Rick Pitino calls Kentucky a 'terrific' defensive team: 'It'll be one hell of a game'

St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino is expecting a defensive battle when his team takes on Kentucky this weekend.

Going into Saturday’s showdown in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena (12:30 p.m. ET | CBS), St. John’s and Kentucky rank neck-and-neck in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency stat — in fact, they boast the exact same number of 96.5. That’s good enough to rank the Red Storm at 15th nationally and the Wildcats at 16th nationally (one team has to be ahead of the other).

Pitino’s squad is coming off a win over DePaul on Tuesday night that saw them give up only 66 points in a 13-point victory. The Blue Demons shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 7-25 from deep while turning the ball over 12 times. It’s the third straight game St. John’s has held the opponent to 66 or fewer points.

Kentucky, meanwhile, just limited Indiana to 60 points during Saturday’s 12-point win at Rupp Arena. The Hoosiers finished with a 34.1 field goal percentage and a 4-24 clip from deep with a season-high 18 turnovers. At least from a numbers standpoint, offense has come easier to St. John’s this season compared to UK, but both teams have leaned into defense being their calling cards to this point.

Aside from all the outside talking points — Pitino taking on Mark Pope, who Pitino coached at Kentucky in the 1990s, for the first time as head coaches — the actual game being played on the hardwood should be equally as interesting. Both teams could use the win for their NCAA Tournament resumes.

Following Tuesday’s win over DePaul, Pitino briefly talked about facing the school he used to coach.

“Kentucky is very big. They’re plus 10 on the glass. They rebound the ball great. They’re terrific on defense. It’ll be a hell of a game, it’ll be a tough game. We know that,” Pitino said when asked about the matchup. “When you go to Atlanta, they call it in Lexington: Catlanta. They’ll have about six, seven thousand of their fans. It’ll be somewhat of a road game (for St. John’s). But that’s okay. We’re playing good defense right now. I think it’ll be a good basketball game.”

There is a high chance this contest ends up being the most physical Kentucky has dealt with all season. Points could be tough to come by. KenPom projects St. John’s to sneak out a 78-77 win. But the Wildcats did just play a physical brand of basketball in the win over Indiana. They shouldn’t be shocked by St. John’s doing something similar.

We’ll hear plenty more on this showdown from both Pitino and Pope in the coming days ahead of Saturday’s tipoff. Pope will speak with the local media on Thursday to preview the matchup.