KSR Today: Kentucky gears up for Texas A&M

Winning back-to-back is a necessary step in the right direction, but three straight is a streak. That’s what the Kentucky Wildcats hope to accomplish on Saturday when the Texas A&M Aggies come to town.

They’ll be doing so against a team with a streak of its own, with the Aggies entering the matchup with seven consecutive wins after starting the season with a 6-5 overall record. The team was abysmal to open the year, losing to the likes of Murray State by 11 points, Colorado by 28, Boise State by 15, Memphis by four and Wofford by five. Since then, though, A&M has taken care of business within the conference with wins over Florida (2), LSU, South Carolina, and a blowout vs. No. 20 Missouri.

The Aggies had no resume to open the year, not even sniffing the NCAA Tournament. Now, they’re the second-best team in the SEC at 5-0, behind only Alabama (16-2, 6-0).

Oddly enough, a victory inside Rupp Arena on Saturday would give Kentucky its second-best win of the season for its own resume. Texas A&M enters the matchup ranked No. 55 in the NET, a Quad 2 battle that would rank ahead of Michigan (No. 75), Yale (No. 91), Georgia (No. 96) and LSU (No. 122). The Wildcats’ best win, of course, is the one they earned in Knoxville over No. 5 Tennessee, who still sits firmly at No. 2 overall in the NET.

UK needs a resume boost to continue to prove its worth as an NCAA Tournament team — the program was one of Joe Lunardi’s Last Four In this week after beating UGA — and A&M is another solid opportunity to do so.

Viewing Info, Odds and Predictions

• Date: 2:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, Jan. 21
• Location: Rupp Arena (Lexington, KY)
• TV Channel: ESPN
• Stream: WatchESPN, ESPN+, SEC Network+
• Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will be on the call for UK Sports Network
• Odds: The official spread has not yet been released, but ESPN’s matchup predictor gives UK a 76.2% chance to pull off the win. Bart Torvik likes the Cats in a close one, predicting a 71-70 win with a 53% chance to come out on top. KenPom agrees, giving Kentucky a 66% chance to win while predicting a 73-68 victory

Buzz Williams excited to make Rupp Arena debut with Aggies

Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams has been to Kentucky’s home venue just once in his career, a 93-86 loss to the Wildcats back in 2017 while he was at Virginia Tech. At A&M, he sits at 0-2 against UK, both losses coming in College Station.

With his Aggies playing their best basketball of the season, he’s excited to bring his squad to Rupp Arena in hopes of pushing their winning streak to seven games while also bringing home his first victory over the Wildcats.

“This will be the first time since we’ve lived here that we’ve played at Rupp. We’re excited,” Williams told SEC Network this week. “Obviously, they’re playing at an incredibly high level over the last seven days and as much flack as Coach [John Calipari] gets, there should be more flowers delivered to him for the job that he does in regard to the mammoth job that Kentucky is. The way that he’s rallied his team, winning in Knoxville, who’s arguably one of the best teams in the country, and then the dominating performance that they had (Tuesday) night, so we’ll have our hands full for sure.”

Jacob Toppin, Chris Livingston preview the matchup

What is Kentucky’s mindset going into the SEC battle vs. Texas A&M? Forwards Jacob Toppin and Chris Livingston sat down with the media on Thursday to preview the matchup and discuss what the team has to do to turn two straight wins into three.

A few of the core topics: Sahvir Wheeler’s importance, the team’s fight and toughness, recent player-only meetings to build chemistry and the team’s offensive growth.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

Sources Say breaks down lineup questions

Much has been said about Kentucky’s ”Basketball Benny” lineup, one that willed the Wildcats back from down 11 to a 14-point victory against Georgia. Cason Wallace slid over to the one, with CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves taking up the other guard spots and Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe playing the four and five. It’s a five-man unit that has graded out as the best in college basketball since 2019-20, albeit in a limited sample size.

No matter how you break it down, there’s no denying the Wildcats had their best half of the season to close out the game against the Bulldogs.

Is that lineup change the key to Kentucky’s season turnaround? Or is it more indicative of a necessary change in style of play? KSR’s Sources Say Podcast broke it all down on Thursday.

What’s the deal with Kentucky basketball’s TikTok?

Words I never thought I’d type on these here interwebs.

The official Kentucky men’s basketball TikTok has been exploding over the last week thanks to its deep frying of memes and Burger King jingles alongside Wildcat player highlights. Seriously, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds.

What the hell does this even mean? I don’t know, but our talented college interns do, with Piper McCoun, Katelyn Perkins, Grant Grubbs, Brady Byrdwell, and Ian Alvano all coming together on the KSR YouTube page to break down the latest internet craze.

Check it out below:

Will Levis is QB1 in the draft?

Step aside, Bryce Young. Kentucky’s gunslinger is projected as the first quarterback taken in the 2023 NFL Draft.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. joined the latest edition of ‘First Draft’ with Todd McShay and Field Yates to explain why Will Levis is still expected to come off the board first at his position, regardless of how his senior campaign went in Lexington.

“I think this is what’s gonna happen. The old guard, which I’m part of, is (gonna lean) Will Levis. I’ve said that from back in September. I’m (with) Will Levis,” Kiper said. “The analytics, the young guys, and all that are gonna be on Bryce Young. So I’m just gonna wait. I’m waiting this out. There’s no rush to judgment here from me.”

Things will clear up a bit when testing and interviews begin at the NFL Combine in February, live from Indianapolis. Then we’ll find out for certain on draft night, scheduled for April 27 in Kansas City.

---

Happy Friday, BBN. Go Cats.