Kentucky Wildcats center DeMarcus Cousins will face a tough matchup in Tuesday night's nationally televised showdown with Mississippi State Bulldogs center Jarvis Varnado. (AP Photo)

The SEC divisional leaders will square off on Tuesday night in a huge nationally televised primetime showdown on ESPN.

The Kentucky Wildcats (24-1, 9-1) will travel to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs (18-7, 6-4) in Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, Miss.

Freshman superstar center DeMarcus Cousins and the Wildcats enter the game on a five-game winning streak, while the Bulldogs enter the game on a two-game win streak following a thrilling overtime win over Auburn over the weekend.

Cousins will be lining up against one of the best defensive centers in the country in Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado. Varnado is second in NCAA history in career blocks, with 519.

"DeMarcus is one of the key players in our offense," Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe said. "When the other team is frustrating DeMarcus we have to step up."

Cousins is coming off a rough game against Tennessee, in which he scored just five points. Still, head coach John Calipari thinks Cousins will play well against Varnado.

"They're two different kinds of players," Calipari said. "One is going to block shots and be active and be quicker to the ball. The other is just a hard matchup for teams."

Mississippi State has won their last two games against Kentucky and will look to extend the streak to three on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST.