No. 14 Kentucky at No. 25 Ole Miss: Preview, Odds & How to Watch

Coming off a disappointing home loss to Arkansas, the Kentucky Wildcats have no time to feel sorry for themselves, immediately following it up with a trip to take on No. 25 Ole Miss in Oxford. The Rebels enter the matchup ranked inside the top 40 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and thrive in some key areas of concern for the Cats.

Can Mark Pope’s group continue its trend of bounce-back efforts this season with only one instance of back-to-back losses? KSR has everything you need to know about the head-to-head battle at The Pavilion.

Kentucky vs. Ole Miss: How to Watch, Listen

• Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
• Television: ESPN (Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes, Molly McGrath)
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 190 or 84
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

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

Early season rewind

Kentucky: KenPom 22

• 11/4: 103-62 W vs. Wright State
• 11/9: 100-72 W vs. Bucknell
• 11/12: 77-72 W vs. No. 6 Duke
• 11/19: 97-68 W vs. Lipscomb
• 11/22: 108-59 W vs. Jackson State
• 11/26: 87-68 W vs. Western Kentucky
• 11/29: 105-76 W vs. Georgia State
• 12/3: 70-66 L at Clemson
• 12/7: 90-89 W OT vs. No. 7 Gonzaga
• 12/11: 78-67 W vs. Colgate
• 12/14: 93-85 W vs. Louisville
• 12/21: 85-65 L vs. Ohio State
• 12/31: 88-54 W vs. Brown
• 1/4: 106-100 W vs. No. 6 Florida
• 1/7: 82-69 L at Georgia
• 1/11: 95-90 W at No. 14 Mississippi State
• 1/14: 81-69 W vs. No. 11 Texas A&M
• 1/18: 102-97 L vs. No. 4 Alabama
• 1/25: 74-69 L at Vanderbilt
• 1/28: 78-73 W at No. 8 Tennessee
• 2/1: 89-79 L vs. Arkansas

Ole Miss: KenPom 21

• 11/4: 90-60 W vs. LIU
• 11/8: 66-64 W vs. Grambling State
• 11/12: 64-54 W vs. South Alabama
• 11/16: 84-69 W vs. Colorado State
• 11/21: 100-68 W vs. Oral Roberts
• 11/28: 96-85 W vs. BYU
• 11/29: 80-78 L vs. Purdue
• 12/3: 86-63 W at Louisville
• 12/7: 86-53 W vs. Lindenwood
• 12/14: 77-46 W vs. Southern Miss
• 12/17: 74-61 W vs. Southern
• 12/21: 80-62 W vs. Queens
• 12/28: 87-70 L at Memphis
• 1/4: 63-51 W vs. Georgia
• 1/8: 73-66 W at Arkansas
• 1/11: 77-65 W vs. LSU
• 1/14: 74-64 W at Alabama
• 1/18: 84-81 L at Mississippi State
• 1/22: 63-62 L vs. Texas A&M
• 1/25: 83-75 L at Missouri
• 1/29: 72-69 W vs. Texas
• 2/1: 92-82 L vs. Auburn

Series History

Kentucky leads the all-time series 111-14 including a 30-11 record on the road at Ole Miss. The Cats won the lone matchup in 2023-24 by a final score of 75-63, a balanced scoring effort that saw Antonio Reeves lead the way with 15 points, followed by Reed Sheppard with 13, Justin Edwards with 12 and Rob Dillingham with 10. The Wildcats have won three straight with the last win for the Rebels coming in 2021.

Chris Beard, in his second season at Ole Miss, is 0-2 against the Wildcats also including his time at Texas Tech while Mark Pope is 0-0 against the Rebels. As a player, Pope was 2-0 in the matchup, averaging 2.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per contest in the series.

Kentucky vs. Ole Miss Odds

Spread: Ole Miss -2.5
Total: 155.5

KenPom and Bart Torvik both project wins for Ole Miss, the former going with an 80-77 final score and the latter rolling with an 81-78 finish in favor of the Rebels. ESPN’s BPI likes Ole Miss by 2.1 points while giving the home team an 58.4 percent chance to pull off the win.

Kentucky Projected Starters

#2 – Jaxson Robinson
6-6 – 192 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
13.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.6 APG

#00 – Otega Oweh
6-4 – 215 – GUARD – JUNIOR
15.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.7 SPG

#4 – Koby Brea
6-7 – 215 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
10.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 0.9 APG

#15 – Ansley Almonor
6-7 – 235 – FORWARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
6.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG

#22 – Amari Williams
7-0 – 262 – CENTER – GRADUATE STUDENT
10.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.4 BPG

Ole Miss Projected Starters

#3 – Sean Pedulla
6-1 – 195 – GUARD – SENIOR
15.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.6 APG

#7 – Davon Barnes
6-4 – 205 – GUARD – SENIOR
5.5 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.2 APG

#11 – Matthew Murrell
6-4 – 205 – GUARD – SENIOR
11.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.1 APG

#14 – Dre Davis
6-6 – 215 – GUARD – SENIOR
9.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.2 SPG

#0 – Malik Dia
6-9 – 250 – FORWARD – JUNIOR
9.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.0 APG

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes)

Interesting stats from UK’s game notes:

• Kentucky will play its third road game in its last four games when the Cats visit Ole Miss on Tuesday.
• Otega Oweh’s double-figure scoring streak continues, going for 10-plus points in every game this season. He’s the only player in the SEC to do so and one of 13 players in all of Division I to hit that mark.
• In the last six games, Ansley Almonor has averaged 10.5 points per game and has made 17 of 28 attempts (60.7%) from 3-point range.
• Jaxson Robinson is averaging 15.9 points per game in league play while connecting on 47.5 percent from three with at least three 3-pointers in each of the last six games, averaging 4.3 per game in that stretch.

Pregame Storylines

OLE MISS FORCES AND LIMITS TURNOVERS

The Rebels enter the matchup ranked No. 3 nationally in turnover margin, forcing 15.7 per game (No. 17) while turning it over just 9.3 times per game (No. 4). They rank No. 3 nationally in turnover rate and No. 2 in non-steal turnover rate while also coming in ranked No. 12 in defensive turnover rate and No. 9 in steal rate. Meanwhile, the Wildcats have turned it over at least 11 times in six of their last seven games including 41 in total in their last three for an average of 13.7 per contest in that span. As a team, Kentucky forces just 10.1 per contest, good for No. 324 nationally — among the worst in college basketball — with a turnover margin of -0.5 per game (No. 240). Keep an eye on turnovers for both teams on Tuesday.

AN ADVANTAGE ON THE GLASS

As good as they are forcing and limiting turnovers, the Rebels do struggle on the glass, ranked No. 316 nationally in rebounding margin (-3.6) and No. 265 in rebounding average (34.1). That’s a product of being severely undersized, starting four guards with an average height of 76.2 inches (6’4.1″), good for No. 329 nationally. Despite Kentucky’s struggles on the offensive glass (No. 154 nationally), the Cats still rank No. 19 overall nationally with 40.3 per game thanks to the 29.24 defensive boards they pull down per contest, good for No. 5 in the country.

SLOWING DOWN SEAN PEDULLA

A transfer from Virginia Tech, the 6-1 guard is one of the most productive players in the SEC, ranked No. 16 in the conference with 15.2 points per contest while shooting 45.4 percent from the field, 40.3 percent from three and 78.3 percent at the line. He’s coming off a 29-point effort against No. 1 Auburn with eight straight games in double figures and 17 overall, 20-plus in three. The senior out of Edmond, OK also averages 3.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds and an impressive 2.3 steals per game while only turning the ball over 1.7 times per contest.

ANOTHER BOUNCE-BACK OPPORTUNITY

Kentucky has just one losing streak on the year despite six total losses, responding with a win in four of five opportunities up to this point. After losing at Clemson, they responded with a 90-89 win over Gonzaga. The Ohio State loss led to an 88-54 win on New Year’s Eve vs. Brown, followed by a 95-90 win at Mississippi State coming off the loss at Georgia. Their only slip-up came in January, a home loss to Alabama leading to a road loss at Vanderbilt. They responded from there, though, with a statement road win at Tennessee. Can they continue their streak of strong follow-up efforts?

LAMONT BUTLER REMAINS OUT

Andrew Carr has been removed from the injury report ahead of the matchup, meaning he’s good to go following his recent back injury. The bad news? Lamont Butler remains out with a shoulder injury, his third consecutive absence after playing 27 minutes at Vanderbilt. Kentucky survived without a point guard at Tennessee, but struggled without one against Arkansas on Saturday. How will Jaxson Robinson step up as the lead guard against one of the best defenses in the SEC?

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during the game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates as your eyes and ears inside The Sandy and John Black Pavilion while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).

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Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from Mark Pope and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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