By Jamie H. Vaught
KySportsStyle.com Magazine
March Madness is just around the corner.
After Tuesday night’s 75-64 upset of No. 5 Tennessee in a Top 15 hoops showdown, the 15th-ranked Wildcats, now 6-5 in SEC action, have seven conference games remaining and the men’s team has a very reasonable chance to win most of them, especially if the starters stay healthy.
For Kentucky, the toughest remaining opponents are No. 1 Auburn in Lexington and No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Of course, No. 21 Missouri won’t be easy to beat on its home floor.
Let’s take a quick look at UK’s regular season schedule in the next three and a half weeks before the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
TEXAS (Saturday, Feb. 15 in Austin): The Longhorns are 15-10 overall and 4-9 in SEC after Tuesday night’s 23-point loss to Alabama at home. This will be both teams’ first meeting since 2015 when the top-ranked John Calipari’s Cats defeated Rick Barnes’ Longhorns 63-51 at Rupp Arena. That was during the same season when Final Four-bound Kentucky finished with a stunning 38-1 record, including 18-0 in SEC.
Going into this week’s action, Texas features SEC’s top scorer in freshman guard Tre Johnson, a former McDonald’s All-American who is averaging 19.05 points per game, and the conference’s fifth-leading rebounder in 6-foot-7 senior Arthur Kaluma, a transfer from Kansas State, with 8.13 rebounds. Also, the Longhorns are ranked No. 5 in scoring defense in the conference, allowing 67.5 points.
Last month, Texas, led by third-year coach by Rodney Terry, had a couple of wins over Top 25 opponents, beating Missouri (61-53) and Texas A&M (70-69) at home. In addition, the Longhorns were competitive against Auburn (87-82) and Tennessee (74-70) before losing at 10,763-seat Moody Center.
The 8 p.m. ET game will be shown on ESPN with Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.
VANDERBILT (Wednesday, Feb 19 in Lexington): The Wildcats will try to avenge their 74-69 setback to the Commodores in Music City back in late January. Vandy is currently 17-7 overall and 5-6 in SEC after dropping to Auburn 80-68 Tuesday night in Nashville. Before facing Kentucky, the Commodores will visit Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday.
ALABAMA (Saturday, Feb. 22 in Tuscaloosa): It’s going to be an exceptional high-scoring affair between SEC’s top two scoring machines and the league’s bottom two in scoring defense. In mid-January, UK dropped 102-97 to the Crimson Tide at Rupp Arena. Grant Nelson and Mark Sears hit 25 and 24 points, respectively, for Alabama. By the way, the Crimson Tide’s remaining seven-game schedule includes all opponents who are currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
OKLAHOMA (Wednesday, Feb. 26 in Norman): This is the first game between both schools since 2011 when the Wildcats won 76-64 in Maui, Hawaii. The Sooners, who defeated Louisville 69-64 to capture the Battle 4 Atlantis title in the Bahamas back in late November, are currently unranked with a 3-7 mark in conference play going into this week’s action. If the Wildcats foul a lot, they could be in trouble as Oklahoma has the best free throw shooting team in the SEC (80.5 percent).
AUBURN (Saturday, March 1 in Lexington): Coach Bruce Pearl will bring probable SEC Player of the Year in Johni Broome to Rupp Arena. A former Morehead State standout, the 6-foot-10 Broome is a scoring and rebounding machine. The game atmosphere will be full of electricity.
LSU (Tuesday, March 4 in Lexington): Like South Carolina, the Tigers are struggling to stay out of the last place in SEC. LSU is led by third-year coach Matt McMahon, who once guided Murray State for seven years, including three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
MISSOURI (Saturday, March 8 in Columbia): This will be a dangerous contest for the Wildcats on the road. The Tigers are ranked No. 21 in this week’s AP Top 25 poll. Missouri has beaten then-No. 1 Kansas, Florida, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
As you know, SEC, with nine teams in the Top 25, is so tough this season that every team can beat anybody on a given night. But the Cats should be able to win at least four more games and finish with a 10-8 record or better in the conference while avoiding a possible Wednesday’s first round matchup in the SEC tourney in Nashville.
“It is the best league in the country and maybe ever,” said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes after Tuesday night’s setback to Kentucky. “It is ridiculous to be honest with you.”
Needless to say, capturing the SEC Tournament is probably much tougher to do than the NCAA Tournament.
As Dick Vitale would say, it’s March Madness, baby!
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro., he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.
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