John Calipari will make his first visit to Rupp Arena on Saturday since leaving Kentucky for Arkansas. His longtime coaching rival wants Big Blue Nation to treat Calipari with respect.
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Heading into the matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers, not many believed Mark Pope's Kentucky Wildcats would win without point guard Lamont Butler. Andrew Carr played through his back injury, but after one short stint in the game coming off the bench,
The Razorbacks lost their freshman phenom Boogie Fland for the season, which is a massive blow as he was the team's best offensive weapon. Fland was committed to Kentucky before Coach Calipari made the move to Arkansas.
The Wildcats enter Excite Night ranked No. 7 in the NCAA with an average team score of 196.867. The Wildcats rank in the top ten on three apparatus, slotting in at fifth on VT (49.300), 12th on UB (49.125), ninth on BB (49.158), and sixth on FX (49.283).
With a 17-3 record, Tennessee ranks No. 8 nationally behind Auburn, Duke, Iowa State, Alabama, Florida, Houston, and Michigan State. Kentucky is on their trail at No. 12 with only Marquette, Purdue, and Kansas in between. When: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. ET
No. 22 Alabama visits the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats after Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 36 points in the Crimson Tide's 66-64 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on ESPN. Fans looking to watch this college basketball game can do so by using FuboTV, which offers a free trial and $30 off your first month, or DirecTV Stream, which also offers a free trial. SlingTV doesn’t offer a free trial but does have other promotional offers available.
Notable notes, stats that stand out, and emerging trends as college basketball closes out the month of January.
If you drew up the seed list for the NCAA Tournament, the Tar Heels might be an 11. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had North Carolina down as an 11-seed on Tuesday morning — hours before the Tar Heels lost at Pitt, 73-65.