The Kentucky Wildcats will face off against the Lipscomb Bison for the first time in a week at Rupp Arena on Tuesday, November 19, at 7 pm EST. Kentucky is coming off a big win in the Champions Classic over Duke, and because of that win, it has moved into the top 10 of the AP Poll at number 9. Lipscomb is coming off two losses against Belmont and Western Kentucky. Don't let that fool you into thinking the Bison are no good.
Lipscomb is a serious threat of a basketball team, and this isn't some sort of posturing article. They actually are one of the favorites to win the ASUN and make the NCAA tournament. If you dig into early brackets, you'll see Lipscomb in there.
Lipscomb is the second best basketball team that Kentucky has faced this season.
One Bid Ballers, an X account dedicated to the smaller schools in hoops, has Lipscomb as the 11th-best team among that demographic.
SMALL CONFERENCE TOP 25
— ONE BID BALLERS (@ONE_BID_BALLERS) November 18, 2024
1 HIGH POINT
2 SAMFORD
3 NO FLORIDA
4 UM LOWELL
5 MCNEESE
6 WINTHROP
7 FURMAN
8 NO COLORADO
9 NO AL
10 SFA
11 LIPSCOMB
12 A PEAY
13 BRYANT
14 Q’PIAC
15 Montana
16 EKU
17 LONGWOOD
18 SIUE
19 VER
20 UALR
21 NORFOLK
22 UTC
23 NICHOLLS
24 N AZ
25 CCSU
Lipscomb almost took down Belmont in the final seconds. A missed alley-oop from out of bounds is the only thing between a victory and a loss. It's an amazing play with a slight miss on the pass; check it out:
The final 3 minutes or so of The Battle of the Boulevard (Lipscomb/Belmont) was insane. Complete with a gorgeous Lipscomb SLOB with 1 second left that led to a barely-missed walk-off alley-oop. Sheesh, this would have been an all-timer pic.twitter.com/XU0HbwdFjC
— Jim Root (@2ndChancePoints) November 13, 2024
The players and coaches are not discounting this good Bison program. They know that there is always a risk in basketball of having a big letdown after an emotional high. It helps that there has been a week in between, but they recognize Lipscomb as a legitimate threat. Lamont Bulter said this week in the press conference, "Lipscomb has the power to come in and beat us, and we don't want to let that happen on our home court."
Lipscomb is coming in hungry. They have now almost beaten two teams in a row: Belmont and Western Kentucky. Both games came down to the final minutes and even seconds. They are an aggressive and active team on both the defense and offensive ends. They average 8 steals a game as a team and 31% team shooting from behind the arch. They want to beat Kentucky, and the Wildcats better be ready.