The Kentucky Wildcats gave a coal-worthy performance in an 85-65 loss to Ohio State before Christmas. After sitting on that performance for ten days, the Cats will look to bounce back against the Brown Bears on New Year’s Eve.

Like Kentucky, Brown is coming off their largest loss of the season as well, losing to Kansas by 34 points at Allen Fieldhouse.

Picked third in the Ivy League preseason poll, their highest since 2004, the Bears return twelve players from last season’s rosters. Highlighting the roster is Kino Lilly Jr., who has earned back-to-back First Team All-Ivy honors.

This will be Kentucky’s last game before entering conference play in the gauntlet of the SEC. Staying within single digits of Kansas for the entire first half, Brown should be a solid opponent.

Let’s take a look at the matchup.

Shooting Slump or Pattern?

Mark Pope’s offense is centered around 3-point shooting. Originally thought to be a strength of this Kentucky team, that has not been the case of late.

Since starting the season shooting better than 42% from 3 over the first five games, Kentucky has shot just 29.8% from deep in the seven games since. Take out Lamont Butler’s 6/6 sensational shooting performance against Louisville, and that number drops just 27.4%. For context, that would rank 351st of 355 D-1 teams on the season.

Seven games is a long time for a slump and it’s beginning to look like a pattern, and that is worrisome going into SEC play. Can the Cats change that trend?

Screen Defense

Brown’s offense consists of a lot of off-ball movement, especially screening actions to get shooters open. A lot of that action is used to get Kino Lilly Jr. open, as he’s shooting over 42% from 3 on nearly 10 attempts per contest.

However, Brown will also look to put Kentucky in some ball screen situations, an area Gonzaga and Ohio State attacked. Kentucky’s bigs will need to be able to play angles better and to show and recover on shooters and drivers.

Rim Protection

In relation to the screen defense, Kentucky has to have better rim protection. Players are going to get by at times, but far too often this season has there not been a player at the rim to contest.

Mark Pope pointed out that he extended the bigs against Ohio State to contain them from 3. Expect to see some adjustments there in this game.

Opposing Players to Watch

G Kino Lilly Jr 6-0, 165 lbs

• 20.0 PPG (T-18th nationally)
• 3.6 APG
• 42.7% 3P

F Landon Lewis 6-7, 215 lbs

• 13.9 PPG
• 7.0 RPG
• 63.2% FG (19th nationally)

G Aaron Cooley 6-5, 185 lbs

Time: 2:00 PM ET on December 31st, 2024

Location: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, Kentucky

TV Channel: ESPNU

Online Stream: ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.

Replay: WatchESPN and ESPN network of channels (check local listings).

Rosters: UK | BU

Stats to Know: UK | BU

KenPom: UK | BU

Team Sheet: UK | BU

Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has yet to release the odds for this game, so check back later. EvanMiya gives Kentucky a 98.8% chance of winning, while Bart Torvik is at 95%. KenPom (96%) and ESPN (96.5%) fall in between.

Predictions: EvanMiya (89-63), Bart Torvik (88-66), Haslametrics (87-66), Bart Torvik (88-66), and KenPom (86-67) all have Kentucky winning by at least 19 points. I expect Kentucky to play a motivated 40 minutes of basketball, winning 85-68.

How do you see this one going? Send us your Kentucky vs. Brown score predictions in the comments!

Go CATS!!