Kentucky vs. Santa Clara game thread and pregame reading
The Cats look to score an NCAA Tournament win vs. a dangerous Santa Clara squad.
The Kentucky Wildcats will take on the Santa Clara Broncos on Friday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Game time is set for 12:15 PM ET on CBS — the first game of the day. The Cats are 2.
5-point favorites. Mark Pope’s squad is 21-13 in year two as they look to right the ship of an ugly season. The next loss Kentucky suffers will be just its fifth season in history with 14 losses.
For the second straight season, injuries have played a big part this season, but when you’re at Kentucky, there are no excuses. The Cats are coming off their third loss this season to the Florida Gators — this time in the SEC Tournament. They were able to scrap together two wins in Nashville, one over a 10-seed (Missouri) in the NCAA Tournament, just like the Broncos.
Kentucky will lean on its veterans to hopefully make some noise this March. As bad as it’s been this season, this team was built on guys with extensive Madness experience. Collin Chandler, Brandon Garrison, Trent Noah, and Otega Oweh all made it to the Sweet 16 a season ago for the Cats.