Monmouth-NJ @ Kentucky preview

One of the world's most famous coaches brings his team into the world's most famous arena when No. 7 Kentucky meets Monmouth on Saturday in the Citi Hoops Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York, but John Calipari hasn't come close to getting to the bottom of his latest one-and-done group. The Wildcats have won five straight after their 79-70 victory over Harvard on Saturday in a contest they led by 20 with seven minutes remaining.

The Hawks are coming off a pair of tough losses - 85-84 on Wednesday to Hofstra on a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left after a purposely missed free throw, and an 84-81 overtime decision at Connecticut on Dec. 2. "We have to practice more late-game situations, and we just have to understand staying together is the way that you have success,'' Monmouth coach King Rice told reporters Wednesday. "Hopefully, this (loss) is going to help us later." That might not happen until Tuesday at Princeton, although four of Kentucky's seven victories this season have been by 10 points or fewer - all at Rupp Arena - and the Hawks could get a boost from the crowd as their campus is located less than 60 miles from MSG. Wildcats freshman forward Kevin Knox, though, knows what needs to be done, telling reporters: "We have to be able to put our foot on their throats and get good plays and good shots and not try to turn into a selfish team. ... Then we go up by 50 and have fun."

TV: Noon ET, ESPNU

ABOUT MONMOUTH (3-6): Junior guard Micah Seaborn (16.7 points) is the Hawks' only double-figure scorer and became the fourth-fastest in school history to reach 1,000 points, accomplishing the feat Wednesday in his 75th game. Senior guard Austin Tilghman averages 9.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists after recording 14, six and five versus Hofstra, and has one double-double this season with 19 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 48 minutes of 101-96 loss in four overtimes to Pennsylvania on Nov. 25. The Hawks were 10th-worst - or 342nd in the nation through Wednesday's games - in assist-to-turnover ratio at .62 with Tilghman recording team highs of 39 assists and 27 turnovers.

ABOUT KENTUCKY (7-1): Knox averages team highs in points (16.6) and minutes (35.3) while scoring 11 or more in every game. Freshman guard Hamidou Diallo (13.6 points) scored a season-best 19 points in each of the last two games, while freshman guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is shooting 50.9 percent from the field, and averaging 9.5 points, 3.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds. Freshman PJ Washington (8.4 points, 5.5 rebounds) fouled out against Harvard for his second disqualification of the season.

TIP-INS

1. The Wildcats have 121 turnovers through eight games - the second-most under Calipari. The 2009-10 club, which featured John Wall, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins, had 141 during that span.

2. Gilgeous-Alexander averages 2.5 steals as he threatens to break the school record of 2.6 set by Rajon Rondo in 2004-05.

3. Kentucky is 221-4 when leading by double figures at any point of a game under Calipari.

PREDICTION: Kentucky 80, Monmouth 58