Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Oklahoma
When Kam Williams went out with a foot injury, Kentucky needed someone to step up to try to fill his role. Over the last three games, sophomore Trent Noah has been the one who has taken on some of that playing time.
Noah played 10 minutes and scored three points against Ole Miss. He played 18 minutes and scored three points against Vanderbilt. Then on Saturday, Noah played 19 minutes and scored nine points against Arkansas. He also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in the game. Despite not playing a lot early in the Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule, Noah knew that his time could be coming.
“I’m just trying to step up and do whatever the team needs,” Noah said. “It’s a long season and different guys go down, unfortunately. Whenever my number is called, I always try to stay ready.”
While he wasn’t playing, Noah had to continue to work on his craft and stay confident in himself. The UK coaching staff helped with that aspect.
“I was just trying to stay consistent and confident,” Noah said. “All of the coaches, they do a great job of building everybody up and giving us the confidence to go out there and play free, fast and fearless.”
Noah’s teammates also helped him through the process.
“My teammates have been so good about it, too,” Noah said. “It makes it so much easier when you go out there and go to war with so many good players. Whenever you have guys like that, it makes the journey easier for sure.”
The next step in that journey comes on Wednesday night, when Kentucky hosts Oklahoma in SEC action at Rupp Arena (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2). The Sooners are 1-8 in league play, but six of those eight losses have been by 10 points or less.
Last Time Out
Kentucky picked up a huge road win, downing No. 15 Arkansas, 85-77, on Saturday.
• The Wildcats snapped a 17-game home winning streak for Arkansas inside Bud Walton Arena
• Kentucky improves to 15-5 all-time against former coaches. The Cats are 2-0 this season with wins over both Rick Pitino and John Calipari
• An unranked Kentucky team has won multiple true road games against ranked opponents in the SEC for the first time in program history (at Tennessee, at Arkansas)
• The eight-point win marked the largest margin of victory for an unranked Kentucky team in a true road game against an opponent ranked inside the top 15 of the AP poll
• The Wildcats shot 53.6 percent from the field. UK is 7-0 this season when shooting over 50 percent
• The Cats held Arkansas to just 3 of 14 from behind the arc and are 9-0 this season when holding the opponent to under 30 percent from distance
• UK is 10-0 this season and 31-1 under Mark Pope when leading at the half
• Otega Oweh scored a season-high 24 points, his ninth 20-point game of the season
• Malachi Moreno scored all 11 of his points in the second half and led the team with a +/- of +16
• Trent Noah had nine points, his most in an SEC game this season, and a career-high seven rebounds
Know Your Opponent: Oklahoma
Kentucky hosts Oklahoma on Wednesday night in Rupp Arena, in the first of two home games this week.
• Kentucky leads the all-time series, 5-0, and is 2-0 in Lexington
• Oklahoma last visited Lexington in 1987, a 75-74 win for UK. This is the Sooners first trip to Rupp Arena as a member of the SEC
• The two teams met twice last season, with both games ending on game winners by Otega Oweh. Oweh averaged 27.5 points per game in the two outings against his former school. He became the first player this century to score game-winning baskets in multiple one-point victories against the same opponent in a single season
• UK topped OU, 83-82, in Norman before notching a 85-84 victory in the second round the SEC Tournament
• The Sooners are led by Nijel Peck and Xzayvier Brown, who are both averaging more than 16 points and three assists per game
