WILDCATS

Kentucky-Ole Miss basketball at a glance

Kyle Tucker
Louisville

OLE MISS (9-4)

VS. NO. 1 KENTUCKY (13-0)

Game time: 7 p.m.

Site: Rupp Arena (23,000), Lexington, Ky.

Favorite: Kentucky by 23

Series: UK leads 102-13. Last meeting: UK won 84-70 on Feb. 18, 2014 in Oxford, Miss.

Television: SEC Network (Dave Neal, Darrin Horn)

Radio: WHAS-AM 840 (Tom Leach, Mike Pratt)

OLE MISS

Pos. Player Ht. Cl. Rb. Pts.

G-Stefan Moody 5-10 Jr. 3.3 13.9

G-Jarvis Summers 6-3 Sr. 3.8* 13.3

G-LaDarius White 6-6 Sr. 3.3 12.5

F-Sebastian Saiz 6-9 So. 4.7 7.2

C-M.J. Rhett 6-9 Sr. 5.2 6.4

* assists per game

Key reserves – Martavious Newby, G, 6-3, Jr., 4.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg; Dwight Coleby, C, 6-9, So., 5.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg; Aaron Jones, F, 6-9, Sr., 4.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg; Terence Smith, G, 6-4, Sr., 4.0 ppg, 1.6 apg.

KENTUCKY

Pos.Player Ht. Cl. Rb. Pts.

G-Andrew Harrison 6-6 So. 4.2* 7.3

G-Aaron Harrison 6-6 So 2.1* 10.3

F-Trey Lyles 6-10 Fr. 5.8 7.8

F-Karl-Anthony Towns 6-11 Fr. 6.8 8.2

C-Willie Cauley-Stein 7-0 Jr. 6.6 10.1

* assists per game

Key reserves –Dakari Johnson, C, 7-0, So., 8.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg; Tyler Ulis, G, 5-9, Fr., 5.8 ppg, 3.7 apg; Devin Booker, G, 6-5, Fr., 9.9 ppg, 1.3 apg; Marcus Lee, F, 6-9, So., 3.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg; Derek Willis, F, 6-9, So., 3.1 ppg, 1.3 rpg.

STORY LINES

1. How can Calipari keep the Cats engaged? "That's the challenge we have right now," he said. "One of the things that I've done is I asked them: 'What do you want to add to your game? Every one of you here, tell me what you want to add. Figure it out. Spend a day … and then our job will be to help you add that. Now, you're going to have to work, but if you do add it to your game, I will add it to how we play.' Just got to keep them engaged."

RELATED: Three Points | Calipari keeping Cats engaged

2. So what do individual Cats want to add? "Willie wants to handle the ball more. 'OK, then you can't run people over and throw lob passes off the shot clock. … We're gonna get in the gym and we're gonna work on your handle and we're gonna add that into how we play. But it's your responsibility,' " Calipari said. "Dakari Johnson: 'I wanna shoot more 12-footers.' OK, OK. Well, the other day in practice he made five (and) guys are going nuts. Now, dood I want him off the block? No, but look, this isn't just about us winning."

Point guard Andrew Harrison has blocked out the noise about his backup Tyler Ulis' big game at Louisville because "all we did is got back to work and made some adjustments for him and the other guards," Calipari said. "He's wanting to do some mid-level pull-ups and some runners in the lane and do all that stuff and I said, 'Let's go.' … People may say, 'It's crazy, you're at Christmas and you're talking about individual guys getting better and you're not worried about your team.' They worry about the team. I'm trying to worry about them."

3. Alex Poythress going under the knife. UK's junior small forward, who tore his left ACL in practice and has missed the last three games, will undergo surgery out of town on Tuesday, Calipari said. Poythress left campus Monday. The Cats' coach didn't specify who would perform the surgery or where, but former UK star Nerlens Noel had his ACL repaired in Birmingham, Ala., by orthopedic surgeon to the stars, Dr. James Andrews.