LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Bellarmine men's basketball team has a tall task ahead of it before breaking for Christmas. The Knights head east on I-64 to take on Kentucky for a Tuesday matinée inside Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
 
Bellarmine (5-6, NET No. 265) is coming off a 79-64 home win over Chattanooga on Wednesday. The Knights shot 71.4 percent in the second half to overcome a sluggish first stanza and earn their first home win over a Division I opponent this season.
 
About Kentucky
Kentucky (8-4, NET No. 23) is coming off a 78-66 win against St. John's Saturday afternoon in Atlanta. The victory serves as head coach Mark Pope's first Quad 1 win after a handful of high-profile setbacks early in the season. The Wildcats have now won consecutive primetime games over prominent opponents after coming up short against Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina and Gonzaga. Kentucky also defeated border rival Indiana at Rupp on December 72-60.
 
The Wildcats enter ranking 80th nationally in scoring offense at 83.8 points per game and 40th in scoring defense at 66.3 points per game, though KenPom.com ranks them 33rd in adjusted offense and 14th in adjusted defense.
 
Kentucky welcomed Jayden Quaintance into the fray Saturday as the 6-foor-10 big man returned from a torn ACL sustained as a freshman last season while playing for Arizona State. The Clevelander connected on 5 of 7 field goals for 10 points, pulled down eight rebounds and stuffed two Johnnies' shot over 17 minutes in his Big Blue debut.
 
SEC Preseason Player of the Year Otega Oweh leads Kentucky averaging 14.5 points and 1.8 steals. Denzel Aberdeen (11.4 points) and Mouhamed Dioubate (11.1 points) also average double digits. Seven-foot freshman Malachi Moreno is tops on the Cats with 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Sophomores Trent Noah and Colin Chandler are Kentucky's top outside threats at 42.3 percent and 40.4 percent, respectively.
 
Doug Davenport on Kentucky
"Playing in Rupp is a tremendous opportunity for this team and our program. UK is obviously very talented, extremely well coached and has the ability to beat you in a multitude of ways. We're thrilled about the opportunity to go in and compete to get ourselves ready for ASUN play."
 
Versus the Wildcats
Kentucky won the only previous meeting between the teams on November 29, 2022, also at Rupp Arena, 60-41. In that contest, the teams were knotted at 21 at the break and Bellarmine held a 32-28 edge at the under-16 timeout in the second half. Still, a 23-3 UK run put the hosts in control as they coasted to the win. Curt Hopf led the Knights with 15 points on a career-high five threes. Antonio Reeves scored 18 points for UK, including a 3-for-6 performance from deep.
 
Knights Knotes

• Bellarmine's win over Chattanooga marked their first home win against a Division I opponent this season (1-2). Bellarmine has three D1 nonconference wins after having just one last season (Bowling Green). Bellarmine's three wins versus D1 opponents and five wins overall this season each already match their totals from last season. Bellarmine last year did not win their fifth game until February 20 versus Eastern Kentucky.
• Bellarmine leads the ASUN and ranks 17th nationally with their .514 field goal percentage. Bellarmine also leads the nation with their .809 free throw percentage. Additionally, Bellarmine has raised their three-point percentage from .294 after their first four games to .352 after going 57-for-148 (.385) over their last seven games.
• Jack Karasinski leads the ASUN and ranks 20th nationally averaging 20.8 points. He has scored 20-plus points in six of nine games, already matching his total from last season. His .577 field goal percentage is also second in the ASUN behind Brian Waddell and 60th nationally.
• Jack Karasinski notched Bellarmine's first double-double of the season against Chattanooga with 20 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. It was also first double-double of his career and the first by a Knight against a D1 opponent since Langdon Hatton dropped 27 and 12 in a 96-95 overtime win February 1, 2024 at Kennesaw State.
• Brian Waddell leads the ASUN and is 18th nationally with his .643 field goal percentage. He ranks 7th in the ASUN averaging 15.3 points and has reached double digits in all but two games. Against Chattanooga, he scored 15 points, all in the second half, and grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
• Bellarmine enters Tuesday 5-14 against D1 teams from Kentucky since transitioning to D1 for the 2020-21 season.
• BU is 0-2 vs. SEC teams all-time, having also lost at Georgia to open this season in addition to UK in 2022.

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