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Columbia, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Continuing their run at perfection, the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats close out a two-game road trip on Thursday night, as they meet the Missouri Tigers in an SEC showdown at Mizzou Arena. John Caliparis Wildcats are one of just two unbeatens left in the country, with No. 2 Virginia being the other. Kentucky is off to its third-best start in school history at 19-0, tying the 2009-10 squad. The team is coming off a 58-43 win at South Carolina last weekend to improve to 6-0 in the SEC. Kim Andersons Tigers have struggled all season long and SEC play has not provided any relief. Missouri is a mere 7-12 on the season and enters this contest with an ugly five-game losing streak in tow, The team almost ended the skid on Saturday, but fell at home to Arkansas, 61-60. With the loss, Missouri is just 1-5 in conference play, just outside the league basement, currently inhabited by South Carolina (1-6) and Vanderbilt (1-6). These two teams met on Jan. 13 at Rupp Arena, as Kentucky thoroughly whipped Missouri in a 86-37 romp. This is just the eighth all-time meeting in the series, with Kentucky sporting a perfect 7-0 mark against Missouri. The Wildcats didnt need much offense in the win over South Carolina, as they put on yet another defensive clinic in limiting the Gamecocks to a mere 43 points on an anemic .226 shooting effort. In addition, Kentucky blocked nine shots in the game. Devin Booker led the way offensively, posting 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Aaron Harrison tacked on 13 points for Kentucky, which shot an efficient .462 from the field. Defense is the name of the game in Lexington this season. Not many teams are doing it better than Kentucky, which ranks second in scoring defense (50.4 ppg) and first in both field-goal percentage defense (.317) and blocked shots (155 - 8.2 per game). There arent any gaudy scoring averages on the roster, but there doesnt have to be with a +24.2 scoring margin (first nationally). Aaron Harrison tops the team with a modest 11.6 ppg. Booker is also in double figures at 10.8 ppg, with Willie Cauley-Stein (9.1 ppg), Dakari Johnson (8.2 ppg) and Karl-Anthony Towns (8.1 ppg) just below the mark. The Tigers gave the Razorbacks all they could handle this past weekend and had one of the nations top offensive squads on the ropes, before dropping the one-point decision. Montaque Gill-Caesar led the way in defeat, coming off the bench to tally 16 points. Jonathan Williams III had a big game as well, recording a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Keith Shamburger finished with 10 points for Missouri, which kept things close despite shooting a mere .397 from the floor in the game. Missouri has struggled to find offense this season, entering this contest averaging a mere 63.2 ppg. With the Tigers allowing 68.1 ppg, the -4.9 scoring margin is problematic. The team has had consistency problems in other areas as well, holding negative margins in both rebounding (-2.4) and turnovers (-1.5). Williams is the top playmaker on the roster, as the 6-9 sophomore paces Missouri in both scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg). Gill-Caesar is shooting well under 40 percent from the field (.368) but does post 10.8 ppg. Limited scoring depth comes in the form of Wes Clark (9.6 ppg) and Shamburger (8.6 ppg). Nike Vapormax Wholesale . -- Pelicans coach Monty Williams does not expect guard Eric Gordon to play in any of New Orleans final five games this season. Air Vapormax Nz . The victory strengthened Liverpools position in the top four after Tottenham lost 1-0 at Norwich in the days late kickoff, cutting the north London club six points adrift of fourth place and the final Champions League slot for next season. http://www.airvapormaxnz.com/. Leaning forward with both hands on his knees, Buffon appeared to be resting or somehow trying to withstand the rain. Or perhaps the 36-year-old goalkeeper and Italy captain was reflecting on this: He is only the third player in history to be part of five World Cup squads, along with Germany great Lothar Matthaus and former Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal. Nike Tns Nz . Three days after falling to Hamilton, Abbotsford scored three goals in 53 seconds en route to a convincing 5-1 win over the Bulldogs Saturday in American Hockey League play. Air Max Plus 97 Nz . - Diego Fagundez scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season in the 76th minute to lift the Revolution to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night that kept New Englands playoff hopes alive.OTTAWA - After 20 games, the inconsistent Ottawa Senators are still struggling to find their identity. When they score first, the Senators have a 5-0-1 record, but when they give up the first goal, they are a disappointing 3-8-3. "Well have some bright flashes, well look good for a couple games and win a couple of games and then I dont know," said Zack Smith. "Its getting a little frustrating. Theres still a lot of games left, but at the same time you want to establish an identity and find some consistency in our games." Two years ago, the Senators were known for their ability to come back in games, often in the final minute. Last year they showed resiliency advancing to the second round of the playoffs despite playing most of the season without Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson, Jared Cowen and Craig Anderson. For whatever reason, this years group hasnt shown the same ability to overcome adversity, especially after giving up the first goal. "Maybe were waiting around at the start of games to see what other teams are doing," said Marc Methot. "I dont think were really initiating the play the way that we probably should be, especially here at home with our fans behind us. We seem to be getting down on ourselves and thats contagious and that happens when you start losing games. Its one of those things that we just have to work our way out of." Senators coach Paul MacLean believes the team would see some overall improvement if they could just find a way to spend less time in their own end. "We play in our end all the time and thats still to me the biggest issue we have is our lack of execution and we play too much in our end," MacLean said. MacLean also talked of the importance of a shift after a goal and admitted the Senators havent been good at all. Too often the team has been guilty of turnovers and poor defensive coverage. "That eats away at your confidence and your mental strength," said MacLean. Following a 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, Senators coach Paul MacLean admitted all aspects of the teams preparation would be examined, but Spezza believes its more an issue of mental preparation. "We have to make sure were mentally prepared to have that urgency that we seem to be lacking," said the Sens captain. "We have big emotional games, big emotional wins and then we follow tthem up with games where we look like we lack a little bit of jump.dddddddddddd." Spezza admitted there are games that are easy to get up for and then there are those that require a greater awareness. And while its easy to say that for the most part this is the same group of players from the past two seasons those who are new dont have a lot of experience to draw from. "I think we might be showing that were a little bit of an inexperienced team maybe with some of the expectations," said Spezza. "Experience comes with knowing that certain games you need different types of urgency and different types of starts and different approaches to the game." Spezza, along with alternate captains Chris Phillips and Chris Neil will be looked upon to ensure everyone is ready to play. "Were going to lean on them heavy, if we havent already, were going to make some demands of them," said MacLean. "As individuals do a better job of getting themselves prepared and getting the team prepared to play." On Tuesday, the Senators take on the Philadelphia Flyers, who just one week ago shut out the Senators 5-0 in Ottawa. Spezza says this is exactly the kind of game the team needs to be properly prepared for, especially considering what happened last week. "It should have us on notice that we can get licked if we dont show up," he said. "If you thought it was going to be an easier game or a different game because of what their record is that 5-0 game shows us that we better be ready to go into that rink (Tuesday)." After last years success, theres no doubt expectations for this team were high and Smith cant help but wonder if thats actually been part of the problem. "Maybe we thought we were going to be that much better of a team and we wouldnt have to play the team game or work quite as hard," said Smith. "If thats the case well weve been proven wrong. You still have to work hard and work as a team … for some people maybe we overachieved (last year), but I think this year were definitely underachieving to this point." Notes: Phillips was not at practice due to the flu, but will travel with the team to Philadelphia and is expected to play Tuesday. No decision was made on Tuesdays starting goaltender. Neil will play his 800th career game Tuesday night. He has spent his entire career with the Senators. ' ' '