Kentucky basketball has cruised through lesser competition in the early part of the college basketball season, but they fell in the one game against a high-quality team when they faced Kansas. It forced the Wildcats to fall to 16th in the polls, but now they will have a chance to prove that they can beat anybody. Kentucky will take on the 10th-ranked Miami Hurricanes this week.
When and where is the game?
In an important early-season game, Kentucky will be playing in front of their home crowd. The game is at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
How to watch Miami vs. Kentucky
ESPN will be broadcasting the game between Miami and Kentucky. You can stream the game on fuboTV.
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 28 | Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Rupp Arena — Lexington, Kentucky
TV channel: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)
Miami storylines
Miami's basketball team may not be as prestigious as Kentucky's, but they have found a lot of success on the hardwood in recent seasons. After making their first Final Four appearance last season, the team was expected to take a step back because of a number of departures to the professional ranks. That has not been the case, though, and the role players from last year's squad have stepped up in a big way and helped the Hurricanes impress early.
Wooga Poplar, Nijel Pack, and Norchad Omier have all improved their production and kept the Miami organization trending in the right direction. Poplar went from an 8.4 point per game scorer to an 18-point-per-game scorer. Mathew Cleveland is the team's big transfer. He is averaging 16.8 points per game. All four of those players and their fifth starter (Bensley Joseph) are juniors and should dominate together over the next two seasons.
Miami hasn't played in over a week, though. The team is full of veterans, so rust isn't likely to be an issue, but it is something to watch out for. Kentucky has such an athletic team that if they can get off to a hot start, it'll be tough for the Hurricanes to come back.
Miami has made it to at least the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons. No other team can say that, so the Hurricanes how to win the biggest games.
Kentucky storylines
While a statement win would be nice, Kentucky is the lower-ranked team, and another loss would surely boot them out of the top 25 rankings.
Scoring has not been an issue for Kentucky. They rank fourth in the nation with 94.3 points per game. Most recently, they put 118 on Marshall.
Six players are scoring in double figures for the Wildcats. Four of those players are freshmen. Rob Dillingham, D.J. Wagner, Reed Sheppard, and Justin Edwards have all been key contributors in their first handful of games at the collegiate level. All four were top 100 recruits, but Dillingham has been the most impressive so far. The freshman is scoring 16 points per game to go along with 5.2 assists per game.
John Calipari is always known for having the top one-and-done prospects in the nation, but there is a chance for the Wildcats to get even more production out of their freshmen. Edwards has been perhaps the worst of the aforementioned freshmen, but he was actually the top-ranked recruit as the No. 3 recruit in the nation. He is supremely athletic and is a great mid-range shooter. This has only led to 10 points per game so far, and the Wildcats need the forward to pick up his production.
Kentucky is also awaiting the return of another talented freshman. Aaron Bradshaw was their second-highest-ranked freshman, but he has yet to see action because of a foot injury. The 7-foot 1 giant has returned to practice and should see game action soon, though. The Wildcats' biggest weakness right now is size and interior defense. The center immediately would fix those problems.
Kentucky isn't just all freshmen, though. Two of their best players are fifth-year seniors. Antonio Reeves is the team's best player, averaging 19 points per game. Tre Mitchell has also stepped up and scored 15 points per game.
Kentucky is stacked with talented isolation scorers, but they have been surprisingly impressive moving the rock. The Wildcats' 20 assists per game are eighth in the nation. If Calipari can continue to have his squad move the ball so effectively, they will surely be a scary team going forward.
These are two very different teams, and it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top.
Follow Us
Subscribe