Kentucky is ahead of schedule up to this point of the season (in terms of winning success) than I personally thought they were going to be. Three hard non-conference games in Duke, Clemson, and Gonzaga is daunting for just the first quarter of the season. I had Kentucky going 1-2 in those games aiming for a 7-2 record going into tonight’s game against Colgate. However, it is a very pleasant surprise after watching the Wildcats’ second half comeback victory against #7 Gonzaga last Saturday night that they are sitting at 8-1 and are ranked in the top-five nationally.

Kentucky has four games left in their non-conference schedule and they have a real chance of finishing it with only one or two losses. This would put Kentucky at either 12-1 or 11-2 going into SEC play this January.

This is crucial because the conference schedule this year is going to be a gauntlet and Kentucky needs to finish strong in the non-conference to help assist their seeding come March.

The Colgate Raiders are coming into Rupp Arena tonight at just 2-8 on the season, with their only wins coming against UNC Wilmington and SUNY Canton. The best opponent that they’ve faced after looking at their 2024-25 schedule was against Syracuse on November 12th. They finished just two points shy in the loss against the ACC program.

Kentucky has had a couple of injuries this past week, both coming at the point guard spot. Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa both sustained injuries in the team’s two-game road trip and I don’t expect either of them to see the floor tonight. Likely it will be Jaxson Robinson and Travis Perry sharing the minutes at the point guard spot until Butler returns to action.

This will be good because Kentucky will need Lamont healthy when Louisville comes into Rupp this coming Saturday. Even without the two guards, this team’s size and athleticism should be more than enough to handle the Raiders tonight.

I have Kentucky covering the spread which is at -31.5 as Kentucky wins 95-63. Some other predictions from Cats Coverage staff include:

Ethan Grantz: 95-65, Kentucky. MVP – Jaxson Robinson.

Tanin Smith: 98-67, Kentucky. MVP – Otega Oweh.

Braden Nevius: 102-70, Kentucky. MVP – Koby Brea.

Jack Wagner: 93-71, Kentucky. MVP – Jaxson Robinson.

Jacob Childers: 104-64, Kentucky. MVP – Koby Brea.

Tres Terrell: 93-61, Kentucky. MVP – Koby Brea.

Thanks for reading! We hope to see you again. To not miss any breaking news, follow us on Facebook and X/Twitter to see our daily content in real time.