Photo by Keyli Chisesi (Go Big Blue Country)
The Kentucky Wildcats will get their first taste of a true road environment tomorrow night when they take on the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge.
The first true road game of the season hasn’t been kind to John Calipari during his time at Kentucky. Through eight seasons, Kentucky owns a 2-6 record in road openers. However, some of those have been in tough venues against elite teams but it’s still worth noting.
The two teams that got wins in road openers were Calipari’s first team at Kentucky and the group that started the season 38-0. In December 2009, the John Wall led Wildcats defeated Indiana at Assembly Hall and the 2014-2015-platoon squad knocked off Louisville in a battle of undefeated teams.
It’s a different test for this young Kentucky team when they enter an opponent’s arena. Kentucky has traveled this season but neutral site games vs. Kansas, Monmouth, and UCLA will be nothing like what they see this week in conference play.
As for how Kentucky has faired in each true road game opener under John Calipari, take a look below.
2009-2010 Kentucky 90 Indiana 73
2010-2011 Kentucky 73 North Carolina 75
2011-2012 Kentucky 72 Indiana 73
2012-2013 Kentucky 50 Notre Dame 64
2013-2014 Kentucky 77 North Carolina 82
2014-2015 Kentucky 58 Louisville 50
2015-2016 Kentucky 77 UCLA 87
2016-2017 Kentucky 70 Louisville 73