UK looks to extend win streak this weekend against Missouri

Wenyen Gabriel. The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team falls to Mizzou 69-6 on Saturday, February 3rd, 2018 in Columbia, Missouri. Photo by Quinn Foster I UK Athletics

Abbie Long

The UK men’s basketball team is on a two-game win streak for the first time since the end of January, when the Cats beat West Virginia and Vanderbilt. Now UK is looking to make it three wins in a row against Missouri on Saturday night.

The Cats are coming off a win at Arkansas where they used a second half surge to beat the Razorbacks 87-72 on Tuesday night, led by freshman forward Kevin Knox’s 23 points.

As a team, UK shot 46.3 percent against Arkansas, which allowed the Cats to overcome an 11-point deficit.

The Tigers sit in the middle of the pack within the SEC, much like UK. Missouri fell to Ole Miss on Tuesday night in overtime, 90-87, bringing them to 8-7 in the SEC and 18-10 on the season.

Both UK and Missouri are currently in a six-way tie for third place in the SEC—along with Arkansas, Mississippi State, Florida and Alabama.

The Tigers and the Cats met earlier this month at Missouri Arena, where the Cats did not play their best. Missouri senior forward Jordan Barnett and senior guard Kassius Robertson led the Tigers to the 69-60 victory after scoring 16 points apiece.

The Cats shot 31.3 percent from the field and had just nine assists, and only made two out of 20 shots from behind the three-point line. Freshman guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the only UK player to reach double figures with 15 points.

This marked Missouri’s first ever win over the Cats since the teams first met in 1960.

Since defeating UK, Missouri has gone 3-2. UK has gone the opposite, 2-3.

UK will again have their hands full with Robertson and Barnett. Robertson is averaging 16.5 points per game, while Barnett is averaging 13.9 points per game as well as 5.9 rebounds per game.

UK vs. Missouri is set to tip-off at 8:15 p.m. at Rupp Arena. The game will be aired on ESPN.