Kentucky basketball: Preview, prediction vs Davidson NCAA Tournament
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky basketball team kicks off the NCAA Tournament against another group of Wildcats. No. 12 seed Davidson stands in the way of UK’s path to the second round.
The Kentucky basketball team has a date out west to start the NCAA Tournament. The Cats, the No. 5 seed in the South Region, will take on the 12-seed Davidson Wildcats in Boise, Idaho on Thursday evening. Kentucky and Davidson both played in their conference tournament final this past Sunday.
Kentucky won the SEC Tournament over the Tennessee Volunteers last Sunday. Their reward, a long flight across the country to play the Atlantic-10 Tournament Champion Davidson. John Calipari, via SEC Country, made his beef with the NCAA Selection Committee well known after the brackets came out.
"“Is ours like the toughest again? Like, by far? Is anyone in here surprised? We’re not playing on Thursday, right? Because we just got done playing today. We’re playing on Thursday? Oh, but we’re close? Anchorage or Boise? It is what it is. They’re not going to make it easy for us, and they can all say, ‘This is all by the numbers and all that.’ OK.”"
Whether Cal has a legitimate complaint or not, the brackets are set. His Wildcats will be playing the Wildcats of Davidson on Thursday. If the Cats win, chances are they’ll play another group of Wildcats, Sean Miller’s Arizona Wildcats. But, before the Kentucky basketball team even thinks about moving on to the second round, they need to take care of business against Davidson.
Here’s how you can watch Kentucky’s first round match up:
Date – Thursday March 15, 2018
Time – 7:10 PM ET
Location – Boise, Idaho
Venue – Taco Bell Arena
TV – CBS
Live stream – CBS Sports Live
Keys to victory for the Wildcats
This is not an easy match up for the Kentucky basketball team. I feel like, if the Wildcats are luck enough to advance, I’ll be writing that same sentence over and over. Kentucky proved this past week that they are capable of defeating a quality opponent. That’s something, that for most of the season, the Cats failed to do.
If UK is to get by Davidson, they’re going to have to execute as they did in the SEC Tournament. There were two things the Wildcats did well against Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, and they’ll need to keep it up to defeat Davidson.
Kentucky must continue to play outstanding defense. The Cats kept their last three opponents under 38% shooting from the field. In fact, Georgia barely cracked 28% on 53 shots. Cal, for the most part, has abandoned the zone defense and is relying on his preferred man-to-man. Kentucky needs to keep up their solid three-point defense. UK is holding opponents below 30% on the season, and that’s a stat that must hold true against Davidson.
The other key for UK is keeping their turnovers low. Over the Cats’ last 12 games they’ve averaged 10 turnovers in their 7 wins and 13.2 turnovers in their 5 losses. This is not a coincidence. When you don’t give the ball away, you give yourself more opportunities to score. It’s just that simple.
Davidson players to watch
Peyton Aldridge, the senior forward from Leavittsburg, OH is the leading scorer for Davidson. The Wildcats have an 8-man rotation, and all but one is capable of knocking down three-point shots. The Kentucky basketball team will have to use their length and athletism to step out and cover Davidson’s dangerous shooters.
- Peyton Aldridge – 21.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 39.4% 3-pt shooting
- Kellan Grady – 18.0 points, 50.8% FG shooting, 37.7% 3-pt shooting
- Jon Axel Gundmundsson – 13.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 39.6% 3-pt shooting
Prediction
As I said earlier, this will not be a cakewalk for the Kentucky basketball team. Davidson shoots the ball extremely well from beyond the arc and they have a lot of veterans on the team. That being said, John Calipari is 81-1 against non-Power 5 opponents during his tenure at UK. The only loss was to Robert Morris in the NIT. So, while Davidson is the trending pick for an upset of the Cats, I don’t see it happening.