Kentucky Wildcats Look to Bounce Back in Tonight's Matchup With LSU

Kentucky Basketball comes into this game having lost three of their last four. Last week’s embarrassing loss at Florida has some Cats fans on the defensive.

Kentucky Basketball enters a matchup with the Bayou Bengals with a record of 18-5. For most teams, this wouldn’t be cause for concern, but in the Bluegrass, fans are getting concerned. LSU travels to Lexington tonight looking for just their tenth victory of the season. Somehow, Calipari and company need to find a way to make a statement on an undermanned Tiger squad.

The Matchup

The Tigers are entering Rupp Arena garnishing a nine game losing streak and have failed to record a win in conference play. Tonight’s matchup against a Kentucky team looking to bounce back could get ugly. At least it’s supposed to be. The Tigers are led in scoring by Sophomore Antonio Blakeney. With an average of 15.6 PPG, the 6’4” guard is the leader of the LSU offense. Cats fans remember Blakeney last season as he was the one-two punch alongside eventual top NBA Draft pick, Ben Simmons. LSU and Simmons, defeated Kentucky on January 5, 2016, 85-67. Kentucky Returned the favor in Rupp Arena in the season finale before going on to win the SEC Tournament Championship.

Kentucky has been led in scoring by Freshman two-guard, Malik Monk at nearly 22 PPG. Monk’s backcourt counterparts De’Aaron Fox (16 PPG) and Isaiah Briscoe (14 PPG) look to carry the cats when it comes to scoring. Freshman big man, Bam Adebayo has established a presence in the paint but lately, the ball hasn’t been finding his hands enough. Look for that to change tonight.

Cats Need to Address Re-occurring Issues in Tonight’s Game

Kentucky has dropped three of their last four games. Fans are not happy to say the least. There are even some people who are throwing the “Fire Calipari” slogan around social media. I, for one, am not one of those people. There is an expectation at Kentucky that losing is not an option. With tonight’s opportunity, this young Cats team needs to address the issues that have gotten them beat.

The main issue? The lack of intensity and urgency throughout the game is what someone from the outside looking in would consider to be the common denominator in recent losses. Big Blue Nation expects to see a few things tonight against a struggling LSU Tiger team. The key to this matchup, is getting back on track in terms of rebounding, shot selection, turnover problems and bench contributions.