The No. 13 Kentucky Wildcats (12-3, 2-0 SEC) will head to Arkansas to face off with the Razorbacks (11-4, 0-2 SEC) at Bud Walton Arena at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Live stream the SEC matchup for free by clicking this link. The visiting Wildcats' fans can listen to the game on WKYM 101.7 FM, while Arkansas fans hoping for an upset can listen to the conference action on KASR.
Kentucky power forward Julius Randle leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double for the season. In SEC play, though, his scoring has dropped; oddly, that led head coach John Calipari to compare his freshman phenom to Shaquille O'Neal.
"Well, he's played well but he always has three guys guarding him," Calipari said. "I don't know if you were covering Arkansas when LSU had Shaq (O'Neal), where you just -- everybody played him. And he's not Shaq, but that's how they're playing him."
Combined with skyscraping center Willie Cauley-Stein, the Wildcats are plus-12.7 on the glass, good for the second-best rate in the country. "Julius Randle right now is probably playing as well as anyone in our league and possibly in the country," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "So we somehow have to contain him and (Cauley-Stein) on the boards."
Recent history is on the side of the Razorbacks, who have knocked off the Wildcats the last two times Kentucky entered their building. "They always play well against us," Calipari said. "I mean, they always do. The games that I've coached against Arkansas, they play well."
Despite the high level of athleticism Kentucky possesses, look for Arkansas to push the tempo. They are creating the most turnovers in the SEC, and feed off the fast breaks.
"Obviously we like the game to be up and down the floor and I'm sure they would love to play up and down the floor as well, having more weapons," Anderson said. "We've got to certainly limit them in the open floor and see if we can get out in the open floor."
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