(yes this actually happened to Ole Miss)
After surviving a vicious comeback attempt from LSU in Rupp Arena on Saturday, Kentucky hits the road again Tuesday for their toughest game in the SEC to date. Ole Miss 17-2 (6-0), is 1st in the SEC as of today and promises to be the most difficult road game the Cats have endured all season.
With the way Kentucky's season has went so far, this is a must win no two ways about it. They have absolutely NO quality (signature) wins to speak of and have very limited chances remaining to earn one. A win here would go a long way in building some what of a decent (and I use the 'decent' loosely here) résumé heading towards March.
Now it's time to take a quick glance at the history of Ole Miss University...
EST: 1848
LOCATION: Oxford, Mississippi
MASCOT: Rebels
COLORS: Harvard Crimson/Yale Blue
Interesting side note: Ole Miss was chooses to hold the States very first presidential debate in 2008 between John McCain and Baraack Obama
NOTABLE ALUMNI:
Archie and Eli Manning (NFL)
Susan Akin (Miss America 1986)
Mary Ann Mobley (Miss America 1959)
Lynda Lee Mead (Miss America 1960)
Kate Jackson (TV- Charlie's Angels)
For Kentucky to have a chance to go to Oxford and pull of the upset (can't believe this will be considered an upset) they will have to give a much better effort than what they showed against LSU on Saturday. They will have to play TWO HALVES of basketball instead of having the usual let down in the second half. If that happens, chalk it up as a loss and prepare your trip to the NIT. Here's a look at how the teams stack up to one another...
Ole Miss Cats
PPG: 80 76
RPG: 41 39
APG: 13 15
SPG: 9 7
BPG: 6 9
TPG: 12 13
FG%: 44 48
FT%: 67 64
3P%: 32 35
As I said earlier, this will an extremely tough game for the Cats against an extremely tough team. If you've watched Ole Miss at all this season you know they play great defense, rebound the ball extremely well and have one of the most annoying playing in the league the season in Marshall Henderson who is also the teams leading scorer at almost 20ppg. By games end you will despise this kid. I know that's bad to say, but after you watch him play and the attitude he carries with him, you will see what I'm talking about.
For Kentucky to even have a shot at winning this one, it will have to start with their defense. They will have to guard the 3 as Ole Miss attempts a lot of threes specifically Marshall Henderson and he tends to hit quite a few of them. The Cats will also have to avoid the turnovers that plagued them against LSU since Ole Miss averages 9 steals per contest and does an incredible job converting those into points. Last but not least, rebounding. They have got to rebound and limit second chance opportunities because Ole Miss' bigs have tendency to get easy put backs. Without Willie Cauley-Stein (unless something changes he will not play) Nerlens Noel will have his work cut out for him. But, if Alex Poythress can get his effort from LSU to carry over to Tuesday night, everything should be a little easier on Nerlens down low.
As of right now, I believe without this win Kentucky has no shot at making the tournament. A win in Oxford and things start to look a little brighter, but not much as Kentucky would still have a lot of work to do, but it would be a start in the right direction. We will find out Tuesday night at 9 p.m. On ESPN.
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