Mt. St. Mary’s faces tough test vs No. 9 Kentucky

Mount St. Mary's (1-4) vs. No. 9 Kentucky (3-1)

Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky; Friday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 9 Kentucky presents a tough challenge for Mount St. Mary's. Mount St. Mary's has played a ranked team only once this season and lost. Kentucky is coming off an 82-74 home win over Utah Valley on Monday.

FEARLESS FRESHMEN: Mount St. Mary's has benefited heavily from its freshmen. Vado Morse, Malik Jefferson, Damian Chong Qui and Nana Opoku have collectively accounted for 61 percent of the team's scoring this year and 69 percent of all Mountaineers points over the team's last five games.MIGHTY MORSE: Morse has connected on 28.6 percent of the 28 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 5 of 17 over his last three games. He's also made 58.3 percent of his foul shots this season.

COLD SPELL: Mount St. Mary's has lost its last four road games, scoring 56.5 points, while allowing 67.8 per game.

ACCOUNTING FOR ASSISTS: The Mountaineers have recently used assists to create baskets more often than the Wildcats. Kentucky has 34 assists on 79 field goals (43 percent) across its past three games while Mount St. Mary's has assists on 27 of 62 field goals (43.5 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: Kentucky has attempted the third-most free throws in all of Division I. The Wildcats have averaged 30.8 free throws per game.