It is finally here!The Kentucky Wildcats will start
tournament play on Thursday against the Abilene Christian Wildcats in
their pursuit of the ninth national championship in school history. The
game will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in
Jacksonville, FL, and will tip-off at 7:10 pm on CBS.

Watch LIVE Now: http://online-tvchannel.org/basketball2019/


Watch LIVE Now: http://online-tvchannel.org/basketball2019/

Although
some are disappointed that Kentucky did not end up with a 1 seed or
with the fact that they are not playing in Louisville, the Wildcats’
draw really isn’t bad. Without looking ahead too far, though, let’s
spend some time on the opening opponent: Abilene Christian University
(ACU).This is ACU’s first NCAA Tournament appearance, and in
comes in only their sixth season playing Division I basketball. They
started the transition from Division II in the 2012-2013 season, and
after a four year transition period they failed to make the tournament
last season. However, they punched their ticket by winning the Southland
Conference Tournament on Saturday.ACU finished the season with a
record of 27-6, coming in second in the conference for the regular
season. Their lone ranked opponent was the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who
defeated ACU 82-48 back in December.The ACU Wildcats were led in
scoring for most of the season by junior center Jalone Friday, but
Friday was dismissed from the team in late February for violating campus
policies. Fellow junior BJ Maxwell was dismissed from the team at the
same time. Maxwell was a starting guard for the team for most of the
season.Despite losing two starters, ACU finished the season
strong to claim the Southland Conference Tournament title and they are
riding a six game winning streak heading into the big dance.The
Kentucky Wildcats, on the other hand, are coming off of a tough loss to
the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC Tournament. It was a battle in
Nashville, showing that these two elite teams have what it takes to
compete for a championship moving forward. It should be a strong
learning experience for this young team going into the tournament that
matters most.This is always the mantra for NCAA Tournament
opening games, right? A lot of these mid-major teams that qualify solely
based on winning their conference tournament usually do so by shooting
lights out. ACU is no different.

The potential matchups in the second round of the tournament are very
intriguing. If Kentucky wins Thursday, they could get a rematch with
Seton Hall who defeated them back in December. Myles Powell has been on a
tear, and the story lines for that game would be fun, but also
stressful.The other matchup is with a very dangerous Wofford
team that is riding a 20-game winning streak and features one of the
best players in college basketball in Fletcher Magee.It would be
easy for Kentucky to look ahead to either of those matchups on
Saturday, so it is very important for the team to stay focused on
Thursday and get the job done against ACU.Game Time: 7:10 pm EST on March 21, 2019Location: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena - Jacksonville, FLTV Channel: CBSOnline Stream: You can stream the game online or on your mobile device using NCAA March Madness Live.Radio:
Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM
and 98.1 FM in Lexington or online at UKAthletics.com.