UND (2-0) @ #10 Kentucky (1-1) 11/14 8 pm

[SWSiouxMN]

Despite a furious comeback in the last 5 minutes, aided by a few bad turnovers by the road team, UND was able to survive and get a nice road win against Milwaukee.  They stay on the road for their next matchup against #10 ranked Kentucky.

Kentucky is coached by John Calipari, who is known for getting as many one and done players as he possibly can, sending them to the NBA, and repeat the process.  While this has lead to an NCAA Title in 2012, some have wondered if he has underachieved with all of that talent.  The first two games haven't been the greatest for the Wildcats.  First, they played Duke and got the breaks beat off them by their super freshman players.  Their second game required more effort than they would have liked against an pesky Southern Illinois squad.   If they have serious aspirations for an NCAA title this year, things need to start turning around and fast.  They might look at an inexperienced UND squad as a good launching pad.

UND has a weird stretch where after Kentucky, they have 2 non-d1 games before they finally jump back into competition against some low to mid-major teams.  It might be hard to see what we have in this team until later in the month.  Odds are they will be 4-1 when they take on UVU. 

The players to watch:

Keldon Johnson 6'6 Guard Freshman

This Freshman guard is the cream of the crop of the one-and-done incoming freshman.  In a normal year, he might be in the consideration of the best player in the nation.  With Zion and RJ at Duke, however, he does get lost a little bit in that shuffle.  No doubt about it, this guy will be a lottery pick in the NBA this year and UND doesn't have anybody that can match up with his creative scoring ways.  

Reid Travis 6'8 Forward Senior

The Stanford Grad Transfer was referred to as many experts as a coup for Kentucky and the missing piece for a potential NCAA Title run, an experienced player to go along with those talented freshman. He will be a tough task in the post, where he will do most of his damage, but he will not be afraid to put up a couple of 3's in a game.  

Key Questions

1) How will UND handle the environment?

Rupp Arena is one of the cathedrals of college basketball, there might be a lot of wide eyes going into this game.  UND needs to keep their heads on a swivel and not let the home team get off to a fast start.

2) Who will continue their growth?

So I'll be honest, UND has 99.99999% chance of not winning this game, so I will be focused on the growth of this inexperienced team, which of our newcomers continues to take some steps forward, like Davids, Jal, and Rebraca. 

The Call:

The players will have a great time, that's about it.  Hope for some growth and no injuries and hey... maybe they can pull a shocker, but it should be a run away. 

Wildcats 90-65

Game will be on ESPN+ (their streaming pay service that charged $4.95 a month, althought they do offer a 7 day free trial)

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

Thnaks SWSiouxMN, you do good work!

[Sioux04]

Gives UND the obligatory props.  Good experience for the team.

[SiouxVolley]

Another Kentucky look at UND.

https://www.kentucky.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sidelines-with-john-clay/article221630170.html

[sprig]

Game is on the SEC Network, 404-01 on dish, at 8pm

[hoops44]

Jones age is not 37

[F'nHawks]

Kentucky has not been up to Kentucky-like standards so far this season.  Hopefully they don't decide that tonight's game is the time to change that.

Will take a good rebounding effort and outside shooting to keep things respectable for the Hawks.

75 - 58 Kentucky

As mentioned by SWSioux - no injuries and hopefully some growth for the inexperienced players on our team.

[geaux_sioux]

Good thing we’re dont play Duke tonight, holy !@#$ they are impressive.

[gfhockey]

Betters are loving us with 26 pts 

[1972]

Game is on direct TV channel 611 at 8

[SiouxFan100]

So far we are tied.

[gfhockey]

Anyone else getting message that sec network isn’t available on midco on watchespn?

[Sioux94]

57 minutes ago, 1972 said:

Game is on direct TV channel 611 at 8

Awesome...thanks for posting, found it! 

[ND1]

23 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

Anyone else getting message that sec network isn’t available on midco on watchespn?

Need to subscribe to espn plus.

[gfhockey]

Is that the 4.99 thing?

[SWSiouxMN]

1 minute ago, gfhockey said:

Is that the 4.99 thing?

yes

 

[SWSiouxMN]

UK 12

UND 10

Travis has 7 points to pace UK

Davids has hit 2 3's and has 6 points to pace UND

[SWSiouxMN]

UK 27

UND 16

9:51 1st

Kentucky went on a bit of a run in these last few minutes, they are shooting at a 76.9% clip (10-13).   UND isn't shooting bad either (6-14) but have coughed up the ball 6 times already. 

 

[SWSiouxMN]

now a 15-0 UK run

[SWSiouxMN]

UK 32

UND 18

7:59 1st

 

[SWSiouxMN]

UK 39

UND 25

3:17 1st

UND finally coming to life a little with a 5-0 run.  

[SWSiouxMN]

The more I watch Rebraca, the more I am impressed with him. 

[SWSiouxMN]

Out of the three Euros so far, I think Davids and Rebraca appear the most ready to help out.  Marko might need a little more seasoning 

[SWSiouxMN]

UK 46

UND 25

Half

as expected, Kentucky is taking it to this very inexperienced squad. 

[jdub27]

Can't have that many turnovers against a team like Kentucky, but was probably expected from such an inexperienced team. They don't anyone near this level on their schedule the rest of the year, so learn from it and move on. Cautiously optimistic about what some of the new players showed last night, could be a fun year albeit with some ups and downs.