Kentucky vs. Nicholls: Preview, Odds & How to Watch

The new-look exhibition schedule against high-major competition was fun and different, but nothing compares to the real stuff. That’s coming on Tuesday as the Kentucky Wildcats host the Nicholls Colonels inside Rupp Arena to tip off the 2025-26 season — year two under Mark Pope.

Otega Oweh leads a returning group for UK alongside Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah while bringing in portal additions Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), Mo Dioubate (Alabama), Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State), Kam Williams (Tulane) and Reece Potter (Miami OH) to go with first-year players Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno, Andrija Jelavic and Braydon Hawthorne.

What do you need to know about the competition? And more importantly, how can you tune in? KSR has all of the answers as we get ready for the official start of UK basketball season.

How To Watch

No. 9 Kentucky vs. Nicholls
7 p.m. ET | Tuesday, Nov. 4 | Rupp Arena

• Streaming: SEC Network+ (Noah Frary, Ravi Moss)
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow the game via our LIVE BLOG on the website, which will begin an hour or two before tipoff. Or you join the conversation on KSBoard.

Exhibition Rewind

Kentucky: KenPom 4

• 10/24: 78-65 W vs. No. 1 Purdue
• 10/30: 84-70 L vs. Georgetown

Nicholls: KenPom 225

The Colonels played in two secret scrimmages, but did not publicize their opponents — head coach Tevon Saddler said they beat a Division I opponent picked to win its conference by 22 points and defeated another NAIA team to wrap up the preseason

Series History

This is the first-ever matchup between Kentucky and Nicholls, just as it will be for Eastern Illinois to make up two of three opponents in the program’s BBN United Tipoff Classic presented by Kentucky Tourism. The Wildcats have played Valparaiso, the third opponent in the event, two separate times with both matchups favoring UK.

Kentucky vs. Nicholls Odds

KenPom predicts a 90-62 win for the Wildcats, giving Pope’s squad a 99.5 percent chance to pull off the season-opening victory. Elsewhere, BartTorvik is going with an 88-61 victory for the blue and white with a 98 percent chance at an outright win. ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives UK a 97.4 percent chance to open the year 1-0.

Official odds have not been released by our friends at BetMGM, but check back later for the pregame line.

Kentucky Potential Starters

(Starting lineup based on the last game)

#5 – Collin Chandler
6-5 – 205 – GUARD – SOPHOMORE
2.7 PPG, 1.0 RPG, 0.7 APG

#00 – Otega Oweh
6-4 – 215 – GUARD – JUNIOR
16.2 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.6 SPG

#9 – Trent Noah
6-5 – 220 – FORWARD – SOPHOMORE
2.7 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 0.4 APG

#23 – Mouhamed Dioubate
6-7 – 220 – FORWARD – JUNIOR
7.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.1 APG

#10 – Brandon Garrison
6-10 – 245 – FORWARD – JUNIOR
5.9 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.9 APG

Stats from 2023-24 season*

Nicholls Potential Starters

#1 – Trae English
6-0 – 175 – GUARD – REDSHIRT SENIOR
6.1 PPG (41.7% 3PT), 2.6 APG, 2.0 RPG

#9 – Zaiden Cross
6-7 – 180 – GUARD – SENIOR
20.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.1 APG

#3 – Jaylen Searles
6-8 – 195 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
6.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.2 APG

#5 – Sincere Malone
6-8 – 210 – FORWARD – SENIOR
5.6 PPG, 4.0 RPG

#7 – Grant Sanders
6-10 – 205 – FORWARD – SENIOR
10.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.8 APG

Stats from 2023-24 season*

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes, based on 2024-25 season statistics)

Fun stats from UK’s game notes:

• The Cats are 101-21 all-time in season openers and are 106-16 all-time in home openers
• Otega Oweh has been named the preseason SEC Player of the Year and has been named to CBS’ and ESPN’s preseason All-America Second Team squads. He is UK’s leading returning scorer at 16.2 points per game.
• The Cats advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019 in Mark Pope’s first season. The team set program records for most wins over AP-ranked teams (8), most 3-pointers made (341) and the most players to average double-figure scoring (6) in program history
• Kentucky opens the season ranked No. 9 in both AP and Coaches Polls as the program searches for championship banner No. 9

Pregame Storylines

WILL JALAND LOWE AND/OR DENZEL ABERDEEN PLAY?

Lowe went down with a shoulder injury in Kentucky’s Blue-White Game, thrusting Aberdeen into the starting point guard role against No. 1 Purdue. Then he got banged up himself, missing the team’s second exhibition matchup vs. Georgetown with a “sore leg,” as Pope described it. Will either of them be back against Nicholls in the opener? That remains up in the air as things stand on Monday, their head coach initially saying he was “hoping to get both of those guys back in the next week or two” following the Thursday loss.

Their returns/debuts would be welcomed, obviously, as Kentucky struggled on both ends of the floor with them out, finishing with 15 turnovers and just 14 assists against the Hoyas while giving up 84 points. If not, Collin Chandler and Jasper Johnson will need to step up.

OTEGA OWEH BEGINS NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR PUSH

He’s receiving his flowers as a veteran voice in the Kentucky locker room — as one should, coming back from an All-SEC campaign as the SEC Preseason Player of the Year and a Preseason All-American. Now, Oweh has been named to the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list for the 2025-26 Naismith Trophy Player of the Year after leading the Wildcats in scoring a year ago at 16.2 points per game while setting career-best marks in points per game, rebounds per game (4.7), assists per game (1.7), steals per game (1.6), blocks per game (0.5) and free-throw percentage (.776). The program is pushing for banner No. 9, and that could go hand-in-hand with a NPOY run for Oweh in his final season of college basketball.

That push begins against Nicholls on Tuesday.

COLONELS LED BY THE NATION’S YOUNGEST DI COACH

Nicholls enters year three of the Tevon Saddler era, who coached the program to back-to-back 20-win campaigns and third-place finishes in the Southland Conference to begin his career, named a 2024 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Finalist. The youngest active Division I coach in the country, he was hired at just 28 years of age as a former Colonel player himself, leading the program to its first conference championship in two decades while also earning All-Southland Second Team honors. Now 30 years old and fresh off a contract extension keeping him with the program through 2030, he faces his toughest coaching job yet with the program undergoing a total rebuild.

A BRAND-NEW NICHOLLS TEAM

The Colonels are coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons but return only three players from last year’s squad — Jaylen Searles (6.5 ppg), Trae English (6.1) and Sincere Malone (5.6). 1,866 of 2,443 total points scored in 2024-25 are gone. They’ve been replaced by 10 newcomers, including nine portal additions and one high school signee. Of that group, Zaiden Cross (20.2 PPG, Tennessee Southern), Grant Sanders (10.2 PPG, Brewton-Parker Christian), Zee Hamoda (11.9 PPG, Sacramento State) and Jalik Dunkley (9.9 PPG, Arizona Christian) were the most productive at their previous schools a year ago.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE SOUTHLAND FOE?

With no in-season film and limited info on Kentucky’s first opponent, lean on Saddler’s self-scout to learn a bit more about the Colonels.

“We got a lot of size and versatility. I think we will be able to switch a lot of things,” he said. “Offensively, we will play a more NBA modern style five out with a lot of guys that can shoot. I think we have one of the best wing cores in our conference. If you look around the league you see a lot of big wings and I’m excited to see this team play together. … I’m really excited and I have never been to Rupp (Arena). It will be 24,000 (in attendance) and the bigger the risk the bigger the reward. It should be a fun night for the Colonels.”

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during the game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates as your eyes and ears inside Rupp Arena while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).

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Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live from outside Rupp Arena on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from Mark Pope and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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