Kentucky basketball returns to the court tonight where they’ll host Loyola Maryland at Rupp Arena.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, this is the second time already this season where they’re coming off of a significant loss to a team that was viewed as their “equal” in the Associated Press Top-25 rankings.
First it was Kentucky’s loss at Louisville last week where the Wildcats were thumped out of the gate with their comeback falling short late in the second half.
Most recently it was Michigan State this week in New York for the State Farm Champions Classic where the game felt like it was over relatively early (again) but Kentucky made no attempt at a comeback and instead had a lack of effort that was on full display for Big Blue Nation to see.
Tonight, the Wildcats are favored by 34.5-points and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index is giving Kentucky a 99% chance to win despite Mark Pope’s team expected to be without Jaland Lowe and Mouhamed Dioubate.
While it’s almost a certain that Kentucky will more than handle business tonight against Loyola Maryland, they won’t receive the respect of a top team until they start to beat the top teams.
Tip-off for tonight’s game is scheduled for 7 PM ET with coverage on SEC Network PLUS and the UK Radio Sports Network.
Not giving up on them yet.
That was quite the surprise.
He’ll give UK a challenge on Saturday.
