Bruiser Flint expects Bellarmine to test Kentucky's discipline

Bellarmine is in the midst of its gauntlet of a non-conference schedule, playing at Duke, UCLA and Kentucky in the span of just nine days, the only school to play in the iconic venues of Cameron Indoor Stadium, Pauley Pavilion and Rupp Arena in the same season. That stretch alone features 5,633 total miles traveled.

The Knights previously beat Louisville at the Yum! Center to open the season, lost by seven at Morehead State, beat Campbellsville by 40 and lost by 10 at Clemson. Their least competitive game was actually on the road at Loyola Marymount — an 80-59 loss — while putting up solid fights at Duke (74-57) and UCLA (81-60).

The record isn’t impressive at 2-5, but the way they play under head coach Scotty Davenport is turning heads. It’s a fundamental style of play that maximizes ball movement and utilizes the shot clock.

“Look how hard his kids play,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said Sunday. “If you respect the game, watching them play is refreshing, in my opinion. Preparing for it makes you a better team because you have to defend the whole clock, you have to have pressure on the ball, active hands, communication, and they’re going to pick you apart.”

Kentucky expects that trend of tough play to continue when the Knights travel up the road to Lexington to take on the Wildcats on Tuesday. For starters, associate to the head coach Bruiser Flint says in-state foes always bring their A-game when the lights come on at Rupp Arena. Considering Bellarmine is traveling across the country and competing against the best of the best to open its schedule, the Knights will fit right in.

It’s a challenge the Wildcats welcome with open arms.

“The teams from the state, they’re going to play us (hard),” Flint said Monday. “One of the things about these kids, they watch the games, so they know we have to be at the top of our game. They’ve lost games, but they’ve been in games with teams. We know coming in here, it’s going to be a little different. Even the teams not Bellarmine, but (outside of) Michigan State, Gonzaga — they played well against us. We’re Kentucky, we know they’re going to come and play against us every night. We know we better be ready for these teams, and I think we’ve been good in these types of games.”

And then there’s the challenge of how the Knights play and how fundamentally sound and well-coached they are under Davenport. Kentucky can’t afford slip-ups and miscommunications on defense, because Bellarmine will take advantage.

The Wildcats have focused on that in practice this past week, ramping up defensive engagement and intensity. Now it’s on the unit to put it all together and play up to its potential against the Knights.

“They’re going to test our discipline defensively, that’s for sure, because of what they run,” Flint added. “I don’t want to say they hold the ball, but they’re going to work the shot clock. Our discipline on defense, our communication on defense, it’s going to be important because of the type of offense they run. It’s a good test for us. We’ve worked on some things, and defense is one of them. Hopefully we’re able to carry it over to the game.

“This is a good test because of the system they run, what they do. We’ll see whether or not the things we worked on this weekend will come out in the game, not just defensively but offensively too.”

The game will tip-off on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, with the game broadcast live on SEC Network +.