Saturday, Kentucky will hit the road for their first SEC road game just a mere four days after their first real scare of the season against Ole Miss. Tuesday night wasn't Kentucky's best game, but it wasn't as bad as some would have you believe. Ole Miss is actually a decent team and was able to figure out what it takes to beat Kentucky and that is speed. Once again, quick guards are going to be a problem for this team. Yes, Tyler Ulis is quick, but his lack of size was exposed in the Ole Miss game every time they used their guards to clear out it was when Tyler was in the game. But, you can bet that speed and clearing out for the guards is something that Cal and his staff worked over the last three days. Now that I got all of that off my chest, let's talk about the Aggies of A&M...
Texas A&M enters Saturday's game with a 9-4 record and losing their last game which was also the SEC opener to Alabama by a score of 65-44. The only decent team that A&M has played all season long is Baylor and they lost that game by 14 77-63. The one thing that the Aggies do pretty well is shoot the ball as they are ranked 54th in the country on FG% shooting the ball at a 46% clip from the field. Other than that, statistically speaking, TA&M doesn't do a whole lot very well. So, instead of picking on what the do poorly (because we all know that won't matter come Saturday), let's go ahead and look at some rosters and stats...
Again, if you look at stats only and take heart and pride out of the game, Kentucky dominates every single category in this game. There's nothing in the picture above that would lead you to believe that the Cats are in any real danger of losing their first game of the season. But, I should warn you, every single game from here on out will get harder and harder simply because the amount of tape a team can get their hands on and review. Also, take Tuesday nights game against the Rebels. You can bet any amount you want that Texas A&M has studied that tape to death to try and upset the Cats. So, on that note, lets take a look and see what the Aggies have to offer when it come to their roster...
I see two guys 6'10" or taller and one of those is a freshman so Kentucky shouldn't really have any problem in the paint. But, when you look at the guard situation things begin to get interesting. The Aggies have several players 6'5" or taller that all play the guard position and play it fairly well. So you can bet that this game will come down to who can win the back-court battle. I would say that my money is on Kentucky, but I'll wait and see how this one plays out after what happened Tuesday. I say that because Kentucky can respond to Tuesday's game two. One, they can come out having learned that they can be beat by anyone at anytime and take care of business like we know they can. Or, they can come out timid and allow A&M gain some confidence and end up making this a close in the end when in all reality it should be over in the first half.
So, tune in Saturday to see how the Cats will respond after Tuesday nights close call...
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