The Hampton Pirates defeated the Manhattan Jaspers 74-64 in the first game of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, that victory earned them a matchup against the No. 1 overall seeded Kentucky Wildcats.
Kentucky (34-0) is the only undefeated team remaining in college basketball after an absolutely stellar regular season. Aside from two scares early on in the year against Ole Miss and Texas A&M, the Wildcats have crushed the competition with big wins over Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, Louisville, Providence, UCLA and Arkansas.
Freshmen Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns join Kentucky one year after they fell to the Connecticut Huskies in the National Championship game. The Wildcats won the National Championship in 2012 after they defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, but missed the tournament in 2013. Towns leads the team with 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game while Booker (10.5 points per game) is just behind Aaron Harrison (11.3 ppg) for the team lead. They also boast forward Willie Cauley-Stein (9.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 1.6 bpg) and guard Andrew Harrison (9.2 ppg, 3.7 apg and 2.1 rpg).
Kentucky is likely to keep the ball rolling on Thursday night.
The Pirates (17-17) were nine-point underdogs in their game against Manhattan and managed to come out on top, but they'll have their hands full with the nation's top team. Tonight they are 34-point underdogs.
Hampton was without their top scorer in Dwight Meikle (13.0 ppg), who could be healthy enough to play tonight, but the Pirates also watched Quinton Chievous go down with an ankle injury at the end of their play-in game on Tuesday night.
Chievous led Hampton that game with 15 points and 13 rebounds, but he likely won't be 100% heading into tonight's matchup. If that's the case, they'll need guards Reginald Johnson, Deron Powers and Brian Darden to step up and create scoring opportunities.
Here are some key stats to know before Kentucky and Hampton tip off at 9:40 p.m. ET in Louisville, KY.
Kentucky | Hampton |
RPI - .6731 (1st overall) | RPI - .4561 (255th overall) |
SOS - 45 | SOS - 333 |
PPG - 74.9 (29th overall) | PPG - 67.2 (183rd overall) |
FG% - .469 (40th overall) | FG% - .408 (294th overall) |
Points Allowed Per Game - 54.0 (3rd overall) | Points Allowed Per Game - 67.9 (214th overall) |
Turnovers Per Game - 10.6 (24th overall) | Turnovers Per Game - 14.2 (304th overall) |
Season Rank - 1 | Season Rank - N/A |
Check out the live stream for the game here as well as the live radio broadcast here. The matchup will be televised on CBS.
