KSR Gameday: Kentucky faces Marshall on Black Friday, powered by FanDuel

Rise and shine, Big Blue Nation. Time to get the sleep out of your eyes after a day full of eating with family and loved ones. The same applies to early Black Friday shoppers. It’s gameday for Kentucky basketball inside Rupp Arena.

The Wildcats are set to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd, tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network. It’ll be the final tune-up ahead of the team’s home battle vs. No. 10 Miami in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday.

So what do you need to know about Marshall ahead of tonight’s matchup? The Herd sit at 2-3 on the year with wins over Queens and Florida International and losses to Radford, Utah State and Oakland. They are averaging 72.4 points on 40.4% from the field and 24.6% from three while pulling down 40 rebounds per contest. Three players average at least 2.4 turnovers per game with the team coughing it up 12.6 times per game overall. They’re at least forcing 7.2 steals and blocking 5.6 shots to somewhat make up for it.

Marshall’s calling card under head coach Dan D’Antoni, older brother of Mike? Pace and tempo, the Herd ranked No. 10 nationally in average possession length and No. 17 in adjusted tempo.

Marshall presents “another challenge” for Kentucky

The numbers may not jump off the page, but the coaches aren’t taking this matchup. Playing at the pace they do while launching an average of 24.4 3-pointers per game, there is always a chance things get dicey inside Rupp Arena.

John Calipari and Orlando Antigua are preparing accordingly.

“It’s another opponent that you look at and say well — the people that left the St. Joseph’s game said, ‘Man, they’re really good,’” Calipari said. “That’s playing us in our building. It’s great for my team to understand that when we play, it’s the other team’s Super Bowl, especially in our building.”

“That’s been their tradition (playing fast),” Antigua added. “This is another team that’s going to put up you know, 25 to 30 threes in a game. … They want to play fast. They’ve got some decent size, got some bigs that are a decent size.

“So we’re gonna have a challenge trying to keep those guys off the glass, but we want to play fast. We want to get up and down and utilize our strengths and our ability to play through our guards and attack open space. We’ve got to keep building on the things that have helped us win.

“Marshall is going to present another challenge.”

What do the odds and analytics say?

ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives Kentucky an 83.3% chance to pull off the victory over Marshall — to be expected for a 2-3 Sun Belt squad.

As for the specifics, our friends at FanDuel list the Wildcats as 18.5-point favorites with the over/under set at 157.5 total points and 88.5 for Kentucky specifically. The moneyline is set at -4000 in favor of the home team.

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It’s almost time for the Governor’s Cup

“I never liked Louisville. Even while I was getting recruited, I just don’t like the Cardinals. Their fans are kind of snobbish. Their players act entitled. A lot of pent-up aggression towards them.”

Deone Walker is all of us.

It’s Louisville Week, an opportunity for Kentucky to right all of its year-long wrongs with a win over its bitter rival to close out the regular-season slate.

Walker, along with Devin Leary, Brad White and Liam Coen previewed the matchup earlier this week. A lot of respect there considering the early success the Cardinals have achieved under Jeff Brohm, obviously, but a clear awareness in the magnitude of what this game means for the Wildcats.

In short, you’ve got to win this one to somewhat salvage a wildly disappointing season.

Louisville holds firm as a 7.5-point home favorite with the over/under set at 50.5 points, the moneyline sitting at +230 for Kentucky. The Wildcats’ point total is listed at 20.5, 29.5 for the Cardinals.

Kentucky WBB crushed in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Kyra Elzy’s seat is officially blazing hot. The Kentucky women’s basketball program is sputtering, to put it lightly, sitting at 2-3 on the year with losses to Austin Peay, Florida Gulf Coast, and now, No. 10 N.C. State at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It was an 84-55 beatdown, one that was over from the opening tip. A 15-2 start for the Wolfpack turned into a 55-24 lead at halftime, then 76-34 going into the fourth quarter. In short, the final 29-point losing deficit is closer than the game actually felt.

And the road isn’t getting any easier, as the Wildcats return to action on Friday against No. 3 Colorado in the second game of the Paradise Jam. Tip is set for 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+.