In Kentucky’s 66-58 win over Missouri on Tuesday night, Reid Travis suffered a knee injury midway through the second half as
Keldon Johnson accidentally fell into Travis’ right knee on a fast break.

Kentucky was “trapped” in Columbus until late Wednesday afternoon due to weather, and no tests could run until the Cats got back to Lexington. After much anticipation, the Cats were finally able to get back and an MRI has confirmed a right knee sprain for Travis, but there is no further damage.

According to the UK Athletics department, Travis is expected to miss 10-14 days. Fourteen days from yesterday would be March 5th, the day Kentucky is scheduled to play at Ole Miss and will make him available for senior night on March 9th.

Over the course of the next two weeks, Kentucky plays Auburn, Arkansas, at Tennessee, and at Ole Miss. Three of which are in predicted to be in the tournament and the fourth, Arkansas, in the first four teams out. This will be a challenging stretch for Kentucky and will need to at least go 3-1 to have a chance to win the SEC.

Let’s dive deeper on what Kentucky will need to do be successful without Reid and the storylines.

EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards Need to Step Up

After the news broke, Calipari said, “Now, the other thing is, one guy’s misery is another guy’s opportunity. So now you have Nick [Richards] and EJ [Montgomery], now you have that opportunity to get extended minutes.”

Richards and Montgomery have been considered x-factors in this Kentucky team making a deep run in the NCAA tournament. With Reid missing time this gives each of them the opportunity to develop and gain more confidence before the postseason.

Richards, when on, has provided some great play off the bench and Montgomery has one of the highest potentials on this team. They both need to play well enough to take attention off of PJ Washington and be effective on the defensive end. Here is a comparison between the per 40 min totals for Travis and Montgomery/Richards.

PER 40 MINUTES:

Travis – 16.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.1 blocks

EJ/Nick – 12.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.7 blocks

Despite taking a hit offensively, Montgomery and Richards give Kentucky more rim protection, and even the option implement more lob plays.

Improve Defensively

Kentucky has the 8th most efficient defense in the country, however, that couldn’t be seen in the final 10:24 when Travis exited the game. Kentucky was outscored 35-25 in the second half and showed plenty of mental mistakes on the defensive end.

Reid’s high basketball IQ impacts the defensive end in ways that cant be measured by numbers, which was shown on the highest stage in the LSU game in the final possession. With Travis out of the game, three players went for a block with no one boxing out for a rebound leading to LSU’s controversial tip-in win.

Calipari has completely transformed this team defensively and will need to make the necessary adjustments to stay elite on that end of the floor. While, not having as great of a basketball IQ as Travis, Montgomery and Richards do give Cal more athleticism and size to work with and provide better rim protection.

Crash the Boards

Kentucky has been one of the best rebounding teams in the country this season. The Cats rank top-30 in total rebounds per game and rank top-10 in offensive rebounding percentage. Travis is a big part of Kentucky’s success on the boards.

As dominant as Kentucky has been on boards this season they were outworked on Tuesday night, as Missouri won the rebounding battle 34-28.
Just four games ago, Montgomery had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds against South Carolina. Last season, as a starter Richards averaged 12 rebounds per game per 40 minutes. Both big men have shown the potential to be elite rebounders, but they will need to put into action

Can PJ Maintain his Dominance without Travis?

With PJ and Travis, the best part of this Kentucky team has been their frontcourt this season. After starting the game off quick with 15 points in the first half, PJ was held to just three points in the second half. With Travis out, Missouri was able to solely focus and double team PJ making it much more difficult for him to get anything going.

If the third worst team in the SEC can hold PJ to three points in a half, what will some of the top teams in the SEC be able to do? The rest of the Cats will have to attract more attention and allow PJ to be effective.

Calipari said in a press release. “We are going to be very conservative with this, so he may be out a couple weeks. We hope he will be ready for around the conference tournament or maybe even a little bit before, but I’m happy for Reid that we’re going to get him back.”

Although it’s not ideal for Travis to miss any time, I believe this is a great opportunity for the young players on this team to grow up and mature just in time before NCAA tournament.

P.S. Can Reid Travis receive some fashion advice from Brad Calipari?