 44.0 percent from the floor. High Point was a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament and played Purdue in the First Round.
At High Point, Giffa scored over 1,000 points and averaged 15.5 points per game.
This season, Giffa has seven games with double-digit points.
Giffa’s father, Sacha Giffa, played for nearly two decades of professional basketball, including a stint on the French National Team.
6. No. 11: Travis Perry — 6-1, 185 lbs. So. Guard; Eddyville, Ky (Lyon County High School, Kentucky Transfer)
Stats: 5.7 pts, 1.2 rebs, 36.4 FG%, 36.1 3-PT FG%, 7-8 FT, 15.5 mpg
Travis Perry is well-known in the Bluegrass State. He played his freshman season with the Wildcats, starting four games and playing in 31. Perry scored in double-digits in two of Kentucky’s three matchups with Alabama, including in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals.
Perry was named Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in 2024 and was a two-time Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year in high school. He is the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky history with nearly 5,500 points. That’s the seventh-most in the country all-time, according to the MaxPreps National High School Basketball Record Book.
This season, Perry has four games with double-digit points. Two of those games are in SEC play. He has seven games with multiple three-pointers, including two with five threes. In his last three games, Perry is 10-of-19 from three-point range.
7. No. 4: James Scott — 6-10, 225 lbs. Sr. Forward; Fayetteville, N.C. (Louisville Transfer)
Stats: 3.9 pts, 4.4 rebs, 24 blk, 69.4 FG%, 7-13 FT, 18 mpg
Scott has seven games with multiple blocks, leading the Rebels with 24 total blocks. He had a double-double in Ole Miss’s final non-conference game.
At Louisville last year, Scott played in all 35 games and averaged 7.1 points and 6.1 rebounds, shooting 75.5 percent from the field. He had four double-doubles and five games with double-digit rebounds.
In his first season at College of Charleston in 2023-24, Scott was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team with 5.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16 minutes per game and shooting 79.2 percent from the floor.
Head Coach: Chris Beard (3rd Season, 55-32; 11th Season Overall, 226-105) — 52 years old
Beard is best known for leading Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA Tournament National Championship Game, where the Red Raiders came within less than 30 seconds of winning the school’s first national championship. It was the second season of a two-season stretch where the Red Raiders went back-to-back Elite Eights, and Beard was the Big 12 Coach of the Year in both seasons.
In 2025, Beard was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year by Collegeinsider.com for taking the Rebels to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in school history.
Prior to Ole Miss, Beard spent one-plus seasons at Texas, leading the Longhorns to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament in 2022, with all five starters earning All-Conference honors. Beard’s first head coaching job was at Arkansas-Little Rock, where the Trojans upset Purdue in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament in 2016 as a No. 12 seed.
Beard was an assistant at Texas Tech for 10 seasons, including the first seven with head coach Bobby Knight. The Red Raiders reached the Sweet 16 in 2005 and appeared in four total NCAA Tournaments during those 10 seasons.
Keys to the Game
1. Get off to a good start
Kentucky did a much better job of doing that against Texas, never falling behind by more than three points in the first half. The weather is going to be nasty on Saturday, which may result in lower attendance. For the fans that are able to make it to the game, they are hoping to see this Wildcats team come out of the starting gates ready to set the tone.
2. Rebounding
The Rebels are not a very good rebounding team. They only average 35.4 rebounds per game, and they allow 35.8 rebounds per game. This is an opportunity for Kentucky to do some damage on the boards.
3. Make the high-percentage shots
Even though the Wildcats have shot the ball much better over their last four games, they still struggle to make high-percentage shots consistently. They need to make almost every lay-up or finger roll on Saturday, and going forward, to put the pressure on an Ole Miss offense that’s not nearly as potent as its offense was last season.
4. Limit the turnovers and the scoreless droughts
This will be Kentucky’s first game without Kam Williams, meaning there will be a new rotation and new guys seeing extended playing time. There may be some adjustments, but the Wildcats still need to limit the stretches where they don’t score and limit the turnovers. Scoreless droughts and turnovers can keep Ole Miss in the game, two things Kentucky must prevent on Saturday.
Score Prediction: Wildcats 74, Rebels 68
For some reason, I think this game will be closer than maybe it should be. Kentucky feels like the better team, but I’m worried about how they’ll perform in their first game since Kam Williams was injured and whether inclement weather will be a factor. If they do get off to a good start, the Wildcats’ defense is good enough to withstand it. Additionally, the Wildcats’ offense has been better at the start in their last two games. Even when they fell behind by 17 at Tennessee, their offense was making enough shots to stay in the game.
Kentucky should be able to hold off Ole Miss Saturday afternoon and win its fifth straight game, setting up a massive week ahead at Vanderbilt and Arkansas.
