Each and every game, CoachCal.com will talk with assistant coach John Robic about Kentucky’s plan of attack. Coach Robic is responsible for scouting the opposition. Without giving away too much of the game plan, Robic will tell us his keys to the game, an important matchup and who Kentucky has to watch for on the opposing team.

Assessing Ole Miss

Robic: First off, they’re a really big team – big guards, big frontline, physical. It’s one of the bigger teams in the league from top to bottom. They really pound the offensive glass. Right now, knock on wood, they’re struggling to shoot the ball. You see a lot of teams playing zone against them. Vanderbilt hurt them a little Thursday night playing zone, but Vandy was on fire for most of the game, so you’ve sort of have  to throw that game out the window. You take your chances on either they’re going to be down or you’re playing against a wounded animal. We’ll see. It’s a quick turnaround for them. It’s almost like after the game you have to throw that one out the window and not necessarily look back but look forward. They don’t play particularly fast. They’ll run when the opportunity presents itself, but they’re not going to force the break. They probably feel that they need to keep the game in the 60s to have a chance, where we need to get it over that and into the 70s.

CoachCal.com extras: Ole Miss is a surprising 15-10 on the season, but the Rebels have lost three of their last four, including a 26-point loss to Vanderbilt on Thursday, a game in which the Commodores hit 12 3-pointers. Ole Miss is one of the few teams that physically matches up with UK. The Rebels’ average height is 6-foot-6, the same as the Wildcats.

Offensive keys

1. Beat Rebels off the dribble
2. Attack the press

Robic: We’ve really improved offensively in the last three weeks as Marquis Teague has gotten better. He’s a totally different player. He understands now, I think, what Coach is looking for. Coach has been tough on him. He’s been tough on Coach. But now he gets it. Once he starts saying he’s getting it, then the confidence level has grown. He’s not a score-first point guard anymore. He wants to get others involved. It’s been a big trigger in our run. We have to be ready for different things from them defensively. They do a little 2-2-1, half-court press. They’ll play both a 2-3 zone and man to man in the half court and out of bounds. Andy does a good job of changing defenses on the run.

CoachCal.com extras: Despite a decrease in points per game in conference play, Kentucky remains the nation’s No. 2 team in terms of offensive efficiency, according to stats guru Ken Pomeroy (the fast-paced, ultra-efficient Missouri Tigers are No. 1). Teague has been key to the efficiency, dishing out 46 assists to just 17 turnovers over his last eight games.

Defensive keys

1. Own the defensive glass
2. Don’t let ball handlers get by
3. Know player tendencies

Robic: They run a lot of things from the same set. We call it a horn set where the elbows are covered. They’re not a guard-oriented team as far as scoring. Sometimes their best offense is throwing the ball on the glass and going up and getting it. But we have to do a good job of not only defensive rebounding but we have to do a good job of guarding the dribbler and guarding the ball handler because they try to break you down a lot. Our big guys are going to have to do a good job of that this game. They do some post-up stuff to get their bigs going, but some of it’s getting them the ball at the elbows and some isolation plays for Terrance Henry at the 3. They isolate Murphy Holloway as well, and he’s another left-handed player who likes to drive it left. And we’ve got to keep Reggie Buckner off the glass.

CoachCal.com extras: Since league play began, Ole Miss is No. 1 in the in the Southeastern Conference in offensive rebounds per game (14.5) and offensive rebound percentage (39.5). Buckner leads the league with 3.6 offensive rebounds per game and Holloway is sixth with a 2.9 average during those games. The rebounding numbers have to make up for some paltry shooting numbers. The Rebels ranked 11th in the SEC in 3-point percentage (29.7) and last in free-throw percentage (59.6). Last game was the first time UK had given up 60 or more points since the Alabama game on Jan. 21. Even so, the Cats still had Vanderbilt to 36.5 percent from the floor, the sixth straight game the opposition has failed to hit at least 40 percent of its shots.

Player to watch for –Ole Miss forward Terrance Henry

Robic: He presents a huge challenge for us because he’s a legit 6-9 at the three position (small forward). We’re going to start Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on him to try to slow him down. He’s a strong left-handed driver and they isolate him quite a bit at the top and on the wings and not necessarily in the post. They posted him up some when Darius Miller guarded him in the SEC Tournament last year.

CoachCal.com extras: On a team without a real go-to scorer, Henry leads four Rebels in double figures with an 11.5 average. Henry average 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the teams’ two meetings a year ago.

X-factor: Home winning streak

Robic: Our home winning streak is a tribute to the players. We just try to get them ready to play. They really haven’t talked about it, but it’s a credit to our fans and players for being there. There have been a lot of close games during that run. You always go out and try to protect your home court and we’ve done a good job of that towards the end of the third year.

CoachCal.com extras: UK is going for its 50th consecutive win at home, far and away the nation’s longest home winning streak. The streak began in the 2009 National Invitational Tournament at Memorial Coliseum and has continued under John Calipari for 48 more games. UK has never lost a home game under Coach Cal.

Team stats and rankings

(national rankings in parentheses)

Stat leaders