Ole Miss vs. Kentucky: How to watch, start time, TV channel, spread

Ole Miss is still in the Top 25 and safely projected in the NCAA Tournament despite four losses in its last five games. 

The No. 25-ranked Rebels (16-6, 5-4 SEC) next host No. 14 Kentucky (15-6, 4-4 SEC) Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT. Tickets for the game are sold out through the Ole Miss Athletics ticket office. Gates open at 4 p.m. for students and 4:30 p.m. for ticketed fans.

The Rebels own the nation’s fifth-toughest remaining schedule, according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index. The latest bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Ole Miss as a 6-seed in the Midwest Region and paired against 11-seed UC Irvine. 

The highest seed and longest NCAA Tournament run in program history came in 2001.

The Rebels were a 3-seed and reached the Sweet 16.

Lunardi has 13 SEC teams in the tournament, which would be the most ever for a single conference.

“Everything that’s been talked about with the SEC we’re living it,” second-year Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said after Saturday’s 92-82 loss to top-ranked Auburn. “The league’s really good. I think Auburn’s worthy of their current No. 1 ranking. 

“It’s early-February; I think we can play with teams like this right now. I know we can. We’ll just keep working towards where we can beat teams like this in March.”

HOW TO WATCH

Television/Online: ESPN
Play-by-Play: Karl Ravech
Analyst: Jimmy Dykes
Reporter: Molly McGrath

HOW TO LISTEN

Radio: Ole Miss Radio Network
Play-by-Play: David Kellum
Analyst: Marc Dukes

SERIES HISTORY

Ole Miss has claimed just 14 wins in 125 all-time meetings with Kentucky. The Rebels began the series winning two of the first three games from 1925-28. 

The Wildcats have won 31 of 42 games played in Oxford. The last win for the Rebels was a 70-62 victory in 2021. Kentucky pulled off a 75-63 win last February. Ole Miss held a lead over the No. 20-ranked Wildcats in Rupp Arena with just under six minutes left in the first half. Matthew Murrell had 16 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. 

Murrell, now a fifth-year senior, is questionable for Tuesday’s game.

GAME SPREAD

Provided by BetMGM SportsBook 

Moneyline (ML): Kentucky +180 (bet $100 to win $180) | Ole Miss -220 (bet $220 to win $100)
Against the spread (ATS): Kentucky +4.5 (-102) | Ole Miss -4.5 (-118)
Over/Under (O/U): 157.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)

RELATED: Kentucky vs. Ole Miss odds: Current line, win probability, final score prediction

SCOUTING KENTUCKY

Kentucky has lost three of its last four, including an 89-79 loss to old coach John Calipari and Kentucky over the weekend. 

The Wildcats picked up key non-conference wins over No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Gonzaga, and Louisville. The Cardinals haven’t lost since December. Ole Miss beat them by 20-plus on their home floor in the flal. 

Kentucky’s four SEC wins came over No. 6 Florida, No. 14 Mississippi State, No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 8 Tennessee. The Wildcats suffered losses to Georgia, No. 4 Alabama, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. 

Kentucky is No. 14 in both of the latest national polls. The Wildcats own a NET Ranking of No. 19. Ole Miss is No. 23.

Six players are averaging double-digit points for Kentucky, led by Otega Oweh at 15.6. He’s joined by Jaxson Robinson (13.4), Lamont Butler (13.2), Koby Brea (10.9), Amari Williams (10.3) and Andrew Carr (10.0). Williams is pulling down a team-high 9.0 rebounds, the second-best mark in the SEC.

Kentucky is scoring 87.2 points per game, the third-most in all of college basketball.

The Wildcats are making an average of 10.2 3-pointers, good for 19th nationally. They’re shooting 37.7 percent from beyond the arc, while their 17.7 assists are best in the SEC and 11th in the nation. Their assist-to-turnover ratio (1.66) is seventh-best.

Mark Pope last April replaced Calipari as Kentucky head coach after 15 seasons. Pope’s in his 10th season as an NCAA head coach following five seasons at BYU, where he won 20 or more games in four of his five seasons. The Cougars won 23 and reached the NCAA Tournament last season in their first year as a member of the Big 12. 

Pope was the head coach of Utah Valley for four seasons. The Wolverines had 23 and 25 wins, respectively, in his last two seasons. He got his coaching start as an assistant at BYU from 2011-15, Wake Forest in 2010-11 and Georgia in 2009-10. 

Pope was a second-round draft pick out of Kentucky and played professionally in the NBA for the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets as a forward.