This Week in Kentucky Basketball: Taking Care of Business

Kentucky Basketball is back. The season started last Tuesday with a 79-71 hard fought defeat against Coach Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils. However, the Wildcats responded with an impressive 100-60 beatdown of the Robert Morris Colonials at Rupp Arena.

This week, The Kentucky Classic rolls on with games on Tuesday and Friday night against Mount St. Mary’s and Ohio respectively. Both games should obviously be victories, but the game against the Ohio Bobcats will be Kentucky’s toughest in this seven game home streak leading up to Notre Dame.

The second week of the season is generally when things start to get fun around the broader college basketball landscape. Heading into the holidays we get more daytime basketball and the multi-team events start popping up across the country. As always, we will have everything you need to know about the college hoops scene here in this edition of this week in Kentucky Basketball.

Top Kentucky Basketball Storyline: Building Momentum

We know there are always grumblings about the “weak” home non-conference schedule. Admittedly, it is hard to argue with that point when the Louisville Cardinals are the only power conference team coming to Rupp Arena prior to Christmas. However, that doesn’t diminish the importance of this seven game home stretch for the Wildcats. Figuring out their rotation, having film to breakdown, and getting some guys more game reps will be vitally important comes SEC play.

Much was made of TyTy Washington’s opening night 3/14 performance. He bounced back with a 5/10 night against Robert Morris, but has yet to make a three-pointer and has only gotten to the foul line four times. Two games is obviously a non-existent sample size. However, he simply must play better for Kentucky to reach their ceiling. That is why these home non-conference games against low and mid-major teams are still so important. Washington has a few weeks to develop and gain confidence before entering the meat of the schedule.

Outside of Washington, things are pretty good on the offensive end of the floor. Kellan Grady, Davion Mintz, and Dontaie Allen shot a combined 10/15 from beyond the arc against Robert Morris. Grady and Mintz were 4/10 against Duke. The only argument to be made is that this trio needs to needs to keep searching for more attempts. A 14/25 clip is unsustainable, but it is a heck of a start and hopefully will continue over the next four weeks against lesser competition.

This Week in Kentucky Basketball: Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers & Ohio Bobcats

Mount St. Mary’s

The Mountaineers pulled off two upsets in the Northeast Conference Tournament to gain a surprise trip to the NCAA Tournament. Wins over Wagner and Bryant punched their ticket to The Big Dance before losing in the First Four to Texas Southern.

Mount St. Mary’s returns four of their five starters from the NCAA Tournament team, but the loss of All-NEC First Team point guard Damian Chong Qui is a major blow. He is now at Purdue Fort Wayne. UAB transfer Jalen Benjamin has taken over the point guard duties along with Division II transfer Elijah Elliott. This Mountaineers team will go a little deeper on their bench than last season with the addition of a couple impact freshman as well.

Overall, this team will play at one of the slowest paces in college basketball and look to get the ball to the basket. Kentucky will need to pack it in defensively just like the game plan was for Robert Morris.

Ohio

Fresh off a 17-8 season, MAC Conference Tournament championship, and second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament, head coach Jeff Boals and company are back for more. Second Round NBA Draft pick Jason Preston isn’t walking through that door, but this Bobcats team is already proving they are for real.

Ohio picked up an impressive 82-70 win over a very good Belmont team in their season opener in Athens. They followed it up with a 67-56 win on the road at Cleveland State. That is a pretty solid mid-major resume through two games. Before playing the ‘Cats on Friday, they will suit up Monday night in The Kentucky Classic action hosting Robert Morris.

The main thing to know about the Bobcats is that they are going to let it fly from three-point range. Through just two games, Coach Boals’ group is 28/68 from beyond the arc which would make them one of the best, and most prolific, shooting teams in the country. This will be an entirely different game plan than facing Robert Morris or Mount St. Mary’s.

Around the Southeastern Conference

The SEC will deservedly get some buzz as potentially the best conference in college basketball this season. That may not be true quite yet, but the talent level just keeps rising. Only three teams, South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky took a loss in the opening week.

Texas A&M jumped out of the gates as the lone 3-0 team in the conference after week one. The Aggies have wins over North Florida, Abilene Christian, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It wasn’t always pretty, but it is clear this team has more firepower than a year ago.

Probably the move impressive team in terms of outcomes was the Alabama Crimson Tide. They blew the doors off of a good Louisiana Tech team to begin the season, 93-64. Then, they followed it up with a 104-88 win over a solid South Dakota team. Jahvon Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford make up one of the most explosive backcourts in all of college basketball.

Speaking of explosiveness, it is clear that coach Bruce Pearl is back playing his brand of basketball at Auburn. Georgia transfer K.D. Johnson seems to be excelling through two games in the uptempo system while the Jabari Smith hype appears to be warranted as well.

The Florida Gators deserve a shoutout as well for their 71-55 convincing victory over #20 Florida State. The Gators overcame a poor shooting performance by absolutely dominating around the basket thanks to Colin Castleton and Anthony Duruji. Florida’s interior duo combined for 11 offensive rebounds and 8 blocked shots against the Seminoles. They will have another test this week as they take on Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Milwaukee on Thursday.

Other top games this week including LSU vs. Liberty Monday night, Arkansas vs. Northern Iowa on Wednesday, Ole Miss vs. Marquette in Charleston Classic on Thursday, and Tennessee’s matchup with Villanova on Saturday.

Games to Watch Nationally

Monday, November 15th

#9 Baylor vs. Nicholls (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#19 Ohio State vs. Bowling Green (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Big 10 Network)

Marquette vs. #10 Illinois (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, FS1)

#1 Gonzaga vs. Alcorn State (9:00 p.m. Eastern Time)

#2 UCLA vs. Long Beach State (11:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Pac 12 Network)

Tuesday, November 16th

Florida Gulf Coast vs. #25 USC (6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPNU)

#5 Villanova vs. Howard (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, FS2)

#7 Purdue vs. Wright State (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Big 10 Network)

#7 Duke vs. Gardner-Webb (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ACC Network)

#13 Kentucky vs. Mount St. Mary’s (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network)

#14 Alabama vs. South Alabama (7:30 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#11 Memphis vs. Saint Louis (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#15 Houston vs. #25 Virginia (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN)

Charleston vs. #18 North Carolina (8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS Sports Network)

#4 Michigan vs. Seton Hall (9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, FS1)

#12 Oregon vs. BYU (10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN)

Wednesday, November 17th

#23 UConn vs. Long Island (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, FS2)

#20 Maryland vs. George Mason (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Big 10 Network)

#9 Baylor vs. Central Arkansas (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#16 Arkansas vs. Northern Iowa (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#8 Texas vs. Northern Colorado (8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Longhorn Network)

#2 UCLA vs. North Florida (10:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Pac 12 Network)

Thursday, November 18th

#22 St. Bonaventure vs. Boise State (2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2)

#24 Florida vs. Milwaukee (6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

Xavier vs. #19 Ohio State (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, FS1)

#3 Kansas vs. Stony Brook (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

Friday, November 19th

#20 Maryland vs. Hofstra (6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, FS1)

#13 Kentucky vs. Ohio (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network)

South Florida vs. #21 Auburn (7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#7 Duke vs. Lafayette (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ACC Network)

#11 Memphis vs. Western Kentucky (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#14 Alabama vs. Oakland (8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#1 Gonzaga vs. Bellarmine (9:00 p.m. Eastern Time)

#4 Michigan vs. UNLV (12:30 a.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2)

Saturday, November 20th

#23 UConn vs. Binghamton (Noon Eastern Time, FS2)

#5 Villanova vs. #17 Tennessee (1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPNews)

#9 Baylor vs. Stanford (1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+)

#6 Purdue vs. #18 North Carolina (4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPNews)

#8 Texas vs. San Jose State (6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Longhorn Network)