Kentucky is on the road against Missouri for the final SEC regular season game of the season for both teams.
CI staff members share takes and picks before the game.
Jeff Drummond: This one is about as close as it gets when it comes to the analytics. Missouri is currently No. 15, and Kentucky is No. 16 in the KenPom ratings. Vegas is going to give a slight edge to the Tigers, who are really good at home, outsocring opponents 88-68 in Columbia. I picked Mizzou to win this game when I did our preseason predictions, but I am wavering on that now. I have a hunch that the Cats will play well in the style that the Tigers prefer to play. It comes down to making shots from the perimeter, and keeping Mizzou from scoring a slew of transition points. Give me Kentucky 83, Missouri 80 and Lamont Butler as my player of the game.
David Sisk: This is a big game for both teams. Rankings and seedlings are on the line. With a win, Kentucky could get back on the three seed line, and could gain a few spots in Nashville. Missouri has similar things in mind, but they don’t want to go into the post-season losing the last four of five. All of those defeats have been on the road. The Tigers are 15-1 at home with wins over Kansas, Vandy, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Alabama. Both teams run great systems, but Missouri gets to the line a lot more. I think this is one of those deals where the home team gets a strong whistle. A road game there will be too tough if a nut to crack. Missouri 83 Kentucky 77
Travis Graf: Missouri is a fundamental, physical team that gets to the line at a high rate. The Cats will have to stay out of foul trouble and not give Tigers free points at the same time. The Tigers shoot quite a bit of threes and shoot at a good percentage as well. Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates are two shooters you have to worry about, and Mark Mitchell is the type of forward Kentucky has struggled with. Andrew Carr is going to be the X-Factor in this one in a game that can really be a quality win and build momentum heading into the SECT. Kentucky 82, Missouri 81.
Justin Rowland: On the one hand, Missouri is coming off two straight losses, to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. But both of those games were on the road. This one's at home. This team is 18-1 at home. Even when they have struggled to win games on the road they have played at a very high level on that court. Then again, we have seen teams respond to Senior Day in different ways. These teams have a lot of similarities, as has been noted here and elsewhere. Kentucky will have to be strong with the basketball because Missouri can create a lot of steals. One difference between the teams is Kentucky has played at a faster tempo than Missouri, which has been more middle of the pack. Kentucky is only 3-6 in road games this season. So that stands out. Maybe Kentucky plays one of its best games of the season on the road and wins, but an 18-1 home record against a 3-6 road record is hard to go against. Missouri 85, Kentucky 82
