Kentucky Wildcats (8-14) at Ole Miss Rebels (13-10)
- Game Time: 9 pm ET on Tuesday, March 2nd.
- Location: The Pavilion at Oxford, Mississippi.
- TV Channel: ESPN will broadcast tonight’s game.
- Announcers: Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes will be calling the action.
- Online Stream: WatchESPN and fuboTV (free trial).
- Radio: Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM, 98.1 FM in Lexington and on the UK Sports Network.
- Satellite Radio: XM: 380 | SiriusXM: 970
- Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Network (check local listings).
- Rosters: UK | OM
- Last Game Box Scores: UK | OM
- Stats to Know: UK | OM
- Odds: The game opened as a pick ‘em, but Ole Miss is now a 3-point favorite as of Tuesday evening. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Cats just a 38% chance of winning, while KenPom gives them a 44% chance of winning in Oxford.
- Predictions: KenPom predicts a 64-63 win for the Rebels. TeamRankings projects a 67-64 win for Ole Miss, while numberFire went with a 72-68 victory for the home team.
Well, folks, we have arrived to the final week of the regular season.
The Kentucky Wildcats currently sit at 8-14 on the season, sit eighth in the SEC conference standings, and their only hope of making the NCAA Tournament is to go on a run and win the SEC Tournament.
Next up is a date with the Ole Miss Rebels, who prior to losing to a dreadful Vanderbilt team, was one of the hotter teams in the conference. In the month of February, the Rebels beat Missouri twice, once when the Tigers were ranked in the top-25 and by 21 points no less, and beat a top-25 Tennessee team.
Prior to their loss to the Commodores, Ole Miss had won five of their last six games, vaulting their way up the conference rankings and right on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Rebels have consistently been in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology as one of the top 4-8 teams outside of the bubble. They’re currently in his Next Four Out.
As it stands right now, Ole Miss sits two spots above Kentucky in the conference standings at sixth place. 13-10 overall, 8-8 in league play. Kentucky currently sits at 7-8 in SEC play. Kentucky needs to win this game to secure a single-bye in the SEC Tournament, while there’s still a miracle scenario where the Cats get a double-bye if they win out.
For Kentucky, the final two games against Ole Miss and South Carolina are really about improving where you stand in the conference before the SEC Tournament tips off and building solid momentum to make a deep tournament run.
Prior to their loss to Florida, Kentucky was on their second three-game win streak of the season and once again had looked like it may be rounding a corner, but dreadful execution and point guard play proved to be a costly affair against the Gators last Saturday.
Ole Miss’s best player is still Devontae Shuler, who in his senior year is averaging 16 PPG while shooting 40% from the field. Arizona State transfer Romello White is also a force for the Rebels down low, averaging 11 points and six boards per game.
Ole Miss comes into the game averaging 69.2 PPG, but the good news for Kentucky is they may have found a team who is worse at shooting the three-ball than them. Ole Miss has only connected on 28.5% of their threes this season, while their opponents are hitting an average of 37% .
Both Kentucky and Ole Miss are similarly equal in terms of turnovers per game, assists per game, rebounding per game and points per game.
So with all of that, this certainly should be qualified as a basketball game.
Get ready for Tuesday Night SEC basketball with this how to watch info.