Media Day was held for No. 18 Kentucky Baseball on Tuesday, Feb. 3, and head coach Nick Mingione was highly optimistic for his 10th Wildcats team and their developments throughout the offseason.

The 2x SEC Coach of the Year discussed managing the tough ask of acquiring a top 25 recruiting class and a top 10 portal class, his pride and appreciation for BBN – as he glosses over some of the other successful head coaches in Lexington and MLB prospect Tyler Bell improving as a player more than anybody thought he would.

One of the bigger topics that came around during Mingione’s press conference was about incoming freshman Matt Ponatoski, a two-sport star from Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati, OH, who was praised heavily as both a quarterback, a pitcher, and a hitter during his recruiting stages.

You rarely see young athletes succeed in multiple sports the way Ponatoski did, but as he picked up Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year in both football and baseball during his junior year, Kentucky took the chance and brought him in under two coaches.

It’s hard enough for a young athlete coming into college to accept the pressure of two SEC-team workloads, but what about the coaches who have to work with him?

Fortunately, Mingione and the newly hired Will Stein (who recruited Ponatoski during his time at Oregon) look to be working together diligently to make sure the dual prospect succeeds in every position he plays.

“You just have to take your daddy goggles off or your mommy goggles off and just ask some people that you trust,” Mingione said. “The game of baseball and football has not told Matt Ponatoski to stop playing one or the other.”

Kentucky opens its season with three games in three days at UNC Greensboro. The first matchup is stamped for Friday, Feb. 13 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

No. 15 Kentucky women’s basketball (18-5, 5-4 SEC) won the team’s first game since mid January, ending a three-game losing streak after putting down the Arkansas Razorbacks (11-12, 0-8 SEC) by a score of 93-73 on Sunday, Feb. 1.

Coming into the game, Arkansas was winless in the SEC and on the Wildcats side, it was the return of star forward Teonni Key.

With a weeks rest, the team finally back together and facing a weaker opponent, this was a prime chance to get the Cats’ feet back under them.

Shaking Off the Rust

With so many things in favor of Kentucky, throughout the first three quarters, the game was up in the air. In fact, midway through the third quarter, Arkansas had the lead over Kentucky.

The ball couldn’t go through the hoop consistently, the defense was here and there and some of the Wildcats’ biggest offensive hitters were struggling, with Tonie Morgan only notching seven points and Amelia Hassett shooting 2-7 from the field.

No player on any team seemed to have total control of the game, nor could keep a constant flow on either side of the floor.

The only two consistent positives for Kentucky were Clara Strack and Key, reforming a bond that has been five weeks overdue.

The One-Two Punch

Strack finished with 33 points and 15 boards, a career night for the star center, while Key had her own double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.

While most players choose to ease their way into the game when coming back from injury, the 6-foot- 5 Key put her foot on the gas pedal, giving Big Blue Nation some mini heart attacks.

Key was instantly thrown in the starting lineup and within the first two minutes of the game, she was bumping bodies in the paint and had dove to the floor for loose balls multiple times.

Her grit and vocal leadership on the floor was a big reason Kentucky rallied to get the 20-point victory.

Strack, on the other hand, shot 65% for the game and was killing the Razorbacks on the offensive glass, grabbing six boards and putting a huge dent in the team’s 18 second chance points.

With Key and Strack scoring at will, their defense would shine late, turning an eventual 11-point lead into a 20-point lead.

If Kentucky can take that fourth quarter dominance and carry it into its next matchup, the Wildcats will have a great February ahead of them.

Up next for the Wildcats is a home game versus No. 7 Vanderbilt (21-2, 7-2 SEC) on Thursday, Feb. 5. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. ET and will stream live on SEC Network+.

Traveling to Knoxville, TN, it was quite the underwhelming game all around for the No. 11 Wildcats (17-4, 4-3 SEC), as they fell 60-58 to the No. 17 Lady Volunteers (14-3, 6-0 SEC) on Thursday, Jan. 22.

A top-20 matchup is one that most fans would call a “must see” game, however, this one proved to be anything but that.

Lack of Scoring, Abundance of Turnovers

To end the first quarter, both teams were shooting 25 percent or lower from the field, and between the two ranked teams, only a total of seven field goals were made in the first quarter.

Clara Strack, the Wildcats’ leading scorer for the season, only tallied nine points on 2-7 shooting. Although she did contribute 15 rebounds, it was balanced out by her 4 turnovers that benefited Tennessee greatly.

So great, in fact, that the Lady Vols scored 21 points off of Kentucky’s 21 turnovers.

The final turnover total added 10 on to the Cats’ normal average and would ultimately be the nail in the coffin late in the game.

In the final two possessions, the Wildcats inability to take care of the ball was the reason they didn’t even get a chance to shoot a potential game-tying or game-winning shot.

First, Asia Boone fumbled it up, leading to jump ball in favor of Kentucky. And secondly, with no options, Tonie Morgan was forced to try to bounce the ball off a Volunteer defender during an inbound pass, but Tennessee reacted quickly and snatched the ball away.

Was This Game Destiny?

Historically, games in Knoxville never go the Wildcats’ way. While Kentucky has grabbed four wins in Knoxville, they have fallen short 29 times now.

Last year, in this same matchup, it was the Cats that were the underdogs and celebrated their win as if it was the Super Bowl.

For now, the Wildcats can only focus on their mistakes and return back to the team Big Blue Nation is used to seeing. Up next for Kenny Brooks and the Cats is a home game versus unranked Georgia (17-3, 3-3 SEC) on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Wildcats’ return to Historic Memorial Coliseum will stream live on SEC Network.