Kentucky had a rough start to SEC play as they dropped their first two matchups, the first coming at Alabama and the second coming at home to Missouri. However, the Wildcats have seemed to turn a page as they have won their last three SEC games. They took care of business at home against Mississippi State, on the road at LSU, and this past weekend in Knoxville against Tennessee. Up next, Kentucky is back at home tonight against the 11-7 Texas Longhorns, looking to hit a 4-game winning streak.
When I said the Wildcats had “turned a page,” please don’t get it twisted because there are still plenty of kinks to iron out with this team. Kentucky was struggling early on against Mississippi State, was then down by as many as 18 points in the second half against LSU, and then they continued to mimic that again this past Saturday as they found themselves down by 17 on the road against the Volunteers. Their early deficits are definitely concerning and are a problem that needs to be addressed. It is impressive that you can come back from that over and over, but it’s not always gonna work out that way and if this team can just get started from the jump more efficiently, they’ll benefit from it greatly.
With those two come-from-behind wins, Kentucky is now 12-6 overall and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference, which is good enough for a tie for third in the conference. It is crazy to think that if Kentucky just wouldn’t have dropped the game against Missouri in Rupp Arena that they would be finding themselves in a three-way tie at the top with Texas A&M and Florida. But they didn’t, and every game matters, so they aren’t there.
Kentucky’s head coach Mark Pope addressed the media yesterday and this is what he had to say about the upcoming matchup against the Longhorns.
Jayden Quaintance was brought back up again during the very first question of the presser, asking about his status for Texas game since he’s missed the last three games.
Pope said he would not be available, but that he’s still rehabbing his knee.
“He’s making progress. We are super optimistic. He’s kind of just going through the process and hopefully he will be back soon.”
He was officially ruled out hours later on the SEC’s Initial Report.
Of course Jaland Lowe is also out (for the rest of the season), however, everyone for the Texas Longhorns are available for tonight’s matchup. Must be nice to have a healthy basketball roster.
Some players to keep an eye on for Texas tonight: 6’2″ senior guard, Jordan Pope, 6’5″ senior guard, Tramon Mark, and 7’0″ sophomore center, Matas Vokietaitis. Kentucky’s Malachi Moreno will be facing a tough task against Vokietaitis as the big man is averaging 15 points and 6 rebounds a game. As far as the guards go (Pope and Mark — what a coincidence, I know), Kentucky will need more of what we saw from Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler this past Saturday to contain the talented Texas guards.
As of right now Kentucky is a -6.5 favorite according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Kentucky certainly has some of the most momentum that they have had all season long after winning three straight with two of those coming on the road, however, if the Wildcats want to extend this winning streak to four they will have to do many things right. The first being sound perimeter defense (Texas loves to shoot the 3 ball as they average over 22 threes a game), win the rebounding battle (gives you second chances on any of your missed shots), and limiting turnovers. If they can manage to do two out of those three things then I like the Wildcats chances.
Ultimately I do think Kentucky wins tonight but I think it is unfortunately another stressful game that has Big Blue Nation grabbing for their heart medication at the end. I predict Kentucky survives with a score of 81-77.
Let us know what you think and send us your score predictions!
Did you enjoy this article? If so, you can stay connected with the growing Cats Coverage site by following them on Facebook or X/Twitter to never miss another post!
Leave a Reply