The Kentucky basketball team played their final home game of the regular season on Tuesday night as they took down LSU in dominant fashion. The Tigers led 2-0 early in the game, and they would never see a lead again. The Wildcats went on a 15-2 run after that, and the game was pretty much over by halftime as Kentucky led by 27 points. The Wildcats ended up winning the game 95-64, and they now have just one game left before the SEC tournament. Kentucky plays at Missouri on Saturday, and head coach Mark Pope knows that it's going to be a doozy.
Missouri is having a surprise season as they are currently ranked #15 in the country. The Tigers are 21-8 overall on the year and 10-6 in SEC play. Mark Pope knows that Saturday's contest won't be an easy one to win.
“It's gonna be a war,” Pope said, according to a post from Wyatt Huff.
Unfortunately for Kentucky, they will not have Jaxson Robinson for this game against Missouri. Robinson recently underwent wrist surgery, and he is out for the season.
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“The guys are devastated for him and really sad because he's such a massive part of this team,” Pope said, according to an article from Sportskeeda. “At the same time, (the Wildcats are) resolved that, we know what we have today and we're going to go try and find a way to win with what we have. … But these guys love Jax so much, Jax loves these guys so much, they've been on an epic journey together, it's hard to make sense of why he doesn't get a chance to finish this with these guys,” Mark Pope added. “It's really brutal.”
Kentucky wishes that they had Jaxson Robinson in the lineup right now, but they will get to play with the same guys against Missouri that they played with against LSU. The Tigers haven't had that luxury for a while, so Pope is looking forward to it despite missing some key talent.
“I think we kind of have a vibe for the first time it feels like we're going to have the same guys out on the floor … on Saturday as we did tonight, as we did on last Saturday,” Pope said. “We haven't had that in almost two months and so, we're really excited about that and we're really excited about getting back focused in this late stretch.”
After beating LSU on Tuesday night, the Kentucky basketball team improved to 20-10 overall on the year and 9-8 in conference play. The Wildcats will tip off against Missouri at 11:00 on Saturday from Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri, and the game will be airing on ESPN.