Kentucky rolled over mid-major foes in non-conference play

Many in the Big Blue Nation are scarred from what happened in 2022 and 2024. The Wildcats lost as a No. 2 seed to Saint Peter’s and as a No. 4 seed to Oakland to open the NCAA Tournament. That has many proceeding with caution heading into this No. 3 vs. No. 14 matchup against Troy in 2025. Are the Cats truly on upset alert again to open the Big Dance?

UK’s non-conference results tell us that they should be able to handle business in Milwaukee on Friday night.

Mark Pope‘s first team was outstanding against mid-major competition this season.

Date	Spread	Result	Record
Nov. 4	Kentucky (-21.5) vs. Wright State	Won 103-62	1-0 (1-0 ATS)
Nov. 9	Kentucky (-20.5) vs. Bucknell	Won 100-72	2-0 (2-0 ATS)
Nov. 19	Kentucky (-21) vs. Lipscomb	Won 97-68	3-0 (3-0 ATS)
Nov. 22	Kentucky (-35) vs. Jackson State	Won 108-59	4-0 (4-0 ATS)
Nov. 26	Kentucky (-24.5) vs. WKU	Won 87-68	5-0 (4-1 ATS)
Nov. 29	Kentucky (-30.5) vs. Georgia State	Won 105-76	6-0 (4-2 ATS)
Dec. 11	Kentucky (-32) vs. Colgate	Won 78-67	7-0 (4-3 ATS)
Dec. 31	Kentucky (-25) vs. Brown	Won 88-54	8-0 (5-3 ATS)

The spreads finally caught up to Kentucky as the Cats failed to cover two 30-plus numbers near Thanksgiving, but were overall outstanding against inferior foes. Lipscomb was a top-100 team that UK hammered early in the season. The Bisons are a No. 14 seed who will face Iowa State in the first round. Overs were 5-3 in these matchups.

In 2023-24, UK needed overtime to beat top-100 Saint Joseph’s and was beaten by sub-100 UNC Wilmington at Rupp Arena. Neither team made the NCAA Tournament. The results were much better in 2022, but UK did not play a top-100 mid-major team.

The non-conference results showed that Kentucky was vulnerable last year. The non-conference results say that this Kentucky team should handle its business against Troy.