First Scouting Report: When Bellarmine faces UK, state basketball history will be made
A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 15 Kentucky (4-2) will face Bellarmine (2-3) on Tuesday (Nov. 29) at Rupp Arena (capacity 20,545) at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington:
The game will tip off at 7 p.m. (EST) and be streamed by SEC Network Plus (there is no television or cable TV broadcast).
Before coming to Lexington, Bellarmine will travel to the West Coast to face Loyola Marymount (Friday at 3 p.m. EST) and No. 19 UCLA (Sunday at 7 p.m. EST).
Series history
This will be the first meeting between Kentucky and Bellarmine.
Power rankings
The CBS version of the NET Rankings have Kentucky No. 9, Bellarmine No. 197.
In the Kenpom Ratings, Kentucky stands No. 4, Bellarmine No. 221.
The Sagarin Ratings have Kentucky No. 17, Bellarmine No. 212.
Know your foe
1. Over a long career, Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport has built one of the most impressive resumes in (state of) Kentucky basketball history. In 1988, Davenport coached Ballard High School, led by Allan Houston and Mark Bell, past Clay County, featuring Richie Farmer and Russ Chadwell, to win the Kentucky boys’ basketball state tournament championship.
In 2011, Davenport coached Bellarmine, a private Catholic university in Louisville, to the NCAA Division II national title.
Last season, Davenport led the Knights — in their second season transitioning upward to NCAA Division I — to the ASUN Tournament championship.
This year’s season opener yielded, arguably, the greatest regular-season victory in Bellarmine history when the Knights traveled 4.3 miles from their campus to the KFC Yum Center where they upset the University of Louisville, 67-66.
For most of Bellarmine history, that would have been an unthinkable result.
2. In building a brand for Bellarmine men’s basketball, Davenport has aggressively scheduled some of the nation’s premier programs.
Last season, Bellarmine played Purdue (a 96-67 loss), Gonzaga (92-50 loss), UCLA (75-62 loss) and West Virginia (74-55 loss).
This year, the Knights have faced Louisville (67-66 win), Clemson (76-66 loss) and Duke (74-57 loss) with games vs. UCLA and Kentucky still to come.
3. The trip to Lexington will be a homecoming for Bellarmine redshirt freshman guard Ben Johnson. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound guard was Kentucky’s 2021 Mr. Basketball after a stellar high school career at Lexington Catholic.
After redshirting last season as a Bellarmine true freshman, Johnson is playing 18.4 minutes a game for the Knights in 2022-23 in a reserve role.
Known as a prolific long-range marksman in high school, Johnson is making 53.3 percent of his three-point attempts through five games and averaging 6.4 points and 2.6 rebounds.
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