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#5 The Ohio State University vs. #6 Kentucky, Saturday, Dec 21 @ 5:45 PM, CBS (Las Vegas, NV)

ScriptOhio

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.




Kentucky vs. Ohio State: Preview, viewing info and score projection
Everything you need to know for Saturday’s matchup.

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The Kentucky Wildcats lost their second game of the season on Wednesday to the struggling Utah Utes. Many fans in Big Blue Nation are panicking, as they do nearly every December. But don’t we always look back and realize that was silly when March rolls around?

Ashton Hagans has been Kentucky’s most consistent player, followed by Immanuel Quickley. Nick Richards is in the middle of a rough stretch after starting the season out looking like a great NBA prospect. And none of the young guys has seemed to show up on a consistent basis.

Perhaps the biggest concern for the Wildcats is outside shooting. As a team, they are hitting just 27.5% from behind the three point line. And there is not a single player on the roster shooting better than 33.3%. Shooting has rarely, if ever, been the strength of Calipari teams. But this season, it seems to be possibly their biggest weakness.

Ohio State is having a great season so far, aside from their loss to a less than impressive Texas Tech team. They have wins over Cincinnati, Villanova, and North Carolina, and they were in line to be the No. 1 team in the land before they fell to Minnesota.

The Buckeyes are led in points, rebounds, and blocks by 6-9 forward Kaleb Wesson. And, unlike Kentucky, they are a very good shooting team from deep. As a group, they have hit 41.6% of their three-pointers on the season. They have five (!) players shooting 41% or better.



This is a huge matchup for Kentucky. If they are able to pull out a win, the doubters will be forced to take a step back and re-assess their “Kentucky is done” takes. But if the Wildcats fall for the second game in a row, people in blue t-shirts across the country are going to start hitting the panic button.

Game Time: 5:15 pm EST

Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

TV Channel: Saturday’s game will be broadcast on CBS.

Radio: Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM, 98.1 FM in Lexington, and on the UK Sports Network.

Online radio: TuneIn broadcast or UKAthletics.com.

Online Stream: The game can be streamed online using CBS Sports

Odds: ESPN BPI gives Ohio State a 68.6% chance of victory. KenPom gives the Buckeyes a 67% chance of winning in Vegas.

Entire article: https://www.aseaofblue.com/2019/12/...e-buckeyes-time-tv-channel-online-stream-odds
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL: NO. 5 OHIO STATE FACES THIRD TOP-10 MATCHUP IN NO. 6 KENTUCKY

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To evaluate the difference in Ohio State and Kentucky’s basketball programs year in and year out, one need only glance at their respective recruiting boards.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s current roster boasts seven top 25 prospects from the past three recruiting classes, while Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann and the Buckeyes can’t claim a single one.

Yet No. 5 Ohio State (10-1) finds itself ahead of No. 6 Kentucky (8-2) in the Associated Press Poll going into their Saturday matchup in Las Vegas, a rare occurrence for much of the decade, off the strength of a few of the year’s most impressive wins.

“We want to play games like this,” senior forward Andre Wesson said. “To be the best, you gotta beat the best, and over the years Kentucky has been one of the best programs.”

While a three-headed monster of five-star recruits in freshmen forwards Keion Brooks and Khalil Whitney and guard Tyrese Maxley are scoring nearly a third of Kentucky’s points, this is a rare Calipari crew led by a couple of players with more than a year of experience.

The inside-outside combination of sophomore guard Ashton Hagans and junior forward Nick Richards has been a strength for Kentucky on both ends of the floor. Both score upwards of 12.7 points per game and shoot 47 percent or better.

Aside from leading the team in scoring, Hagans was the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year a season ago.

“We’ve seen good defensive players, but he is so disruptive with the ball and his ability to get his hands on balls and make plays,” Holtmann said. “I don’t know that we’ll see a guy like him all year, with how impactful he is on that end.”

In 6-foot-11, 244-pound Richards, Ohio State junior forward Kaleb Wesson will be facing a player with both a size advantage and nearly equal productivity.

Kaleb Wesson averages more than a point and rebound better, but Richards finds the bottom of the net on more than 20 percent of his shot attempts, approaching a .68 clip from the field. Richards will make it even harder for Kaleb Wesson to shoot efficiently, as his long frame has earned him 2.4 blocks per night.

But Richards is coming off his worst game of the year, with just five points on one made shot in Kentucky’s 69-66 loss to Utah Wednesday night.

Down by 17 in the second half, Kentucky roared back to tie it up behind a defense that Holtmann called the best he’s seen on film in his time at Ohio State, but the Wildcats missed a shot that would’ve sent it to overtime.

“I know they lost last night, but at the end of the day, they’re going to be one of the better teams in the country,” Holtmann said.

Other than a shocking three-point loss to unranked Evansville Nov. 12, the loss to Utah has been the Wildcats’ only stumble this season, but it means both teams will enter with festering wounds.

After 25-point wins against Villanova and North Carolina and a 32-point dismantling of Penn State in the Big Ten opener, a Buckeye team that appeared unbeatable fell victim to a deflating defeat at the hands of Minnesota Sunday.

Without sophomore guard Duane Washington, out with a rib injury that will likely cost him the Kentucky game, the Buckeyes couldn’t find a spark on offense and trailed for nearly the entire game.

The hangover spilled into the following game against Southeast Missouri State, which mustered just three points on Ohio State’s season-high 21 turnovers –– six more than it committed in any game previously.

That bullet won’t be as easily dodged against a long, athletic Kentucky defense.

“We’re definitely more cautious of it now,” Andre Wesson said. “We know that these past two games, turnovers have definitely been a problem, so just cleaning things back up in practice and looking at film to see where we can make better decisions with the ball, that’s the main thing we’re trying to do right now.”

Entire article: https://www.thelantern.com/2019/12/...hio-state-against-no-6-kentucky-in-las-vegas/
 
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Overall Wins: Kentucky - 11; Ohio State - 9

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/OhioState.html

FWIW, (my Jr year at Ohio State) I remember watching the March 16, 1968 (NCAA Mideast Regional Finals) game and Dave Sorenson hitting a last second shot to for the win. The Buckeyes got beat by UNC in the final four semi game, UCLA (who had a dominate center named Lew Alcindor...:roll1:) won it all; however, the Buckeyes did beat Houston for 3rd place.
http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/Games/19680316OhioState.html

Buckeye big shots: Findlay’s Sorenson, Craft are OSU heroes 45 years apart

During warm-ups, Buckeyes point guard Denny Meadors recalled the Wildcats’ pep band playing "California, Here I Come."

"My parents told me in all the seats at Memorial Coliseum the travel agencies had put flyers for trips out to California," he said in a phone interview.

The Buckeyes played UK close, though, and trailed by only one in the final seconds. Coach Fred Taylor called a baseline inbounds play to free guard Steve Howell for the last shot. As with Craft’s jumper Sunday — a set designed for star forward Deshaun Thomas — the script detoured.

Howell could not shed his defender in the corner while Hosket, the inbounder, could barely see over the 6-foot-9 Issel. He had nowhere to go until, finally, Sorenson, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward, broke free just wide of the hoop and an opening appeared.

"Issel dropped his hand to scream for a five-second call," Hosket said, "and I unloaded it to Dave."

Sorenson, who led the Buckeyes with 24 points, caught the ball at a near-impossible angle to put in his go-to bank shot. Yet he contorted his body and made it all the same, his 5-foot baseline shot off the backboard with three seconds left, giving OSU the improbable win

Entire article: https://www.toledoblade.com/ohio-st...nson-craft-are-osu-heroes-45-years-apart.html
 
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Kentucky vs. Ohio State: Preview, viewing info and score projection



Ohio State is having a great season so far, aside from their loss to a less than impressive Texas Tech team. They have wins over Cincinnati, Villanova, and North Carolina, and they were in line to be the No. 1 team in the land before they fell to Minnesota.

I must have missed the Texas Tech game. Does anybody proofread these days before publishing????
 
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DUANE WASHINGTON JR. EXPECTED TO PLAY AGAINST KENTUCKY PROVIDED HE CAN PRACTICE WITHOUT PAIN

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Ohio State could have its second-leading scorer back for a top-10 matchup on Saturday.

Duane Washington Jr. has missed the past two games due to a rib injury and will go through his first practice on Friday since the Buckeyes beat Penn State on Dec. 7. Provided he's able to complete the practice without any pain, he's expected to play in No. 5 Ohio State's game against No. 6 Kentucky on Saturday, a source confirmed to Eleven Warriors.

Stadium's Jeff Goodman was first to report the details of Washington's possible return..

Should Washington play against the Wildcats, even though he won't be back to 100 percent healthy, he'd give Ohio State's offense additional spacing it has lacked in the past two games. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound combo guard has averaged 11.4 points while shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 53.7 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. He fires 4.6 3-point attempts per game. Washington, who has started in eight of his nine games, also averages 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists compared to just 1.1 turnovers in 22.9 minutes per game.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...entucky-provided-he-can-practice-without-pain
 
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Kentucky vs. Ohio State: Preview, viewing info and score projection
Everything you need to know for Saturday’s matchup.

1194907267.jpg.0.jpg


The Kentucky Wildcats lost their second game of the season on Wednesday to the struggling Utah Utes. Many fans in Big Blue Nation are panicking, as they do nearly every December. But don’t we always look back and realize that was silly when March rolls around?

Ashton Hagans has been Kentucky’s most consistent player, followed by Immanuel Quickley. Nick Richards is in the middle of a rough stretch after starting the season out looking like a great NBA prospect. And none of the young guys has seemed to show up on a consistent basis.

Perhaps the biggest concern for the Wildcats is outside shooting. As a team, they are hitting just 27.5% from behind the three point line. And there is not a single player on the roster shooting better than 33.3%. Shooting has rarely, if ever, been the strength of Calipari teams. But this season, it seems to be possibly their biggest weakness.

Ohio State is having a great season so far, aside from their loss to a less than impressive Texas Tech team. They have wins over Cincinnati, Villanova, and North Carolina, and they were in line to be the No. 1 team in the land before they fell to Minnesota.

The Buckeyes are led in points, rebounds, and blocks by 6-9 forward Kaleb Wesson. And, unlike Kentucky, they are a very good shooting team from deep. As a group, they have hit 41.6% of their three-pointers on the season. They have five (!) players shooting 41% or better.



This is a huge matchup for Kentucky. If they are able to pull out a win, the doubters will be forced to take a step back and re-assess their “Kentucky is done” takes. But if the Wildcats fall for the second game in a row, people in blue t-shirts across the country are going to start hitting the panic button.

Game Time: 5:15 pm EST

Location: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

TV Channel: Saturday’s game will be broadcast on CBS.

Radio: Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM, 98.1 FM in Lexington, and on the UK Sports Network.

Online radio: TuneIn broadcast or UKAthletics.com.

Online Stream: The game can be streamed online using CBS Sports

Odds: ESPN BPI gives Ohio State a 68.6% chance of victory. KenPom gives the Buckeyes a 67% chance of winning in Vegas.

Entire article: https://www.aseaofblue.com/2019/12/...e-buckeyes-time-tv-channel-online-stream-odds


Don’t recall OSU losing to Texas Tech.....lol. Been so busy the last few days getting ready to head out to Arizona tomorrow; haven’t heard.... any word on if Duane is going to be back for this one?

Edit: sorry, late to the party. Just went back and read the last few posts.
 
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