The Kentucky Wildcats head out on the road on Tuesday night to take on the LSU Tigers in an SEC battle. Kentucky comes into the game at 11-2 (1-0) and ranked ninth in the nation while LSU comes into the game at 8-5 (1-0) and unranked.
This will be only Kentucky's second true road game of the season, the first being their first loss of the season against UCLA. Kentucky is an extremely talented team and they have wins over Louisville and Duke but they need to prove they can win on the road. Since losing to Ohio State (on a neutral floor) the Wildcats have won their last two games including a lopsided win over Ole Miss in their SEC opener.
Kentucky is led by freshman guard Jamal Murray who is tops on the team with his 16.8 points per game and his three point percentage of 38. Coming into this season this game was supposed to be a battle of the top two freshmen in the nation, Ben Simmons and Skal Labissiere, but Labissiere has been disappointing and instead it is Murray who has stepped forward. Murray has struggled shooting in his last two contests, making just 10 of his last 31 shots, so he is looking to break out of his mini slump.
Another player to watch for Kentucky is sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis. Ulis is the leader of this very young Kentucky team but he has also been playing very well as he has come back from an elbow injury and hasn't missed a beat. Ulis has scored at least 20 points in each of his last two games and he recorded his first double-double of the season (20 points, 10 assists) against Ole Miss on Saturday.
While Kentucky has been mildly disappointing so far this season LSU has been a huge disappointment. The Tigers will need a heck of run in SEC play to make the NCAA tournament as they lost five non-conference games to teams they were expected to beat. LSU was ranked in the preseason poll but is nowhere near it now although they did open up SEC play with a nice road win against Vanderbilt.
The Tigers are led by Ben Simmons who has lived up to the hype and then some as a freshman so far. Simmons is averaging ridiculous numbers as he is at 20.5 points, 13.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. Simmons figures to be the number one pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and despite the team underperforming Simmons has done everything he can.
The problem for LSU has been the team around Simmons as he has not gotten much help and one of the main culprits is fellow freshman Antonio Blakeney. Simmons got all of the attention in LSU's recruiting class but Blakeney was a top 15 recruit as well but he has had trouble adjusting to the college level. Through 13 games Blakeney is averaging just 9.8 points per game while shooting 36 percent from the field and 28 percent from three. LSU needs much better play from the freshman guard if they hope to make a run to the NCAA tournament.
LSU gave Kentucky trouble last year, as Kentucky was en route to a 31-0 regular season, but they obviously couldn't finish. Both of these teams are completely different than last year's versions but Kentucky has won eight of the last nine meetings including four of five in Baton Rouge.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 9 P.M. Eastern time on ESPN and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Kentucky radio broadcast go here and for the LSU radio broadcast go here.
