Kansas Jayhawks basketball at Kentucky Wildcats: Probable starters, tipoff, TV, facts

THE DETAILS

When: 7 p.m. Central, Saturday

Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky.

TV: ESPN

Radio: WHB (810) in Kansas City; KFH (1240 AM, 97.5 FM) in Wichita

PROBABLE STARTERS

About No. 9 Kansas (16-4, 5-3):

Kentucky leads the all-time series 24-10. KU is 2-8 versus Kentucky in Lexington, with the Jayhawk wins coming in 2005 and 2017 in Rupp Arena. … Kentucky won the last meeting 80-62 on Jan. 29, 2022, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge at Allen Fieldhouse. … Kansas has won four of the last six meetings including the last two games of the Champions Classic (65-62 in 2020 in Indianapolis and 65-61 in 2017 in Chicago). … Prior to this stretch, Kentucky had won three in a row versus KU. … Bill Self is 7-5 versus Kentucky as KU coach. …

The Big 12 leads the SEC 4-3-2 in the nine years of the Challenge. The Big 12, which is 48-41 in individual matchups against the SEC in the Challenge, won in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. … The SEC has won the Challenge the last two seasons, going 6-4 a year ago and 5-4 in 2020-21 (one game canceled because of COVID). The leagues split the 10 games, 5-5, in 2019-20. … KU is 5-4 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. KU is 2-2 versus Kentucky (1-1 at Allen; 1-1 at Rupp), 1-1 versus Florida, 1-1 vs. Tennessee and 1-0 vs Texas A&M. ... KU is 4-1 at home and 1-3 on the road in the Challenge. …

KU is 109-18 following a loss in the 20-year Self era. Since 2012-13, KU is 56-9 following a loss. … Kansas shot a perfect 16-of-16 from the free throw line in Monday’s loss at Baylor. That marks the third game this season KU shot 100% from the line. … The Jayhawks have not had three games in a single season with a perfect free throw percentage since at least the 1996-97 season. …

Jalen Wilson has 91 points the last three games, second most by a KU player in a three-game span in the Self era. Andrew Wiggins had 93 points in a three-game stretch during the 2013-14 campaign. Wiggins scored 112 points over four games that season. Wilson needs 22 points to pass Wiggins as leading scorer over a four-game span in the Self era. ... KU has lost three straight games; the last four-game losing streak was during the 1988-89 season.

About Kentucky (14-6, 5-3 SEC):

Kentucky, the second winningest program of all-time behind KU, has an all-time record of 2,367-742. Kansas has a record of 2,373-881. … UK has a 5-3 record in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, not playing one year because of COVID. Kentucky is 2-2 vs. Kansas, 1-0 vs. Texas, 1-0 vs. Texas Tech, 1-0 vs. West Virginia, 0-1 vs Baylor. John Calipari is 5-4 versus KU as Kentucky coach. …

The Wildcats, who are currently unranked, have won four in a row and six of their last eight games. … Kentucky defeated Vanderbilt 69-53 on Tuesday night at Vanderbilt. Guard Antonio Reeves scored 16 points off the bench. Forward Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 points and 13 rebounds and forward Jacob Toppin added 12 points. Guards Cason Wallace and CJ Fredrick had 10 points apiece. …

Tshiebwe’s 37-point, 24-rebound effort in an 85-71 win over Georgia on Jan. 17 in Lexington was the first 35-point, 20-rebound game for a Wildcat since Mike Phillips went for 35 points and 20 boards against LSU on Feb. 2, 1976. Tshiebwe joins Blake Griffin (Oklahoma), Brice Johnson (North Carolina) and Kevin Durant (Texas) as the only Division I players since the 1996-97 season to score at least 37 points and grab 23 rebounds in a game. …

Three of UK’s five starters are transfers: Tshiebwe from West Virginia, Toppin from Rhode Island and Fredrick from Iowa. Reserve Sahvir Wheeler is a transfer from Georgia. Reeves is from Illinois State. … Kentucky owns a 68-47 record (59.1%) vs. AP Top 25 teams under Calipari. UK is 7-5 when both teams are ranked in the AP top five.