Game Preview: Kentucky Wildcats vs Harvard Crimson
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky Wildcats (6-1) play host to the Harvard Crimson (3-5) on Saturday. Can the No. 7 Wildcats increase their win streak to five?
Tommy Amaker brings his Harvard Crimson into Rupp Arena having lost their last two games. The former Duke guard has been the head coach at Harvard since 2007 with a record of 193-103. Most recently Harvard was knocked off by Northeastern 77-61.
The Crimson are led by sophomore guard Bryce Aiken. Aiken is currently averaging 18.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. Fellow sophomore Seth Towns is the second-leading scorer on the team averaging 13.2 points per game.
Kentucky is coming off its most dominant performance of the season thus far, a 107-73 drubbing of Illinois-Chicago. Freshman forward Kevin Knox led the Wildcats in scoring with 25 points. Knox missed only 4 shots the entire game, all three-point attempts.
After playing their first 7 games over the course of 17 days, the Wildcats’ schedule begins to slow down in December. Saturday’s game against Harvard will be the team’s first action since Sunday. And while the frequency of games may see a decrease in the month of December, the level of competition will see a marked increase.
The Cats are favored by 20 points against the Crimson on Saturday and will likely be double-digit favorites in their next game at the Citi Hoops Classic against Monmouth (3-4) in New York City. After that Kentucky will play Virginia Tech (6-1), UCLA (6-1) and Louisville (4-1) before starting conference play on New Year’s Eve against Georgia.
Date: Saturday, December 2, 2017
Tip Off: 3:30 PM ET
Venue: Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
TV: ESPN