The Kentucky Wildcats get their first marquee game of the non-conference slate tonight as they face off with the Kansas Jayhawks in Chicago tonight.
Sitting at 2-0 on the season, the Cats come into tonight’s game as the No. 24 team in the country, dropping one spot after a lackluster performance against James Madison on Friday night. Now they get a shot at a top-15 team in Kansas.
Coming into the game, the Jayhawks will be short-handed as veteran guard Melvin Council Jr. will miss the next few months
with a broken foot. However, Bill Self will now hand the reins over to a talented pair of freshmen in Tyran Stokes and Tay Kinney. Add in the veterans like Trey Kaufman-Renn, and this will be a tough test for Kentucky tonight.
How can they win? Really, they need to shore up two areas: Perimeter defense and defensive rebounding. It won’t be easy, but they have to slow down the drives and guard the three better if they hope to keep pace in this one. Same with rebounding. An undersized James Madison team added 10+ offensive rebounds on Friday. If Kansas gets that many, it could be a long night for the Cats.
However, the experience of this Kentucky team I think will play a big factor in this one. I could see this one playing out similarly to the Duke game in the first year of the Pope era. If so, we will all be jumping for joy. Now we just need it to happen.
Should be a fun one (and a late one tonight).
Pregame Reading
- Kentucky vs Kansas preview, viewing info, odds, and predictions
- Kentucky Wildcats News: Kansas Gameday and CFP Rankings Edition
- Mason Williams wins SEC Freshman of the Week award
- Kentucky and North Carolina battling for 5-star recruit CJ Rosser
- Kansas suffers critical injury ahead of Champions Classic
- James Madison launching a record-tying 45 3s vs. Kentucky exposes glaring defensive reality
- Kam Williams returns from injury vs. JMU: Mark Pope expecting more from him vs. Kansas
- Kentucky Wildcats in the College Basketball Rankings Roundup
Let’s Go CATS!
