The Kentucky Wildcats are set to take on one of the top contenders in the Ohio Valley Conference Friday night in the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks.
The Skyhawks, tabbed to finish second in their division this year, enter the game with a 5-1 record (one of their best starts in school history) after defeating Duquesne on Wednesday. The Skyhawks only loss came against Ole Miss in the season-opener, a game they only lost by three points.
The Wildcats enter at 5-0 after taking care of business against Cleveland State on Wednesday.
The Skyhawks have a balanced scoring attack, with five players averaging double figures. That group is led by senior guard Jacolby Mosley, who is averaging 17.4 ppg this season followed by senior forward Kedar Edwards with 16.4 points per game.
Mobley is a dangerous shooter, ranking among the top players in college basketball for three-pointers made.
The Skyhawks are led in rebounding by 6’7 forward Javier Martinez, who is averaging a little over eight rebounds per game.
They are also under new leadership this season, as former head coach Heath Schroyer left to take a job as an assistant at NC State. The Skyhawks are now led by former Associate Head Coach Anthony Stewart.
With the Skyhawks’ high-scoring nature, it will be interesting to see if they try to play a fast-paced game against a very athletic and very fast Kentucky Wildcats roster. Teams that try to get out and run with the likes of De’Aaron Fox, Isaiah Briscoe, Malik Monk, and others typically would not fare well. It will be interesting to see what kind of pace the Skyhawks play at Friday night.
This matchup will also be the final tune-up before the Wildcats head off to the Bahamas to take place in the Atlantis Showcase against Arizona State on Monday. The Wildcats certainly cannot afford to overlook teams in the beginning of the season.
Here is everything you’ll need to watch and follow this contest.
UT-Martin Skyhawks (5-1) at Kentucky Wildcats (5-0)
When: Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. ET
Location: Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
TV: SEC Network
Channel: 611 on DirecTV; 404 on Dish Network
Live Online Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: UK Radio Network with Tom Leach and Mike Pratt
Live stats: UK Athletics
Odds: UK is a 28.5-point favorite.
UK Roster:
No. 0 De'Aaron Fox, Point Guard, Freshman
No. 1 Sacha Killeya-Jones, Forward, Freshman
No. 3 Edrice ‘Bam’ Adebayo, Forward Freshman
No. 5 Malik Monk, Shooting Guard, Freshman
No. 10 Jonny David, Guard, Sophomore
No. 11 Mychal Mulder, Guard, Senior
No. 13 Isaiah Briscoe, Guard, Sophomore
No. 14 Tai Wynyard Forward, Redshirt Freshman
No. 15 Isaac Humphries, Forward, Sophomore
No. 20 Brad Calipari, Guard, Freshman
No. 25 Dominique Hawkins, Guard, Senior
No. 30 Dillon Pulliam, Guard, Redshirt Sophomore
No. 32 Wenyen Gabriel, Forward, Freshman
No. 35 Derek Willis, Forward, Senior
Here is a link to the UT-Martin roster.
Prediction: The Cats are on an offensive role right now and look unstoppable, especially against the caliber of team that UT-Martin is. While the Skyhawks are better than Canisius, Cleveland State and Duquesne, UK should still roll on the offensive end to put this game away fairly quickly.
Kentucky 86, UT-Martin 62