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The No. 12-ranked Kentucky Wildcats will travel to Allen Fieldhouse to face the No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday (6 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN app) in a Sonic Blockbuster matchup that will also serve as the premier matchup of the day’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Seven top 25-ranked teams, more than a dozen that appear in the latest version of ESPN’s Bracketology, and 10 coaches who have been to the Final Four will be a part of the day’s proceedings.
With than in mind, ESPN’s college basketball team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi made their predictions for UK at KU, sized up the other games they’ll have an eye on and assessed the coaches across the two leagues who have done the best jobs in 2021-22.
How surprised would you be to see Kentucky go into Allen Fieldhouse and beat favored Kansas on Saturday (6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN app)? How could it happen, and what would that result say about the Wildcats, and the Jayhawks?
Medcalf: I won’t be stunned if Kentucky goes to Lawrence at full strength and wins. But I would be slightly surprised if the Wildcats complete that feat without TyTy Washington Jr. He’s a significant contributor for that squad and his impact was obvious when Kentucky lost a healthy lead in last weekend’s loss at Auburn. With Washington on the floor this season, Kentucky has scored 115 points per 100 possessions, held opponents to 85 points per 100 possessions and made 40% of its 3-point attempts. Those numbers drop to 103 points per 100 possessions, 90 points per 100 possessions and a 25.5% clip from beyond the arc when he’s sidelined, per hooplens.com. Kentucky is still a really good team without the freshman star, but it might need him to get this win, just as they probably needed him to beat Auburn.
I don’t think Kentucky has to win in some mysterious way. I think the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the country has to do what it has done in SEC play and capitalize on second-chance opportunities. Kentucky is No. 1 in…
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Source : espn
