Date: Tuesday, January 27th
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Site: C.M. Tad Smith Coliseum (9,061) in Oxford, MS
Series History: UK leads 95-11 (27-8 in Oxford)
Last Meeting: UK 58, Ole Miss 54 (Feb. 27, 2009 at Rupp Arena)
National Rankings: UK No. 24 AP

Entering this season it looked as if Andy Kennedy might be able to do what Rod Barnes couldn’t. Turn Ole Miss into a perennial contender. Yeah, Ole Miss had success under Barnes but they never could build on that success and consistently win.

Ole Miss won 20 games and participated in postseason play in each of Kennedy’s first two seasons. With most of their talented backcourt returning, it looked like this may be the year for them to make the Big Dance. Instead, their 2008-09 season has been plagued by injury after injury after arrest after injury.

In the first two weeks of play they lost sophomore Trevor Gaskins and junior Eniel Polynice to knee injuries. Then there was the much publicized arrest of Kennedy the night before the Louisville game. He was accused of punching a cab driver and calling him “Bin Laden”. Kennedy is now suing the cab driver for defamation of character. The cab driver was later sued by Kennedy’s wife (Kimber Kennedy) because Andy apparently lost his sex drive after the incident and she wasn’t getting any of Daddy’s loving. Who knows, the whole thing is messed up.

To make matters even worse, Ole Miss’ best player, sophomore Chris Warren, suffered a torn ACL in the Rebels’ last possession in the loss to Louisville. If Kennedy was rightly accused, this proves that karma can be kind of crazy. Both Gaskins and Warren were members of the All-SEC freshman team a year ago, and Warren was regarded as one of the most explosive scoring point guards in the nation.

Needless to say the season goes on despite the setbacks and the Ole Miss Rebels welcome Kentucky to Oxford with a 10-9 record, 1-4 in conference. They have lost their last three contests.

With all of the injuries, the Rebels’ go-to guy became junior David Huertas (6-5, guard), who transferred to play for Kennedy after spending his freshmen season with the National Champion Florida Gators. He is second in the SEC in scoring, with 19.5 points-per-game, which nearly doubles his production from a year ago. He scored 26 and 27 in their last two losses at Alabama and at South Carolina. Huertas is also averaging 4.9 rebounds and is their leading assist man with a whopping 2.4 per game. The loss of Warren seriously decimated this team. He is shooting 39-percent from beyond the arc and has already connected on a team-high 52 threes.

After Huertas, it gets really iffy for the Rebels. Including Huertas, they have only three players on scholarship that saw minutes a year ago. Sophomore Zach Graham (6-6, guard) starts while sophomore Malcolm White (6-9, forward) comes off of the bench for the Rebels. Graham is averaging just over seven points a game and is deadly from the free throw line. He is shooting 92-percent, connecting on 33-of-36. White was their lone returnee with post experience and is averaging 5.7 points and 4.9 boards.

Their other three starters are junior DeAundre Cranston (6-9, forward), a JUCO transfer from Daytona Beach CC, freshman Murphy Howard (6-7, 225) and freshman Terrico White (6-5, guard). Cranston is not real scoring threat but he takes up space and he is averaging 4.2 rebounds. After getting off to a slow start, Halloway has scored in double figures in seven of his last ten games, increasing his season average to 8.5 points. He is also the Rebels’ leading rebounder with 5.8 per game and is shooting 58-percent from the field. White, a highly touted recruit known for his tremendous scoring ability, is nearly averaging double figures in his freshman campaign.

The Cats and Rebels collide on Tuesday night with both teams going in opposite directions. The Cats have won their first five SEC games while the Rebels have lost three in a row and four out of five. Andy Kennedy likes for his teams to utilize their speed and athleticism by getting up-and-down the court. He expects pressure for 40 minutes in hopes of wearing down the opponent. That sounded like good plan to start the year with their experienced backcourt. But, now the Rebels lack the speed, athleticism and depth to play the style of basketball that Kennedy desires.

Instead, they often resemble a team forcing a style of play despite a lack of personnel.

Expect the Cats to move to 6-0 in the conference, as long as their tendency to turn the ball over doesn’t haunt them. Ole Miss is not very good defensively and they could really struggle to check the beast that is Jodie Meeks. Also, look for Patrick Patterson to rebound after a less-than-stellar (at least to his standards) performance Saturday at Alabama. On the other side of the ball the Rebels could really struggle to score against a surging Kentucky defense. Cats by 14 in Oxford.