Kentucky vs. Saint Joseph's: Preview, Odds, How To Watch

MrsTylerKSR

How about some Kentucky Basketball on a Monday night? At 7 p.m., the Cats host the Saint Joseph’s Hawks in the finale of the Wildcat Challenge at Rupp Arena. Kentucky is 2-0 in the multi-team event thus far, beating Texas A&M-Commerce (81-61) and Stonehill (101-67). St. Joe’s is 1-1, beating Stonehill by a similar score (100-56), while losing to Texas A&M-Commerce by three on Friday night (57-54).

After playing one of the worst teams in college basketball in Stonehill, the competition level goes up tonight. Saint Joseph’s is No. 121 in KenPom, Kentucky’s highest-rated opponent other than Kansas. Here’s everything you need to know as we count down to tipoff.

How To Watch

No. 16 Kentucky (3-1) vs. Saint Joseph’s (3-1)
7 p.m. ET | Monday, November 20 | Rupp Arena

TV: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw)
Streaming: fuboTV — limited time offer: $40 off Fubo’s Pro, Elite and Premier plans today!
Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
Online Radio: iHeart
Satellite Radio: Sirius 160 or 190
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Team Records

No. 16 Kentucky: 3-1 (KenPom: 14)

11/6: 86-46 W vs. New Mexico State
11/10: 81-61 W vs. Texas A&M-Commerce (Wildcat Challenge)
11/14: 89-84 L vs. Kansas
11/17: 101-67 W vs. Stonehill (Wildcat Challenge)

Saint Joseph’s: 3-1 (KenPom: 121)

11/6: 81-60 W vs. Lafayette
11/10: 69-61 W vs. Penn
11/14: 100-56 W vs. Stonehill (Wildcat Challenge)
11/17: 57-54 L vs. Texas A&M-Commerce (Wildcat Challenge)

Series History

This is the third meeting between Kentucky and Saint Joseph’s. The Cats lead the series 2-0. John Calipari is 15-5 against Saint Joseph’s, which is in the Atlantic 10 conference with UMass. Billy Lange is in his fifth season as Saint Joseph’s head coach, with a 41-78 record. The Hawks haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016 and were picked to finish fifth in the A-10 preseason poll this year.

The first game between the two programs was in 1939, a 41-30 Kentucky victory at St. Joe’s gym in Philly. The Cats and the Hawks last met in the 1997 NCAA Tournament, with No. 5-seed Kentucky beating No. 12-seed St. Joe’s 83-68 in the West Region Semifinals in San Jose, California. Cameron Mills came off the bench to hit five threes en route to 19 points to push the Cats to the next round, where they would face No. 2-seed Utah.

Kentucky vs. Saint Joseph’s Odds on FanDuel

Spread: Kentucky -16.5
Total: 150.5 points
Kentucky Total: 84.5 points
Saint Joseph’s Total: 66.5 points

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Kentucky Projected Starters

(Starting lineup based on the last game)

#21 – DJ Wagner
6-4 • 192 • GUARD • FRESHMAN
9.3 PPG, 2.7 APG

#12 – Antonio Reeves
6-6 • 195 • GUARD • SENIOR
17.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG

#3 – Adou Thiero
6-8 • 222 • GUARD • SOPHOMORE
9.0 PPG, 8.3 RPG

#1 – Justin Edwards
6-8 • 203 • FORWARD • FRESHMAN
9.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG

#4 – Tre Mitchell
6-9 • 231 • FORWARD • GRADUATE STUDENT
12.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.3 APG

Head Coach: John Calipari (32nd season, 15th at UK) – 835-254 overall, 390-114 at UK

Saint Joseph’s Projected Starters

#2 – Erik Reynolds II
6-2 • 180 • GUARD • JUNIOR
14.3 PPG, 2.5 APG

#3 – Cameron Brown
6-6 • 225 • GUARD • GRADUATE
8.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG

#5 – Lynn Greer III
6-2 • 280 • GUARD • JUNIOR
12.0 PPG, 5.0 APG

#13 – Rasheer Fleming
6-9 • 220 • FORWARD • SOPHOMORE
10.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG

#22 – Christ Essandoko
7-0 • 285 • CENTER • REDSHIRT FRESHMAN
4.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG

Head Coach: Billy Lange (14th season, 5th at SJU) – 134-192 overall, 42-78 at SJU

For more on the Hawks’ personnel, I’ll direct you to Brandon Ramsey’s Scouting Report.

Pregame Storylines

LAST GAME OF THE WILDCAT CHALLENGE

By the end of the night, we will have a Wildcat Challenge champion. If the Cats win tonight, the crown is theirs. If the Hawks pull off the upset, either they or Texas A&M-Commerce will win depending on the outcome of TAMC vs. Stonehill tonight. Here are the standings:

Kentucky: 2-0

11/10: 81-61 W vs. Texas A&M-Commerce
11/17: 101-67 W vs. Stonehill
11/20: vs. Saint Joseph’s

Saint Joseph’s: 1-1

11/14: 100-56 W vs. Stonehill
11/17: 57-54 L vs. Texas A&M-Commerce
11/20: vs. Kentucky

Texas A&M-Commerce: 1-1

11/10: 81-61 L vs. Kentucky
11/17: 57-54 W vs. Saint Joseph’s
11/20: vs. Stonehill

Stonehill: 0-2

11/14: 100-56 L vs. Saint Joseph’s
11/17: 101-67 L vs. Kentucky
11/20: vs. Texas A&M-Commerce

What kind of trophy do you think the Wildcat Challenge hosted by Kentucky Tourism winner receives, if any? It has to have a horse and a bourbon barrel on it, right?

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GOOD GUARDS

Saint Joseph’s returns all five starters from last season and has a trio of talented, experienced guards. Erik Reynolds, Lynn Greer, and Cameron Brown average a combined 35.1 points and 9.8 assists per game. The Hawks are also a good shooting team, averaging 10.0 made threes per game at a 32% clip. The Cats will also have to combat some size inside. Redshirt freshman Christ Essandoko is 7’0″, 285 lbs. How will Tre Mitchell fare against a much larger foe?

CAMDEN CONNECTIONS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY THREEVES

Tonight’s game will be a reunion of sorts for four players. Saint Joseph’s sophomore forward Rasheer Fleming and freshman forward Dasear Haskins played with DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw at Camden and for the NJ Scholars. Fleming is a team captain, averaging 10.5 points per game while Haskins is redshirting this season. It’s also Antonio Reeves’ birthday. Maybe he’ll celebrate with a standout performance?

LAST GAME WITHOUT SEVEN-FOOTERS?

Is this the last game that Kentucky will be without its seven-footers? Last week, Matt Jones and Drew Franklin said they’re hearing Aaron Bradshaw could return on Friday vs. Marshall. Zvonimir Ivisic could be cleared by the NCAA at any moment as well. I expect John Calipari to be asked for an update on Bradshaw, Ivisic, and Ugonna Onyenso after the game.

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

For the first time in over a decade, KSR will be without its in-game live blogs, a longtime tradition here on the blog. Unfortunately, the company that hosted the KSR live blogs no longer exists, so we are without the machine that made it all possible.

If you still want to interact with the KSR crew tonight, consider joining the conversation on KSBoard. New members can try 1 month for $1.

Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game or don’t want to deal with the ESPN app? KSR’s got you covered. Drew Franklin, Jack Pilgrim, and Zack Geoghegan will be at Rupp Arena to share their Rapid Reactions on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from John Calipari and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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