First Scouting Report: In battle of blue bloods, UK seeks to extend Kansas losing skid
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Game day: Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 53
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
Kentucky (14-6, 5-3 SEC) will face No. 9 Kansas (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) on Saturday, Jan. 28, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge at Rupp Arena (capacity 20,545) at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington.
The game will tip off at 8 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
After falling 75-69 Monday night at No. 17 Baylor, Coach Bill Self’s Jayhawks have lost three straight games.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Kansas 24-10 but the Jayhawks have won four of the past six meetings.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 5-4 vs. the Jayhawks.
Kansas Coach Bill Self is 7-5 vs. UK as KU head man and 7-6 against the Wildcats overall.
Calipari and Self have coached against each other twice in NCAA championship games. In 2008, Self led Kansas past Calipari and Memphis 75-68 in overtime. Four years later, Calipari coached UK past KU 67-59 for the 2012 NCAA title.
Most recent meeting
Keion Brooks scored 27 points and Oscar Tshiebwe had 17 points and 14 rebounds as No. 12 Kentucky smoked No. 5 Kansas 80-62 on Jan. 29, 2022, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.
Power rankings
The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 38, Kansas No. 8.
In the Pomeroy ratings, Kentucky is No. 33, Kansas No. 10.
The Sagarin ratings have Kentucky No. 27, Kansas No. 9.
Know your foe
1. Kansas comes to Lexington on a three-game losing streak. The Jayhawks have lost 83-82 in overtime at Kansas State; were pummeled 83-60 by TCU at Allen Fieldhouse; and fell 75-69 at No. 17 Baylor on Monday night.
The Jayhawks have struggled mightily in shooting from behind the three-point arc during the three-game skid, making only 18 of 69 trey attempts. That’s 26.1 percent on three-pointers over the past three games for a team shooting 35.7 percent on the season.
Since Bill Self became Kansas head man in 2003-04, the Jayhawks have never lost four games in a row.
2. Kansas returns only two starters from last season’s NCAA title team. One of them, redshirt junior forward Jalen Wilson, has emerged as the Jayhawks’ top player in 2022-23. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound product of Denton, Texas, is averaging 21.4 points and 8.6 rebounds.
The other returning starter, redshirt junior point guard Dajuan Harris, is averaging 7.2 points and 6.5 assists and has an impressive 129/42 assist/turnover ratio.
Freshman standout Gradey Dick, a 6-8, 205-pound wing from Wichita, Kansas, is averaging 14.9 points and 5.2 rebounds.
3. Kansas is 5-4 all-time in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, while Kentucky is 5-3 (the Wildcats did not play in the Challenge in 2020-21). The Wildcats and Jayhawks are 2-2 against each other in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
This will be the final year of the annual men’s hoops series between the SEC and the Big 12. Next season, the SEC and ACC will commence playing an annual challenge.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 10:56 PM.
