Three Keys to Victory: No. 19 Kentucky-Michigan

At 1 p.m. EST, the No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats and Michigan Wolverines will go toe-to-toe in the Basketball Hall of Fame London Showcase inside The O2 Arena in England.

Both teams are 5-2 and looking for their first important marquee victory of the season. Betting lines are pegging the Cats to head back to the United States with said win.

Here are three keys to victory for Kentucky:

FORCE TURNOVERS

Michigan is 10th nationally in turnovers, giving it up just 9.6 times a game. In their first seven games of the season, the Wolverines haven't allowed more than 12 turnovers in a 40-minute span.

Center Hunter Dickinson is one of two players leading UM in turnovers with 12 through seven games. He also had a team-high four against Virginia on Tuesday, so the Wildcats need to look at doubling the big man when the opportunity arises.

Dickinson provides some similar challenges to Kentucky's defense in the same way that Gonzaga's Drew Timme did, but Dickinson's height opens up another can of worms. Michigan will look to get him the ball in the post and let him operate. Kentucky needs to help on defense and not let the big man dribble, make him uncomfortable and force bad passes.

This will be an interesting challenge for Kentucky on defense. It has been able to rack up turnovers against all opposition thus far, but the Wolverines are the most careful in that regard, and it won't be easy to just nab steals. Cason Wallace and Sahvir Wheeler have to disrupt the UM guards, and again, make Dickinson uncomfortable as often as possible.

GET INTO MICHIGAN'S BENCH / DEPTH

All five of Michigan's starters play at least 26 minutes a game, with three of them (Dickinson, Jett Howard, Kobe Bufkin) eclipsing 30 minutes every night out. From there, Duke transfer Joey Baker and Dug McDaniel are the only bench players who average double-digit minutes.

Juwan Howard has not had the same issue as John Calipari, he knows what his best group is and who his five will be down the stretch. That alone provides an advantage, if we want to talk about continuity.

Kentucky needs to try and get to the free-throw line, getting UM's starters in some sort of foul trouble. It doesn't have to be Dickinson, but get into the Wolverines' bench and make them play some rotations that aren't as familiar to them.

Keep the physicality, try to get in the lane and find contact when going to the basket. Be disrupters on offense as well as defense. Make the bench beat you.

LIGHT IT UP FROM DEEP

In both of Michigan's losses (Arizona State, Virginia), the Wolverines have allowed 50 percent shooting or better from 3-point range.

This will be a BIG opportunity for CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves to finally put in a healthy scoring night against Power Five opposition. Frankly, the Wildcats cannot afford another game with poor shooting from both of its...shooting guards.

Find a way to get those open looks for the confident shooters. Don't rely on Sahvir Wheeler and Jacob Toppin to be the ones cashing in on your looks from deep. If it goes in, great, but try and run the offense to where each of your scorers can operate doing what they do best.

Calipari has mentioned shooting 25 treys a game, but the Wildcats have hit that mark just twice so far this season. We've also seen hesitation from UK on the perimeter at times this year, that cannot continue if it wishes to become as good of a shooting team as it was advertised at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign.

Let if fly.

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