KSR Gameday: Kentucky Basketball is finally back in action vs. Lipscomb

We’ve been riding the high of the Duke win for almost a week. Finally, we’re about to see this Kentucky Basketball team in action again. Tonight, the No. 9 Cats host the Lipscomb Bisons at Rupp Arena, a 7 p.m. tip on SEC Network+/ESPN+.

On Monday, Kentucky rose ten spots to No. 9 in the AP Poll, the biggest single-week jump in the poll in program history, and was named National Team of the Week by Andy Katz and Dick Vitale. Andrew Carr also won SEC Player of the Week. The Cats are 3-0, their best start since the 2016-17 season. They’re averaging 93.3 points per game and have an assist rate of 68.6% on made baskets, which is on pace to set the school record.

Lipscomb (or David Lipscomb, as Ryan Lemond continues to call it) isn’t faring quite as well. The Bisons (yes, with an ‘s’) are 2-3 this season, with wins over Duquesne and Wofford and losses to Arkansas, Belmont, and Western Kentucky. The 66-61 loss to the Hilltoppers was the first game in the BBN Invitational, a multi-team event featuring Kentucky, Lipscomb, Western Kentucky, and Jackson State. Although the Bisons lost to Arkansas earlier this month, they played well vs. the Razorbacks, cutting the lead to four with 7:47 to go before Arkansas pulled away to the 76-60 win.

This will be the third meeting between the two programs, the first since the 2012-13 season. The Cats are a heavy favorite in Vegas. Here’s what you need to know as we continue the march to tipoff.

How to Watch, Listen

Tonight’s game is our second-to-last SEC Network+ game of the season. If you have SEC Network on your cable subscription, you’ll be able to access the game via the ESPN app on your phone, tablet, SmartTV, or TV with a streaming device. Former Kentucky great Travis Ford will be on the call alongside Andrew Kappes.

• Time: 7 p.m. ET
• Streaming: SEC Network+/ESPN+ (Andrew Kappes, Travis Ford)
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 158 or 190
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow the game via our new LIVE BLOG on the website, which will begin an hour before tipoff, or join the conversation on KSBoard.

The KSR Pregame Show will start at 4:30 p.m. ET at KSBar and Grille. Once that’s over, pull up the KSR YouTube Channel and walk to Rupp Arena with Zack Geoghegan and Jack Pilgrim, who will be sharing their thoughts and chatting with fans while Steven Peake films while walking backward. Subscribe to the channel and turn your notifications on to get an alert when they start the one-mile walk.

Odds

Kentucky opened as a 20.5-point favorite vs. the Bisons with the point total set at 158.5. That’s up to Kentucky -21.5 and a total of 160.5 this morning. Kentucky’s team total is 90.5 points, Lipscomb’s 69.5. KenPom believes it will be a closer game than that, predicting Kentucky to win 87-70.

Lamont Butler, Brandon Garrison preview the game

Lipscomb was picked to win the ASUN by both the coaches and the media. Senior forward Jacob Ognacevic leads the Bisons in scoring and rebounding with 20.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. He had 30 points in Lipscomb’s season opener vs. Duquesne and 28 vs. crosstown foe Belmont last week. Fifth-year senior guard Lamont Butler and sophomore center Brandon Garrison met with the media on Monday and, as we’ve come to expect in the Mark Pope era, had done their homework on their upcoming opponent.

“Lipscomb is a very tough team. They played Arkansas very tough at their place,” Butler said on Monday. “They had a tough one with Western Kentucky yesterday. They got some really talented players. The offense that they run is pretty hard to guard. We’re just gonna try to do our thing and be able to try to disrupt their offense and be able to make plays on our offense, especially in transition.”

“Whole bunch of three-point shooters. Physical team,” Garrison said of the Bisons. “Can’t just go in there and think we’re gonna walk over them because they’re gonna put up a fight.”

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College Basketball on TV tonight

Three of Kentucky’s ranked opponents won last night. No. 3 Gonzaga pulled away to an 80-67 win over San Diego State. No. 4 Auburn blew out North Alabama 102-69. Pacific gave No. 20 Arkansas some trouble, behind just two with 12:57 to go, but didn’t make a field goal for more than eight minutes down the stretch, allowing the Razorbacks to pull away to the 91-72 win. Adou Thiero had 23 points. John Calipari did John Calipari things in the postgame press conference.

You know the Cats play tonight. Also in action: No. 1 Kansas vs. UNC Wilmington and No. 2 UConn vs. East Texas A&M.

• 7:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Lipscomb vs. No. 9 Kentucky
• 7:00 PM (FS1): East Texas A&M vs. No. 2 UConn
• 7:00 PM (ESPN+): No. 18 Cincinnati vs. Northern Kentucky
• 7:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Florida vs. No. 21 Florida
• 7:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Alabama A&M vs. Georgia
• 8:00 PM (ESPN+): UNC Wilmington vs. No. 1 Kansas
• 8:00 PM (SECN+/ESPN+): Charleston Southern vs. LSU
• 9:00 PM (FS1): No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 15 Marquette

Bush Hamdan talks offense after practice

Switching gears, the football team continues to prepare for this weekend’s trip to No. 3 Texas. On Monday, Mark Stoops confirmed that Brock Vandagriff will start at quarterback despite a promising second half by Cutter Boley vs. Murray State. We’ll hear more about (and potentially from) the quarterbacks today as Bush Hamdan and members of the offense with reporters after practice. Check the site and YouTube Channel this evening for those remarks.

Other Football Quick-Hitters

— Injury news: D’Eryk Jackson and Gerald Mincey were removed from the depth chart, with Stoops telling reporters that Mincey would be out an extended amount of time with a knee injury. We found out Jackson is out for the season on Saturday night.

— “I’ve been busting my tail trying to raise money”: On his call-in show last night, Stoops once again talked about the challenges he faces while raising NIL funds for recruiting. He used Oregon and Texas as examples of programs doing it right and said to turn things around, especially on the offensive line, he’ll need more money. “Again, I don’t want to cry. It’s just — that’s what it takes, period.”

— Governor’s Cup at High Noon: The SEC surprised us and set kickoff time for Kentucky vs. Louisville on Nov. 30 at Noon ET. That game was designated as a FLEX in June, meaning a mid-afternoon or evening start, but the SEC pulled an audible, putting it in the Noon SEC Network slot instead. I’m not complaining.

First up: No. 3 Texas. Hit play below to hear Mark Stoops preview the trip to Austin and Drew Franklin, Nick Roush, and Adam Luckett talk about their own road trip to the Lonestar State on a new episode of the KSR Football Podcast.

Tyler Childers at Kroger Field presale

Finally, if you’re planning on attending the Tyler Childers concert at Kroger Field next April and registered for the presale, make sure you’re at your computer or phone in an hour. That’s when the presale for Childers’ On The Road tour begins. It will stop in Lexington on Saturday, April 19 for a show at Kroger Field with special guests and fellow Kentucky natives Wynonna Judd and S.G. Goodman. There are also shows in Cincinnati (Oct. 3) and Nashville (Oct. 10, 11).

The presale runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET today. You must have registered for the presale to take part. Tickets will go on sale to everyone else on Friday, Nov. 22 at 10 a.m. ET.