First Scouting Report: Can Kentucky avoid a ‘trap game’ at Mississippi?

A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:

The opponent

Kentucky (14-7, 5-3 SEC) will face Mississippi (9-12, 1-7 SEC) on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss (capacity of approximately 9,500) on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

The game will tip off at 9 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.

Coach Kermit Davis Jr. and the Rebels lost at Oklahoma State 82-60 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.

Series history

Kentucky leads the all-time series with Mississippi 109-14 and has won 23 of the past 26 meetings.

As UK head man, John Calipari is 14-2 vs. the Rebels.

Mississippi Coach Kermit Davis Jr. is 1-3 vs. UK.

Most recent meeting

Oscar Tshiebwe had 18 points, 15 rebounds and two steals and Sahvir Wheeler went for 16 points, three rebounds and seven assists as Kentucky defeated Mississippi 83-72 on March 1, 2022, before a crowd of 20,322 at Rupp Arena.

Power rankings

The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 33, Mississippi No. 115.

In the Pomeroy ratings, Kentucky is No. 31, Mississippi No. 92.

The Sagarin ratings have Kentucky No. 23, Mississippi No. 96.

Know your foe

1. Mississippi started the season 6-0. The highlight of the Rebels’ season to date came in the second game of 2022-23, when Ole Miss beat Florida Atlantic 80-67 in Oxford on Nov. 11. Going into play Saturday, it was the only loss suffered this season by the No. 21 Owls.

The Rebels backed up that win by beating Stanford and Siena to reach the finals of the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando. However, Ole Miss fell to Oklahoma 59-55 in the finals and has been on a subsequent tail spin.

Since the 6-0 start, Mississippi has gone 3-11 since. The Rebels have lost seven of their last eight games with the only victory coming at lowly South Carolina (gulp), 70-58, on Jan. 17 — exactly one week after the Gamecocks’ inexplicable 71-68 upset of Kentucky in Rupp Arena.

2. The Ole Miss issue is not complicated — the Rebels can’t shoot. As a team, Mississippi is making only 43.1 percent of its field-goal attempts, 30.4 percent of its three-point tries and 67.5 percent of its foul shots.

Compounding the issue, the top two Ole Miss scorers — guards Matthew Murrell (14.9 points a game) and Daeshun Ruffin (9.5) — have not been efficient in putting the ball in the hoop. Murrell is making only 39.1 percent of his shots, 29.5 percent from behind the three-point arc; Ruffin is converting 36.7 percent of his field-goal attempts, 30 percent of his three-pointers.

3. A 6-foot-4, 200-pound junior from Memphis, Murrell does have reason for confidence in playing against Kentucky. In last season’s Ole Miss loss at Rupp Arena, Murrell rifled in 25 points and did shoot well — making nine of 16 shots, five of eight three-pointers.

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