The Kentucky Wildcats began January in poor vogue. After narrowly defeating LSU at dwelling, they suffered back-to-back embarrassing losses to Alabama and South Carolina. Nonetheless, the group regrouped and began a four-game successful streak earlier than dropping to Kansas this previous Saturday.

Given Kentucky’s spectacular and fast turnaround, there may be nonetheless one recreation remaining within the month as they’ll journey to Oxford, Mississippi to tackle the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday.

The Rebels are at the moment beneath .500 with a 9-12 report total and tied for the final within the SEC at 1-7. Their lone win got here towards South Carolina however battled Tennessee to the wire to open convention play, dropping 63-59.

With Kentucky coming to city Ole Miss will put up their finest effort and that begins with an excellent crowd as they’ll have a ‘powder blue out’. With that stated, Kentucky continues to be on the NCAA Event bubble and can’t afford to drop a recreation towards a lesser opponent.

Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at what to look at for.

Kentucky has been the most effective rebounding groups within the nation, particularly on the offensive boards and a big a part of that’s Oscar Tshiebwe. This has been key in Kentucky’s turnaround, as they averaged over 38 rebounds per recreation whereas outrebounding their opponent by 13.

In opposition to Kansas, the undersized Jayhawks put two our bodies on Tshiebwe and challenged the opposite 4 Wildcats to rebound, and so they failed to try this. Additionally undersized, Ole Miss will probably attempt to do the identical.

Whereas the Wildcats should seize offensive rebounds of their very own, they have to additionally restrict the Rebels on the offensive boards. The Rebels don’t have a real large, however they do an excellent job at rebounding as a group, ranked 69th within the nation (36.9 rpg). Which means that every Wildcat might want to get again to boxing out and combating for each rebound.

One asset of Kentucky’s new ‘Basketball Benny’ lineup that makes it efficient is that CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves are on the ground collectively. When these two share the ground, it creates house for each of them to be simpler.

Reeves is taking full benefit of the open seems and is taking part in his finest basketball of the season. Nonetheless, Fredrick, whereas getting open seems, is struggling. In Kentucky’s final 5 video games – the four-game successful streak + Kansas – Fredrick is taking pictures simply 23.5% from three.

A profession 47% three-point shooter previous to the season, Fredrick is in determined want of a confidence-building recreation. Sooner or later, you must assume the open seems will start to fall, and Oxford can be pretty much as good a spot as any. If the Wildcats wish to make a deep run, Fredrick has to start hitting his pictures with extra consistency.

Ole Miss will not be an environment friendly taking pictures group (42.8%), nor have they got plenty of scoring choices. Junior guard, Matthew Murrell, is the one Insurgent averaging double-digit factors (14.9 ppg) and he has a historical past of taking part in nicely towards Kentucky. Final season, Murrell went off for 25 factors in a dropping effort at Rupp Enviornment.

Murrell seems to get most of his factors from three however is taking pictures a career-low 29% on almost seven makes an attempt per recreation. But, he’s athletic and robust sufficient to take it off the dribble. Cason Wallace, the most effective perimeter defenders within the SEC, can be tasked to protect Murrell.

You will need to notice that Murrell did endure a knee harm and has not performed within the final two video games, however he’s listed day-to-day.

Time/Date: 9:00 pm ET on Tuesday, January thirty first, 2023

Location: The Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, MS

TV Channel: ESPN

On-line Stream: WatchESPN, ESPN+, SEC Community+ or ESPN app

Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens have the UK radio community name on the UK Sports activities Radio Community.

Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Community (examine native listings).

Rosters: UK | MISS

Staff Sheets: UK | MISS

Stats To Know: UK | MISS

Odds: The DraftKings Sportsbook now has but to launch the chances. ESPN’s matchup predictor offers Kentucky an excellent probability to win at 68.3%, however Bart Torvik has it near a toss-up, giving the Cats a 53% probability, whereas KenPom is at 61%.

Predictions: Bart Torvik picks the Wildcats to win in a nail-biter, 68-67, whereas KenPom goes with a 69-66 win. TeamRankings goes with a 69-65 victory, Kentucky!