Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Kansas
After winning its first two games of the season, No. 24 Kentucky will hit the road for the first time this season, facing 15th-ranked Kansas in the Champions Classic in Chicago (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Kentucky rolled past Manhattan 85-57 in the season opener behind 24 points from Milan Momcilovic, who hit six of nine from behind the arc in the victory. Zoom Diallo had 12 points for the Cats and Alex Wilkins had 11 points, seven steals and five assists.
The Cats made 32 of 60 (53.3 percent) from the floor, including 12 of 31 (38.7 percent) from three-point range.
In the second game of the season, UK fought hard to get past James Madison 89-80. On Friday, Kentucky placed five players in double figures. Diallo and Wilkins each scored 16 points to lead the Cats, while Justin McBride scored 13 against his former team. Mason Williams came off the bench to score 12 points and Braydon Hawthorne added 10.
Now, the Cats turn their attention to the Jayhawks, who are also 2-0 on the season. Kansas beat Fordham 95-65 in its season opener behind 22 points from Tre White and 15 points from Tyran Stokes and Leroy Blyden. On Friday, KU beat Middle Tennessee 89-44 behind 17 points from Trey Kaufman-Renn. The Jayhawks had 46 points off the bench in the win.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has the utmost respect for KU head man Bill Self.
“Bill has been an incredible leader there,” Pope said. “I think for these great coaches, one of the things that you notice with him is he’s been able to evolve and reinvent himself over and over and over again as the game and the situation and the sways in his experience have changed. He’s been able to reinvent himself. He’s been really successful, and he continues to be. That’s why he’s one of the great coaches.”
Pope knows what to expect his team to do on Tuesday.
“We’re going to go compete. This group loves to compete, and they love to do it together,” Pope said. “We had guys that traditionally that are playing different rotations. You never felt for one second like anybody on the court or on the bench was distracted. Everybody was fully in. Everybody was ready to run the court and make a contribution when their name was called. And we’ll expect the same thing against Kansas in a few days and throughout the season.”
Kentucky-Kansas will be the second game of the evening, following Duke against Michigan State, which starts at 7 p.m. at the United Center.
