Kentucky vs. Louisville: 2022-23 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

Kentucky is coming off a disappointing loss to Missouri but has a good opportunity to bounce back with a rivalry win over a disheartening Louisville team.

TV schedule: Saturday, December 31 – 12:00 p.m. ET, CBS

Arena: Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY

One of college basketball’s most historic rivalries returns on Saturday afternoon with Louisville looking to close Kentucky’s all-time series lead of 37-17.

This year’s matchup doesn’t quite have the same energy, though. Louisville sits at 2-11 on the season and is arguably the worst power conference team in the country alongside Cal. First-year head coach Kenny Payne failed to add impact guards from the transfer portal this summer, and the Cardinals have paid the price, ranking No. 311 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 351 in turnover percentage on KenPom.

Kentucky’s start to the season has been disappointing as well, although on an entirely different level than where Louisville is at. UK is 8-4 but has lost its four biggest games of the season. Its most recent loss was to a much-improved Mizzou team that will likely jump into the Top 25 as Kentucky falls out next Monday.

The Wildcats‘ two best wins came over Michigan and Yale, neither of which look like particularly impressive wins at the moment. This is a team that needs quality wins but will have to wait a few more days and just avoid disaster against Louisville on Saturday.

After missing the NCAA Tournament entirely in 2021 and losing in the first round to 15-seeded Saint Peter’s this past March, John Calipari has lost the patience of quite a few Kentucky fans.

Kentucky returned last year’s National Player of the Year in Oscar Tshiebwe, its starting point guard in Sahvir Wheeler, and brought in two five-star freshmen in Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston. Expectations entering the season were high, and rightfully so. This was expected to be a Final Four-level team that might not even be in the field of 68 if it were announced right now.

Tsshiebwe is averaging 15.8 points and 13.6 rebounds, both of which are slightly down from his averages last season but hardly the problem with this Kentucky team. The real difficulty has been finding a lineup that meshes. Calipari has been searching for a lineup to complement Tshiebwe and Wallace, both of whom have been consistently fantastic. As of Wednesday’s loss to Mizzou, it’s pretty clear that he’s still searching.

Kentucky has its limitations as a team but is still shooting nearly 40% from 3 and ranks in the top 20 in defensive efficiency on KenPom. Louisville is a sub-300 offensive team with one guard and an unproven head coach.

Let’s just hope this one doesn’t get too sad too quickly.