The month of January has come and gone now. Kentucky went 4-3 in conference play during that stretch with big wins over #6 Florida, at #14 Mississippi State, and at #8 Tennessee. It is now February and arguably the biggest game on Kentucky’s schedule this season comes tonight.

Kentucky will face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Lexington tonight, which draw in major attention from across the country. On any other given year this game wouldn’t be a matchup of this style magnitude, however, as you all are well aware, there is one main reason for the highly anticipated matchup. For the first time since his departure, former Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari will make his return to Rupp Arena.

Typically a team coached by John Calipari would be amongst the top of the conference but the Razorbacks have had their struggles in Calipari’s first season at Arkansas. They sit at 12-8 on the season and just 1-6 in conference play. They are fifteenth out of the sixteen teams in the SEC, only ahead of 10-11 South Carolina who has yet to win a game in conference play.

There is still a lot on the line for both teams today. For one, there’s pride. You can’t tell me that John Vincent Calipari does not want to come into Rupp Arena and crush his former team. Same goes for now Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope.

Secondly, for Kentucky, with their impressive win on the road at #8 Tennessee last Tuesday night, they moved back to above .500 in SEC play. They are still as a group trying to find their stride without point guard Lamont Butler for the short term. Players have stepped up in his absence, but it’s still a different style team with him sidelined.

Lastly, for Arkansas, if they want to have a chance of making the NCAA Tournament they’re going to have to go on an impressive run and get on one quickly. A win tonight would definitely look good on their resume but with a grueling schedule left to play for them, the wins are looking to be hard to find.

If you look back to Tuesday night’s predictions post, I gave Kentucky no shot to win in Knoxville with two key starters injured. I will be the first to admit that I was wrong, because the team had players such as Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Amari Williams, and Ansley Almonor who stepped up tremendously in Butler and Carr’s absence. I expect a little bit of the same tonight. It’s going to take the same kind of performance from this group to win tonight, because both Calipari and his former players that followed him to Arkansas will be playing with a chip on their shoulder with what feels like nothing to lose.

The spread is hovering around -10.5 in favor of the Wildcats, and if the home team takes care of the ball and has a decent shooting performance then I think this is spot-on. I will give Calipari the benefit of the doubt because I think it will be closer than people think it will be, but only time will tell.

I think Kentucky wins a hard fought battle, 79-72. Some other predictions from Cats Coverage staff include:

Ethan Grantz: 87-79, Kentucky. MVP – Ansley Almonor

Tim Smith: 92-83, Kentucky. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

Tres Terrell: 85-73, Kentucky. MVP – Otega Oweh

Jacob Childers: 87-74, Kentucky. MVP – Tyson Chicken & Jaxson Robinson

Nate Unthank: 90-72, Kentucky. MVP – John Tyson

Tanin Smith: 91-79, Kentucky. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

Jack Wagner: 88-76, Kentucky. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

John Michael Frey: 88-71, Kentucky. MVP – Amari Williams

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.