How to watch Kentucky basketball take on Missouri in Rupp Arena

How Kentucky fans can watch their Wildcats face the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope looks on as his Wildcats squad face the Bellarmine Knights. | Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Kentucky Wildcats will return to Rupp Arena on Wednesday as they take on the Missouri Tigers. After falling in embarrassing fashion against Alabama, Kentucky returns to their home court to begin a very crucial week for their season. We're only one game into SEC play this season, but Mark Pope's squad has their backs against the wall already.

Kentucky basketball is 9-5 on the season, including 2-5 in quad 1 opportunities, as they lost their first four games against top 25 opponents to start the season, now just 1-5. The Wildcats have started the SEC portion of their schedule on the wrong foot after the 15-point loss on the road to the Alabama Crimson Tide, all while having a fully-healthy roster for the entire game for just the first time this season. Now, they look turn the page back in Rupp Arena to take on the Missouri Tigers.

As for the Tigers, they're coming into Rupp Arena after escaping with a 76-74 win at home over the Florida Gators on Saturday. The biggest thing about the Tigers is their pace of play. They want to play slow and physical, all while slowing down and disrupting their opponent. In their losses, teams have scored 76, 80 and 91 points against them. They're very vulnerable to turnovers, so Kentucky can take advantage their if that aggressive identity we have seen before this season returns. Regardless, it's still a must-win game for Kentucky on their home court Wednesday night.

Let's take a look at how fans can watch Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats take on the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday.

How to watch the Wildcats take on the Tigers in Rupp Arena

The Kentucky Wildcats will take on the Missouri Tigers on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET inside Rupp Arena, and fans can watch the game on ESPN2. You may also listen on the UK Sports Network. Kentucky enters the game as a 12.5-point favorite over the Tigers on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Kentucky Wildcats guard Collin Chandler (5) passes the ball during game against the Bellarmine Knights | Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Keys to victory for Kentucky against Missouri

Disrupt the Tigers' slow, sloppy offense

Missouri is a very efficient team from inside the arc, but they're known to be a very sloppy offense with a high tendency of committing turnovers. In fact, the Tigers rank 235th in turnovers, even 341st in non-steal turnovers. That's the biggest key for Kentucky heading in, because they also need to get back to that physical and aggressive identity that they showed against Indiana and St. John's. Kentucky got exposed against Alabama even with putting a fully-healthy team on the court, the same group that went on a 14-0 run late against St. John's to pull away for the win. That's the type of team Kentucky fans want to see on Wednesday. Staying aggressive on defense can go a long way in this matchup.

Take advantage of a bad three-point defense

Everyone knows shooting has not been a bright spot for Kentucky this season, but they haven't faced a power conference team that defends the three ball worse than Missouri. The only oher team overall they have played that is worse? Bellarmine. The Wildcats have short poorly recently aside from the Bellarmine game and are coming off a 5-19 game from three, but they can really take a step forward in that department on Wednesday. The Tigers are actually 283rd in three-point defense, with opponents getting a staggering 40 percent of their points from deep, the fifth-highest percentage in college basketball. Speaking of Bellarmine, they allow the fourth-highest. Could Kentucky have similar shooting numbers to their game against Bellarmine?

There really isn't much else Kentucky fans should really want on Wednesday as far as the matchup goes. Obviously execution on both offense and defense needs to be much better, but until they can execute, those two keys to the game are not acheivable. The bottom line here is Kentucky needs a good showing, and they can't afford yet another loss given their resume already having nothing to show, let alone playing this one on their home floor. Oh, and this one qualifies as a quad 3 opponent.