First Scouting Report: Against UCLA, will Kentucky go for its first win over a ranked foe?
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Game day: No. 16 Kentucky 69, Yale 59
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Yale in Rupp Arena.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 13 Kentucky (7-2, 0-0 SEC) will face No. 16 UCLA (9-2, 2-0 Pac-12) on Saturday, Dec. 17, in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden (seating capacity of 19,763) in New York City.
The game will tip off around 5:15 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by CBS (Channel 27 in Lexington).
Coach Mick Cronin’s Bruins throttled No. 20 Maryland 87-60 Wednesday in College Park, Md.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with UCLA 8-7, but the Bruins have won three out of the past four meetings.
As Kentucky head coach, John Calipari is 2-3 vs. UCLA.
Bruins head man Mick Cronin will coach against Kentucky for the first time. (Cronin was the Cincinnati head coach when UK beat the Bearcats 64-51 in the 2015 NCAA Tournament round of 32. However, Cronin missed the game due to a medical condition and UC assistant Larry Davis coached the Bearcats).
Most recent meeting
Aaron Holiday and Kris Wilkes each scored 20 points and Thomas Welsh had 13 points and 11 rebounds as unranked UCLA upset No. 7 Kentucky 83-75 in the CBS Sports Classic at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Dec. 23, 2017.
Power rankings
The NCAA NET Rankings have UCLA No. 14, Kentucky No. 38.
In the Kenpom Ratings, Kentucky stands No. 6, UCLA No. 7.
The Sagarin Ratings have UCLA No. 10, Kentucky No. 13.
Know your foe
1. Kentucky will not be the only one in the game searching for a victory over a ranked foe. UCLA’s two losses both came in Las Vegas to ranked opponents last month in the Continental Tire Main Event. Then ranked No. 8, UCLA fell to then-No. 19 Illinois 79-70, then suffered an 80-75 loss to then-No. 5 Baylor two days later.
The Bruins’ best win this season to date is a 65-56 Pac-12 victory over Oregon last Sunday.
Kentucky and UCLA have had one common opponent. The Bruins beat Bellarmine 81-60 in Pauley Pavilion Nov. 27. Two days later, UK beat the Knights 60-41 in Rupp Arena.
2. UCLA still has two of the starters from its 2020-21 Final Four team. Senior swingman Jaime Jaquez leads the Bruins in scoring at 17.3 points per game and is also averaging 5.7 rebounds while making 55.6 percent of his field-goal attempts.
Senior point guard Tyger Campbell is averaging 13.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists while hitting 35.6 percent of his three-point attempts and 92.5 percent of his foul shots.
3. UCLA and Kentucky have split two games in the CBS Sports Classic. The No. 1 Wildcats obliterated the Bruins 83-44 in 2014-15 in Chicago. UCLA upset No. 7 Kentucky 83-75 in 2017-18 in New Orleans.
Of the four teams that annually compete in the CBS Sports Classic, the records are: North Carolina 5-3, Ohio State 4-3, Kentucky 4-4 and UCLA 2-5.
The Bruins and Buckeyes were forced to cancel appearances in the event last season due to health protocols, which is the reason for the unequal number of games played by each team.
This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 3:00 PM.
