At long last, the Cats are back! It’s been a 10-day break for Kentucky, resting up for the holidays following a disappointing showing against Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic on December 21. That came following a seven-day break between games with the previous matchup taking place vs. Louisville on Dec. 14 — just two games in 21 days leading up to SEC play.

It’s the non-conference finale with the schedule loaded with nothing but Saturdays and Tuesdays/Wednesdays from now until March. What do you need to know about this last matchup against the Brown Bears? KSR’s got you covered.

Kentucky vs. Brown: How to Watch, Listen

• Time: 2 p.m. ET
• Television: ESPNU (Kevin Fitzgerald, Carolyn Peck)
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 201 or 210
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow the game via our new LIVE BLOG on the website, which will begin an hour before tipoff, or join the conversation on KSBoard.

Early season rewind

Kentucky: KenPom 26

• 11/4: 103-62 W vs. Wright State
• 11/9: 100-72 W vs. Bucknell
• 11/12: 77-72 W vs. No. 6 Duke
• 11/19: 97-68 W vs. Lipscomb
• 11/22: 108-59 W vs. Jackson State
• 11/26: 87-68 W vs. Western Kentucky
• 11/29: 105-76 W vs. Georgia State
• 12/3: 70-66 L at Clemson
• 12/7: 90-89 W OT vs. Gonzaga
• 12/11: 78-67 W vs. Colgate
• 12/14: 93-85 W vs. Louisville
• 12/21: 85-65 L vs. Ohio State

Brown: KenPom 191

• 11/4: 72-71 OT L at Siena
• 11/10: 69-67 L vs. Maine
• 11/15: 76-65 W vs. New Hampshire
• 11/16: 73-65 L vs. Holy Cross
• 11/17: 89-70 W vs. Sacred Heart
• 11/23: 83-76 W at Canisius
• 11/27: 77-54 W vs. Stony Brook
• 12/3: 60-53 W at Vermont
• 12/6: 76-75 W at Bryant
• 12/10: 84-80 2OT W vs. Rhode Island
• 12/22: 87-53 L at Kansas

Series History

It will be a day of firsts when the Wildcats take on the Bears to close out 2024 inside Rupp Arena. Kentucky has never played Brown, the New Year’s Eve matchup marking the first between the SEC and Ivy League programs. The same can be said of the coaches roaming both benches, Mark Pope never taking on the Bears at either of his previous stops while Mike Martin — in his 13th season at Brown of 13 total years as a head coach — has never faced off against the Wildcats.

Kentucky vs. Brown Odds

Spread: Kentucky -22.5
Total: 154.5

KenPom projects an 86-67 victory for the Wildcats while Bart Torvik sees UK coming away with an 88-66 win inside Rupp Arena. ESPN’s BPI likes the Cats by 20.7 points while giving the home team a 96.5 percent chance to pull off the win.

Kentucky Projected Starters

#1 – Lamont Butler
6-2 – 208 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
14.0 PPG, 4.2 APG, 3.1 RPG

#00 – Otega Oweh
6-4 – 215 – GUARD – JUNIOR
16.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.3 SPG

#2 – Jaxson Robinson
6-6 – 192 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
12.3 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.8 APG

#7 – Andrew Carr
6-11 – 235 – FORWARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
11.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.7 APG

#22 – Amari Williams
7-0 – 262 – CENTER – GRADUATE STUDENT
9.8 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.6 BPG

Brown Projected Starters

#4 – Lyndel Erold
6-3 – 170 – GUARD – SENIOR
7.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0.8 APG

#10 – Kino Lilly Jr.
6-0 – 165 – GUARD – SENIOR
20.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 3.6 APG

#13 – Macolm Wrisby-Jefferson
6-4 – 195 – GUARD – SOPHOMORE
5.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.2 APG

#21 – Aaron Cooley
6-5 – 185 – FORWARD – SENIOR
12.5 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.8 APG

#22 – Landon Lewis
6-7 – 215 – FORWARD – JUNIOR
13.9 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.2 APG

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes)

Fun stats from UK’s game notes:

• Otega Oweh is coming off the fifth-best free-throw performance in school history after finishing 13-13 at the line vs. Ohio State
• Jaxson Robinson is 18 points away from eclipsing 1,000 in his career. He would join Koby Brea and Kerr Kriisa as Wildcats to reach that mark this season while Ansley Almonor, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams hit it before arriving on campus.
• Kentucky ranks fifth in the country with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.92 while dishing out 18.8 dimes per game — No. 11 nationally.
• The Cats look to move to 2-0 following losses after defeating No. 7 Gonzaga in overtime immediately after the loss at Clemson

Pregame Storylines

BACK FROM A 10-DAY BREAK

Kentucky had a seven-day break between the Louisville and Ohio State games, and now, it’s a 10-day break between the Buckeyes and Brown on New Year’s Eve. The Wildcats were sluggish ahead of the holidays in New York City. How will they respond in the matinee matchup back in Lexington before the start of SEC play this weekend?

CAN SHOOTING GET BACK ON TRACK?

The Wildcats are hitting just 29.8 percent of their 3-point attempts dating back to Nov. 26 vs. Western Kentucky with two games above 30 percent in that span against Colgate and Louisville. They’ve also failed to break the 30-attempt mark in all but one of those seven games, taking 31 against the Raiders. Mark Pope said he wasn’t concerned about the efficiency, but the volume is admittedly frustrating — Kentucky is now down to No. 52 nationally in attempts per game at 27.5 and No. 113 in 3-point shooting at 35.5 percent. Is NYE the day the Cats get back on track from deep?

SLOWING DOWN KINO LILLY JR.

The 6-0, 165-pound guard is a bucket for the Bears, averaging 20.0 points per contest with double-figure scoring efforts in 10 of the team’s 11 games and seven with at least 20. He’s currently shooting 41.2 percent from the field on 15.5 shots per game and 42.7 percent from three on a ridiculous 9.4 attempts — a high-volume, high-efficiency sniper. Scoring 1,626 points (and counting) in four years at Brown, he’s one of the program’s most productive all-time talents and will undoubtedly be at the top of Kentucky’s scouting report.

A MASSIVE SIZE ADVANTAGE

Kentucky needs to get its shooting figured out with SEC play set to begin, but this could also be a matchup of the Wildcats taking what the defense gives them — and that’s a major size advantage at every position on the floor. The Bears have no players in the rotation standing taller than 6-8 and all players averaging at least 19.7 minutes per game 6-7 or shorter, ranked No. 347 of 364 teams on KenPom’s size rankings. All five starters are shorter than Kentucky’s starters at their respective positions: 6-0, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 and 6-7 vs. 6-2, 6-4, 6-6, 6-11 and 7-0.

CONTRASTING STYLES INSIDE RUPP ARENA

Brown enters the matchup ranked No. 302 overall in adjusted tempo and No. 169 in average possession length while Kentucky sits at No. 39 and No. 22 in those respective categories. Elsewhere, the Bears rank No. 11 nationally with just 31.7 percent of opposing teams’ shots coming from outside while the Wildcats are taking 41.8 percent of their shots from deep — and want that rate to rise quickly. Something will have to give inside Rupp Arena on Tuesday.

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during tonight’s game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates as your eyes and ears inside Rupp Arena while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).

New members can get KSR+ for seven days for just $1.

Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from Mark Pope and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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