Rarely does a college basketball game provide such stark contrast between the sport’s haves and have-nots as when Jackson State faces No. 9 Kentucky on Friday in Lexington, Ky.
While Kentucky claims eight NCAA Tournament crowns and the most wins in college basketball history, Jackson State has never won an NCAA Tournament game and enters the matchup looking for its first win of the season.
Impressive tradition and current record aside, Kentucky (4-0) returned no scholarship players from last season’s team that was knocked off by Oakland in the NCAA Tournament. New coach Mark Pope and his essentially all-new Wildcats are off to a promising start.
Through four games, Kentucky is averaging 94.3 points per game, and with 11.5 3-pointers made per game, the team is on pace to set a school record from long distance. The Wildcats boast six double-figure scorers with transfer guards Otega Oweh (from Oklahoma, 15.0 ppg) and Koby Brea (from Dayton, 14.5 ppg) leading the team.
The Wildcats defeated Duke 77-72 on Nov. 12 but showed few signs of an emotional letdown in Tuesday’s 97-68 win over a Lipscomb team picked to win the Atlantic Sun Conference in the preseason. Kentucky drained a dozen 3-pointers while outrebounding their visitors 43-28. Guard Jaxson Robinson, held to a single point by Duke, dropped 20 points to lead the Kentucky attack.
Afterward, Pope praised his team’s focus, saying, “The last game was over and it was kind of on to, ‘How do we get better?’ That’s the only thing we talk about.”
Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff also delivered a ringing endorsement, calling Kentucky “the best offensive Power Four team we’ve played in my six years at Lipscomb.”
Jackson State (0-5) and third-year coach Mo Williams are looking for something positive to build upon. Not only are the Tigers winless, but they have lost each game by nine or more points. Sophomore guard Jayme Mitchell Jr. (13.8 ppg) is the leading scorer, but the team shoots just 35.8 percent while allowing opponents to shoot 52.3 percent.
The Tigers played on Wednesday at Western Kentucky, where they lost 79-62. Reserve Tamarion Hoover had a breakout game with 18 points to lead Jackson State, but the host Hilltoppers canned 14 3-point shots and outrebounded the Tigers 42-35 to grab the win.
Earlier, Williams, who played against Kentucky while a student at Alabama, admitted the difficulties of a challenging nonconference schedule for his team.
“Our goal is not to win 13 nonconference games,” Williams said. “We’re already at a disadvantage in that regard. We use these games to get us ready for conference play and for March Madness.”
Jackson State has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2007. The Tigers had a perfect regular-season record (11-0) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 2020-21 but lost in the league tournament.
Kentucky has never played Jackson State before, but the game is being billed as part of a Unity Series of matchups in which Kentucky hosts members of the SWAC to raise awareness of Historical Black Colleges and Universities and provide funds for those schools. Past Unity Series opponents have been Southern in December 2021 and Florida A&M in December 2022.
