The Kentucky Wildcats will travel to Fayetteville to take on John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night. Game time is set for 6:30 PM ET on ESPN. The Hogs are 7.5-point favorites.
The Cats
are now 14-7 on the season after an embarrassing performance in Nashville on Tuesday night. Kentucky lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores by 25 points in a loss that snapped a five-game winning streak. That streak was probably more fool’s gold than anything else.
During the streak, Kentucky trailed by at least 12 points in three of the five games, including 17 in two of those games. The streak included miraculous wins over the LSU Tigers (at the buzzer) and the Tennessee Volunteers, but aside from the Vols, it was mainly the bottom of the SEC.
Fast forward to Tuesday, and it appears that streak was indeed a fluke. The Cats suffered their worst loss to Vandy since 2008. Mark Pope is now 2-6 vs. ranked opponents this season, and one of the two “ranked” opponents they defeated isn’t even ranked anymore. They’ve already been downright embarrassed in four games this season.
Now, Kentucky will take on its former coach and the No. 15-ranked Razorbacks. On the season, the Hogs are 16-5 on the season, including 6-2 in conference. They’ve beaten teams like the Louisville Cardinals, Texas Tech Red Raiders, the Vols, and the Commodores. Their only bad loss has come at Auburn, but the other four losses came at the hands of other ranked teams.
Unfortunately for Kentucky, Pope’s teams have really struggled against ranked teams, and they’ve really struggled against any team on the road. The Cats have played eight games on the road or on neutral sites this year. They have been down double digits in all of them, and they have been down 17 in seven of the eight.
I don’t expect Saturday’s game to be any different. Calipari and crew came into Lexington and put a beating on a much better Kentucky team last season. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a similar result in this one.
Fingers crossed that the Cats come to play.
Pregame reading
- Kentucky Basketball vs Arkansas Razorbacks time, TV channel, online stream, predictions, more | A Sea Of Blue
- Mark Pope gives post-surgery update on Jaland Lowe | A Sea Of Blue
- The Fall of Rome: Who is to blame for the collapse of Kentucky Basketball? | A Sea Of Blue
- Jayden Quaintance has been fully shut down: Kentucky Wildcats Basketball | A Sea Of Blue
- Will Stein embraces Kentucky Basketball | A Sea Of Blue
- Mark Pope gives update on if Kam Williams could play again this season | A Sea Of Blue
- Paul Finebaum weighs in on Mark Pope’s struggles | A Sea Of Blue
___________________________________________________________
Let’s Go CATS!
