First Scouting Report: Kentucky will open SEC play with a ‘payback game’ vs. Missouri
An early look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 20 Kentucky (9-2, 0-0 SEC) will open Southeastern Conference play against Missouri (6-5, 0-0 SEC) Wednesday, Dec. 29, at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center (capacity 20,545).
The game will tip off at 7 p.m. and be telecast by the SEC Network.
Coach Cuonzo Martin’s Tigers were to play border-state rival Illinois on Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST in St. Louis.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Missouri 13-2. Both of Missouri’s wins have come in the five most recent games, however.
Most recent meeting
No. 18 Missouri got 26 points from Dru Smith and overcame 18 points from Davion Mintz to defeat Kentucky 75-70 on Feb. 3, 2021, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Power rankings
Through Tuesday’s games, the NCAA’s NET Rankings had Kentucky No. 30 and Missouri No. 238.
The Kenpom Rankings rated UK No. 13 and Missouri No. 145.
Kentucky stood No. 22 in the Sagarin Ratings with Missouri No. 145.
Know your foe
1. Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin is 3-7 against Kentucky as a college head man. The former Purdue Boilermakers forward went 1-4 vs. UK as Tennessee head man (2011-14) and is 2-3 against the Wildcats since becoming coach at Mizzou (2017 through the present).
2. Going into Wednesday’s rivalry showdown with Illiinois, Mizzou was 1-2 against power-conference foes so far this season, with a home win over Utah, 83-75; a blowout road loss at Kansas 102-65; and a neutral-court defeat to Florida State (81-58) in Jacksonville.
The Tigers also have losses against Kansas City (80-66) of the Summitt League, Wichita State (61-55) of the American Athletic Conference and the ASUN’s Liberty (66-45).
3. Making shots has been a big problem for Missouri. Entering the Illinois contest, the Tigers were making a chilly 41.6 percent of their field-goal tries and an arctic 24.5 percent of their three-point attempts.
