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/

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.As a team, ACU has hit 38.6% of
their three-pointers this season. Of the players on the team with at
least 15 three-point attempts on the season, four players are shooting
over 40% on the year. That is very impressive, and in order to avoid an
upset, Kentucky had better guard the perimeter.ACU does not have
a single starter that stands over 6-7. Their star center, Jalone
Friday, was kicked off the team last month, so the paint should be open
for any and all of Kentucky’s big men to eat.As always, it will
be important to stay out of foul trouble. With much smaller defenders,
the danger of getting called for petty offensive fouls will definitely
be there. But if Kentucky can get the ball into the paint and hit the
offensive glass, it should go a long way to wear down ACU.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.And in the Big Dance,
how well a team plays their first game can affect how well they play in
their second game just two days later. Playing great on Thursday can
build momentum for a similar showing on Saturday.Players to WatchJaren LewisThe
senior forward leads the ACU Wildcats in both points (13.7 per game)
and rebounds (6.2) per game. He has really picked up the slack since the
team lost Jalone Friday. He is not normally a threat from deep,
shooting just 32.5% from three, but that probably means he is due for a
lights out performance.He is athletic and can get into the
paint. Keldon Johnson will likely draw this matchup. Hopefully he takes
this challenge to hard and gives Lews his best effort.Payten RicksRicks
has attempted nearly 200 three-point shots on the season, and he has
made 40.8% of them. To put that in context, he has taken more than 40
more threes than Tyler Herro and has made 23 more. This kid can shoot.This
is exactly the kind of player that can give Kentucky fits if he gets
open looks. Tyler Herro likely gets this assignment, and he had better
not leave Ricks’ hip pocket.Jaylen FranklinFranklin has
only taken a handful of three-pointers this season (18), but he has made
44.4% of them. However, he does average over ten points per game and
leads the team with 4.9 assists per game. His job is to find Ricks open
for three or to get the ball to Lewis in position to score.Ashton
Hagans has to contain Franklin, and if he can get him rattled it’ll be a
long day for ACU. He creates a lot of good looks for his teammates, and
if Hagans throws off his game they may have a hard time scoring.Kentucky Wildcats vs. Abilene Christian WildcatsGame 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.Replay: NCAA March MadnessRosters: UK | ACUOdds: Kentucky is a 22-point favorite as of Tuesday afternoon.Predictions:
UK has a 96.3-percent chance to win, according to ESPN’s matchup
predictor. KenPom gives the Lexington Cats a 93-percent chance of
winning while projecting a 75-59 score. TeamRankings projects a 78-54
win for Kentucky