Mizzou basketball opens Southeastern Conference play against No. 18 Kentucky
Missouri men's basketball's nonconference slate didn't exactly go to plan.
The Tigers are 6-6 and enter Southeastern Conference play with losses to teams like Kansas City, Liberty and Wichita State before blow-out rivalry losses to Illinois and Kansas.
Despite a down 2020-21, Kentucky has reloaded and is the first league challenge standing in Missouri's way for the second time in three years.
It'll be the first SEC game at Rupp Arena without an attendance limit in nearly 22 months for Kentucky as it hosts Missouri on Wednesday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats are ranked No. 18 in the country and are 9-2, with their only losses to Duke and Notre Dame.
MU will be without head coach Cuonzo Martin for the contest, as he tested positive for COVID-19. Tigers assistant coach Cornell Mann will run the program against UK with Martin staying home.
Mann told reporters Tuesday morning there were no positive tests among the MU players after the entire team was tested Sunday morning.
Here’s a closer look at the Missouri-Kentucky matchup:
Projected Missouri starters
Javon Pickett, Kobe Brown, DaJuan Gordon, Anton Brookshire, Trevon Brazile
Projected Kentucky starters
TyTy Washington Jr., Keion Brooks Jr., Oscar Tshiebwe, Sahvir Wheeler, Kellan Grady
Missouri player to watch
If Missouri stands any chance at winning inside Rupp Arena, Kobe Brown will have to be at his best.
Against Kansas and Illinois, Brown was negated for large portions of the game by the Illini and Jayhawks' dynamic offenses. Kentucky can score at a high level, too.
Against Utah, Brown was relentless around the rim and changed that game from a close Missouri loss to a victory with his play.
Brown has been the Tigers' best player this season and needs to show his best for MU to have a chance to win this game.
The Huntsville, Alabama, native can play any of the five positions on the floor and likely will have to try his hand at all of them at one time or another in Lexington to combat the Wildcats.
Kentucky player to watch
UK has made its name over the last decade for being the one-and-done emporium for the best high school players to have their lone college season at a blue-blood program.
It's a bit of a different story this season with West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe leading Kentucky's attack.
Tshiebwe is one of the conference's best low-post players and showed his dominance in the Wildcats' last game.
Against Western Kentucky, he set a Rupp Arena record with 28 rebounds, breaking the previous mark of 21 set by Shaquille O’Neal on Feb. 15, 1990.
His 28 boards were the most in a Division-I college basketball game since the 2015 season. He added 14 points for his ninth double-double of the season.
Tshiebwe faced Missouri while as a Mountaineer in January 2020 and was dominant against Mitchell Smith and Reed Nikko. Stopping another great performance from Tshiebwe will be imperative.
Missouri’s key to the game
The Tigers will need to have possibly their best offensive outing of the season to win this game.
Kentucky is going to get its shots; it's too talented offensively for that not to be the case. It's a matter of containment for MU, not stopping everything.
Can Missouri keep up with the pace the Wildcats want to set? Or if it can't, what route does it find to win?
The easiest way for the Tigers to generate more offense is secondary scoring. Typically, Brown and one of the quartet of players Martin added via the transfer portal score in double digits every game.
That must increase to four or five players for MU to pull the upset. Look for Anton Brookshire to have a big game should Missouri stay with Kentucky.
Kentucky's key to the game
The Wildcats are the heavy favorite entering this game for good reason. But with a Missouri squad coming to Lexington being undervalued, that could give it the swagger to test UK should it overlook MU.
Kentucky needs to stay the course, as its best will beat the Tigers. Making sure its conference opener doesn't start with a letdown will avoid any thought of last year repeating itself.
UK head coach John Calipari is one of the best bench bosses the sport has ever seen, which makes last season such an outlier. He'll have the Wildcats ready to go.
Final score prediction
No. 18 Kentucky 83, Missouri 63
How to watch or listen
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, Lexington, Kentucky
TV: SEC Network
Radio: KTGR (105.1 FM)
Satellite radio: XM Channel 192; Sirius Channel 85; Internet Channel 963
Live video: You can live stream the game online from WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app, depending on your TV service provider.
Contact Eric Blum at eblum@columbiatribune.com. Follow @ByEricBlum on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou basketball opens Southeastern Conference play against Kentucky
