Kentucky Basketball vs Team Toronto: Game time, TV channel, online stream, replay, odds

How to watch Kentucky Wildcats vs Team Toronto

Game time: 4 pm EST

Where: Atlantis Imperial Arena

Date: Sunday, August 12

TV: SEC Network

Live Online Stream: WatchESPN

Announcers: Tom Hart, Seth Greenberg and Dan Dakich will be on the call.

Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Network at 1 am EST on Monday, August 13.

Radio: Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington or online at UKAthletics.com.

Kentucky Roster | No Team Toronto Roster

Odds: Bovada has Kentucky listed as a 12.5-point favorite with an over/under of 158.5.

What will you be watching for today?

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The Kentucky Wildcats are 3-0 in Bahamas play, and they’ll cap off their trip when they clash with Team Toronto Sunday afternoon.

At this point, the matchup against Team Toronto is the biggest mystery. This is not a club team that plays in an international league, and it does not appear to be directly related to the Canadian FIBA team. It is looking to be an all-star team of Canadian players.

While the FIBA roster includes current and former NBA players Anthony Bennett, Khem Birch, Cory Joseph, Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell, and Dillon Brooks, none of these Canadian natives seem to be on the Team Toronto depth chart.

You can expect former first-round Orlando Magic selection Andrew Nicholson to play a large role for Toronto. While his NBA career seems to be over (for now), he currently plays with the Guangdong Southern Tigers, a top team in the Chinese Basketball Association.

Nicholson averaged 22.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in China last season, and really seems primed for another NBA run. He could definitely be a problem for the Wildcats.

He is joined by former South Carolina Gamecocks guard Duane Notice, who averaged 10.2 points per game his senior season during South Carolina’s memorable Final Four run. He is also ranked No. 16 on South Carolina’s all-time career scoring list. However, he did only score 4 points in their loss to Kentucky.

South Carolina coach Frank Martin has a lot of faith in Notice, and believes he will be a successful pro player, potentially in the NBA.

“Someone is going to pay him money to play. Where and how and when, I don’t know,” Martin said after Notice’s senior year. “Rodney McGruder everyone said he doesn’t pass well enough, doesn’t dribble well enough, he’s not quite big enough. Somehow someway he started 65 games for the Miami Heat last year.

“Duane is cut the same way as Rodney. He is going to keep working and take on whatever opportunity is given to him and make him better. If you think about it, that’s how life is.”

Former Michigan guard Jevohn Shepherd could be their most dangerous scorer. He averaged 12.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game last season on his French professional team.

Although they obviously have some talented players, Team Toronto has very little experience playing together. The uncertainty of this matchup could be good for the Wildcats as they have to adjust on the fly and start to develop their identity as a team.

Regardless of the competition, what are you looking to see from the Wildcats during their final summer exhibition game?

3 things to watch for

Physicality

When they faced Mega Bemax, the Wildcats knew they were walking into a brutal matchup with a physical Serbian team. They absolutely met the challenge and established themselves as a team that would not back down from a tough game.

Team Toronto will not be as physical as Mega Bemax, and it will be intriguing to see if Kentucky continues their physical play against a team that does not focus on that style.

While this team really has the makeup to play and succeed with any style, it would be nice to see them dominate a lesser opponent around the basket.

Rotations

Many believed the Mega Bemax game would be the measuring stick for this team. A 36-point romp of a professional team measures pretty favorably, in my opinion.

The matchup against Team Toronto could be a good opportunity for Calipari (or whoever is coaching) to try out some new looks. We could see a big lineup with PJ Washington at the 3 and Keldon Johnson at the 2. We could see a small lineup with Washington at the 5 playing alongside four guards.

We could see none of these things. But you would think the final Bahamas game would be a good one to play around with rotations and lineups.

Herro’s scoring run

While he had a slower start against Mega Bemax, Tyler Herro has the opportunity with a strong game on Sunday to be Kentucky’s leading scorer for the trip.

We all knew he could be the leading scorer in a particular game with his scoring ability. But for him to do so over the course of four games against professional competition would be a completely different story.

Herro has showed the ability to shoot from the outside, get to the rim, and knock down anything in between. He has also established himself as an efficient and crafty passer.

With a strong game against Team Toronto, the Herro hype leading into the regular season will be unstoppable. And I will likely be leading the charge.