Just a few weeks ago the Kentucky faithful appeared to have great aspirations of making a deep run in March after beating the No. 1 team in the country (Purdue) in a pre-season scrimmage game, however, this past week has really put a damper on that vision as Kentucky quite frankly has been embarrassed in its last two matchups against power four conference opponents (Louisville and Michigan State).

On November 11th they lost to in-state rival #12 Louisville on the road, 96-88. Just one week later they would lose to #17 Michigan State at a neutral site (New York) for the Champions Classic. The Wildcats’ record now sits at 3-2 to start the year, with no notable wins on official record.

Though the season is still young, the Wildcats have to start making progress on turning this season around and getting it to where they thought it would be originally. They will start that road tonight as they take on Loyola Maryland in Rupp Arena, and the matchup will start at 7:00 PM EST on the SEC Network +.

The Greyhounds program comes into town at 2-4 overall as a member of the Patriot League, and 0-1 all-time against Kentucky, losing their 2011-12 matchup 87-63.

After that, Kentucky has a game the day before Thanksgiving on November 26th against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.

These two non-conference games are crucial for Mark Pope’s group to figure out some of their flaws before facing two very good teams in North Carolina and Gonzaga in early December. Kentucky needs to earn some wins against some stronger non-conference teams mainly for a couple of reasons. One, to give this group a boost of confidence that I feel like they’re lacking after two embarrassing losses. And two, even though the SEC appears to be a little bit down this year, it is still going to be a gauntlet to navigate through no matter what and the more wins you can get now will ensure a better tournament seed come March, with a cushion to help for any slip-ups in the conference slate.

Injuries are also still around. Kentucky will be without point guard Jaland Lowe (shoulder) tonight, and forward Mouhamed Dioubate (ankle) is still a “game time decision” according to head coach Mark Pope.

A few things I would like to see tonight is for the Wildcats to increase the tempo on offense. I know everyone was tired of former coach John Calipari yelling “GO!” all the time but I think this group would be more successful when pushing the pace and not playing in just the half-court. We could use a little bit of that, to be honest. Along with that, we have to manage our turnovers and get a better shot selection throughout our possessions. Those are things I will be keeping an eye on tonight.

Loyola MD averages 75.0 points a game, with their leading scorer in Jacob Theodosiou averaging 17.2 a night — more than any UK player averages currently. As a team, they’ve been shooting 46.3% from the field and 32.9% from deep through six games.

Ultimately, even with 2-3 of Kentucky’s players being out (the other being Jayden Quaintance) I think Kentucky wins pretty handily tonight over the Greyhounds, with my score prediction being 91-62. The Wildcats opened as a 35.5 point favorite on Friday morning so that would put them right under covering the spread.

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