First Scouting Report: Can UK go on the road and slow the roll of Arkansas?
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Game day: No. 6 Kentucky 71, LSU 66
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and LSU in Rupp Arena.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 6 Kentucky (23-5, 12-3 SEC) will face No. 18 Arkansas (22-6, 11-4 SEC) on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena (capacity, 19,368) in Fayetteville, Ark.
The game will tip off at 2 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by CBS.
Coach Eric Musselman’s Razorbacks won 82-74 at Florida on Tuesday night.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Arkansas 33-12.
Most recent meeting
Jalen Tate had 15 points, Moses Moody 14 and Connor Vanover 12 as Arkansas ended an eight-game losing streak vs. Kentucky by edging the Wildcats 81-80 on Feb. 9, 2021, at Rupp Arena.
Power rankings
Through Tuesday’s games, the NCAA’s NET Rankings had Kentucky No. 3 and Arkansas No. 23.
The Kenpom Rankings rated UK No. 2 and Arkansas No. 19.
Kentucky stood No. 6 in the Sagarin Ratings with Arkansas No. 19.
Know your foe
1. Arkansas dug itself a hole in the SEC race by losing its first three conference games — 81-68 at Mississippi State; 75-74 to Vanderbilt; and 86-81 at Texas A&M.
Since then, Coach Eric Musselman’s Razorbacks have been scalding hot, having won 11 of the their past 12 SEC contests. Most impressive for the Hogs was a home upset of then-No. 1 Auburn, 80-76 in overtime, on Feb. 8.
Since the 0-3 league start, Arkansas has suffered only one SEC loss, 68-67 at Alabama on Feb. 12.
2. A season ago, Arkansas guard JD Notae was voted the SEC’s top sixth man by the league’s coaches. This year, the 6-foot-2 guard, who began his college career at Jacksonville, is the Razorbacks’ star.
The Covington, Ga., product is averaging 18.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He is not an especially accurate shooter, making only 41.9 percent of his field-goal tries and 32.4 percent on three-point tries.
In last season’s Arkansas victory over Kentucky in Rupp Arena, Notae hit three of 11 shots, two of six treys, and finished with 11 points.
Homegrown sophomore standout Jaylin Williams, a 6-10, 240-pound product of Fort Smith, is almost averaging a double-double (10.4 ppg, 9.6 rpg) for Arkansas.
Two graduate transfers, ex-South Dakota standout Stanley Umude (11.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and former Pitt Panther Au’Diese Toney (10.3 ppg, and 5.4 rpg) are the other double-figure scorers for Arkansas.
3. Since becoming Arkansas coach before the 2019-20 season, Eric Musselman has split two games vs. Kentucky.
After John Calipari started his UK coaching career 2-4 vs. Arkansas, he has subsequently won eight of the past nine meetings to stand 10-5 overall vs. the Hogs.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 11:37 PM.
