Missouri Tigers At Kentucky Wildcats Game Preview

To say the Missouri Tigers face their toughest opponent of the year on Tuesday in Lexington would be an understatement. The consensus No.1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats are a perfect 15-0 on the year coming off a double overtime victory over Texas A&M.

Kentucky has struggled some since SEC play began, escaping upset bids by Ole Miss (89-86) and by the Aggies (70-64).

Jan 10, 2015; College Station, TX, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Aaron Harrison (2) drives to the basket during overtime against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena. The Wildcats defeated the Aggies 70-64 in double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports 64). Though they had trouble in those two games, it may be an aberration because they own victories over No.9 Kansas, No.20 Texas, No.15 North Carolina, and No.6 Louisville, most of them were in dominating fashion.That may sound overwhelming for a very young, but progressing Missouri team. After the Tigers’ big win over LSU, they could not duplicate the same moxie against Auburn. In a back-and-forth road contest, Mizzou eventually fell apart against the other Tigers, 85-79.

Though they had trouble in those two games, it may be an aberration because they own victories over No.9 Kansas, No.20 Texas, No.15 North Carolina, and No.6 Louisville, most of them were in dominating fashion.

That may sound overwhelming for a very young, but progressing Missouri Tigers team.

After the Tigers’ big win over LSU, they could not duplicate the same moxie against Auburn. In a back-and-forth road contest, Mizzou eventually fell apart against the other Tigers, 85-79.

It appears Teki Gill-Casear will again be unavailable for the contest. The freshman has missed the past two games with a lower back injury.

Where do you even start with Kentucky? They are so deep, coach John Calipari has adopted a platoon system so 10 of his players can see significant court time.

Shooting guards Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker are the leading scorers and point guards Andrew Harrison and Tyler Ulis are tremendous facilitators.

The strength of this Kentucky team is in the frontcourt. The Wildcats have a stable of more than capable big men in Willie Cauley-Stein, Karl Anthony Towns, Trey Lyles, and Dakari Johnson. All stand at least 6-10 and all without a doubt will be NBA players at some point.

This isn’t a team where Mizzou can look for a mismatch, and attack it as much as they can because of how versatile

this team is. If a couple of Wildcats shoot poorly or get into foul trouble, there are reserves that are equally as dangerous.

Though just a week ago it seemed ridiculous to even ask this question, but what does Missouri have to do to pull the upset, or at least make this close? It wouldn’t be fair to say Ole Miss and Texas A&M created a “blueprint” for future Kentucky opponents, but proved that they can be challenged with tough defense and foul trouble.

The key to this game for Missouri is Wes Clark. He needs to be a facilitator and create easy scoring opportunities for Jonathan Williams III and Keanau Post.

If the game is close, Clark needs to have the ball in his hands. He has shown over the past two games that he comes alive during crucial late game situations.

Jan 10, 2015; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers forward Cinmeon Bowers (5) and forward Alex Thompson (2) pressure Missouri Tigers forward Jonathan Williams, III (3) during the second half at Auburn Arena. Auburn beat Missouri 85-79. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY SportsJonathan Williams III and Keanau Post. If the game is close, Clark needs to have the ball in his hands. He has shown over the past two games that he comes alive during crucial late game situations.

Williams, Post, and Jakeenan Gant also have the responsibility of not letting the Kentucky bigs to completely dominate on the glass. The Wildcats rank 5th in the country with 42.1 per game while Mizzou is 207th at 34.1.

If the Tigers can limit Kentucky’s offensive rebounds and play smart, tough defense, it could go a long way for them.

In addition to tough defense, Kim Anderson ought to place a big emphasis on driving the ball to the basket and drawing fouls.

Missouri only got to the foul line 20 times in Saturday’s loss at Auburn and 15 times against LSU.

With Kentucky’s size it may not be fun to get pounded each time, but free throws will be a good way to get easy points.

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No one is expecting this to be much of a game, and Kentucky should be heavy favorites.

If this was the Missouri Tigers team that played in Maui, I would expect this game to get very ugly very soon.

However, it appears that this team has bought into playing defense and fighting hard until the end. I expect the Tigers will compete, but the Wildcats control the game and win 72-63.

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