Kentucky hopes to maintain its home-court benefit occurring Saturday when it faces Texas A&M in a Southeastern Convention sport in Lexington, Ky.
The Wildcats have misplaced simply as soon as in 11 video games at Rupp Area this season, dodging their second dwelling defeat Tuesday in an 85-71 win over Georgia.
Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe imposed his will in that sport, serving to the Wildcats (12-6, 3-3 SEC) erase an eight-point halftime deficit. The 6-foot-9 standout completed with 37 factors and 24 rebounds.
“Oscar was a online game,” Kentucky coach John Calipari advised the Lexington Herald Chief.
The Wildcats’ Antonio Reeves was impressed as properly.
“He stunned me as a result of I might by no means actually seen him go loopy like that,” Reeves mentioned.
Tshiebwe leads Kentucky with averages of 17.2 factors and 13.8 rebounds per sport. Reeves is averaging 12.1 factors.
The Wildcats hope to get extra of the identical from Tshiebwe once they face the Aggies (13-5, 5-0), who’re coming off a 54-52 win over Florida on Tuesday for his or her seventh consecutive victory.
Julius Marble has been an integral a part of that success, significantly in convention play, the place he is averaging 15.6 factors per sport within the Aggies’ 5 SEC wins. He has elevated his general scoring common to 9.9 factors a sport.
“We’re in SEC play,” Marble advised 12thman.com. “It means an entire lot extra. Each sport goes to be a battle, and you need to keep targeted all through.”
Marble ranks third on the Aggies in scoring; Wade Taylor IV leads the group with a mean of 15.2 factors per sport.
Texas A&M is 8-2 over its previous 10 video games and is averaging 72.8 factors per outing whereas holding opponents to 61.