Kentucky opened up SEC play this past Saturday when they played on the road at No. 14 Alabama, suffering through another disappointing loss against a Power Four school as they lost to a final score of 89-74. That loss also adds to category of performances where the Wildcats found themselves down by at least twenty points at a given time, having down more than once this season.
As we move on, Mo Dioubate and Jaland Lowe addressed the media this week reflecting on the Alabama loss and mainly looking forward to tonight’s matchup against Missouri at home.
The biggest quote that stood out to me was the statement from former Alabama player, Mo Dioubate, on a potential reason that might’ve fed into the road loss.
“The most frustrating part was seeing that we could have done better at the scouting report. We should have taken it more seriously.”
In my opinion, at this stage in the year, that is very concerning. It shouldn’t matter if it is the coaching staff, the managers, or even the players themselves. If you want to have a shot at winning tough games in the SEC you have to take every game serious. Also given that this team has plenty of upperclassmen, how does that happen?
Hopefully that will not be an issue in tonight’s matchup.
Some positive news is that for the second straight game, Kentucky will have all players available. Missouri has one player that will not be suiting up, being senior forward, Jevon Porter, who is averaging around six points per game thus far for the Tigers.
Now, another big question will be, what will Kentucky’s starting lineup look like? The starting lineup this past Saturday was Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, Otega Oweh, Mo Dioubate, and Malachi Moreno. Now it is no secret that Kentucky has been slow to start offensively this season, specifically with the absence of point guard Jaland Lowe in the starting lineup, so it will be interesting to see if head coach Mark Pope will shake things up regarding the starters. The team routinely starts the games off down in the score before putting the main point guard into the rotation, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Many fans are begging Pope to start their main point guard and best offensive facilitator. He’s yet to do so this season.
Missouri’s season has looked a lot like Kentucky’s through the 2025 calendar year. There has been a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. They are currently sitting at 11-3, however, that is kind of misleading. Their lone decent win came against No. 22 Florida this past Saturday. Although that is a significant win, they have a couple of bad losses hiding behind that, coming to Notre Dame and a whopping 43-point loss to Illinois. They’ve yet to proven that they are a “good” team and at home this is one you need to take care of.
With Kentucky falling to 9-5 on the season, this stretch of games during the next week is extremely crucial for their chances to make the NCAA Tournament come March. After tonight, Kentucky takes on Mississippi State at home and next Wednesday they’ll head to Baton Rouge to take on LSU.
The players to keep an eye on for Missouri tonight likely will be Mark Mitchell, Jacob Crews, and Anthony Robinson. These three guards are averaging over 43 combined points per game on the season and can absolutely make you pay if you leave them open. Most notably Jacob Crews as he averages 50.7% from behind the three-point line thus far.
If you’re not able to make it to Rupp Arena tonight to cheer on the Cats, you can find Kentucky on your television on ESPN2 with tipoff starting at 7:00 PM EST.
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