The Penn State Nittany Lions face their toughest opponent of the season with a Saturday afternoon match up with the Kentucky Wildcats. The Nittany improved to 3-0 with a 77-68 win over Long Island while the Wildcats topped Kansas 75-65.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year of sorts for Penn State with a new head coach and four new starters so the team has to be pleased with their 3-0 start. The flip side is we don’t really know how good this team is with the wins coming against the likes of Hartford, Radford and Long Island. In fact, the Blackbirds gave the Nittany Lions all they could handle with a four point lead almost 12 ½ minutes in to the second half before Penn State went on a game ending 21-8 scoring burst. Tim Frazier poured in a game high 26 points on 9 of 18 shooting including 3 of 4 from long range to go along with five rebounds and ten assists. Cammeron Woodyard tossed in 13 points with six pulls as the only other player to score in double figures but four others chipped in with 6-9 points to give the Nittany Lions balance. It was defense that carried the day with Penn State holding Long Island to 36.2% shooting while holding advantages in both rebounding and turnovers.

Kentucky’s showdown with Kansas was a tale of two halves with the Wildcats hitting at only 38.5% from the field and giving the ball away 12 times in a 28-28 game heading in to the break. UK turned things around with 64% second half marksmanship while hitting at 51% from the field overall. Doron Lamb paced the attack with 17 points but Kentucky was the very definition of balanced with all five starters scoring in double figures. That was overkill with the defense holding the Jayhawks to only 33.9% from the floor. The Wildcats hot shooting and stingy defense saved the day with Kansas owning advantages in the rest of the box score. KU totaled 14 offensive rebounds, forced 19 giveaways and held a 21-15 edge at the charity stripe. Kentucky was deadly from the perimeter with a 7 of 15 performance from distance and are shooting 57% through two games.

Penn State is 3-0 and should be as the competition has not been stiff so we really don’t know what this team has or doesn’t have. We do know what Kentucky has and it’s a ton of talent that I think can name the score here. If the Wildcats apply themselves they win by 20+ and only by 15 if they don’t but no play for me...