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Men's Basketball

Kentucky vs Arkansas: Postgame Recap

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© Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Just three days after losing at home on Senior Night, the Kentucky basketball team went into Fayetteville and pulled out an unlikely win over Arkansas to close out the regular season. The Wildcats beat the Razorbacks with a final score of 88-79.

Kentucky came in even more limited at the guard position than usual. Sahvir Wheeler has been out multiple weeks with a lingering ankle injury and just recently had a medical procedure that will cause him to miss more time. In the loss to Vanderbilt, Cason Wallace suffered an ankle sprain that kept him sidelined in this game.

For the first time this season, Kentucky was without a true point guard. Of those that receive true playing minutes, Antonio Reeves, CJ Fredrick, and Adou Thiero were the only guards available for the game. Fredrick is coming off recovery of a cracked rib and still isn’t considered 100%.

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Despite the limitations, the Wildcats overcame the odds and pulled out a huge win that very few expected.

Kentucky had a much more efficient night shooting the basketball. On 54 shots, the Cats went 53.7% from the field. They also got it done at the free throw line shooting 78.8% on 33 attempts.

Comparatively, Arkansas took 70 shots in the game, only making 35.7% and shooting 64.7% from the free throw line on 34 attempts.

With the win, Kentucky has locked themselves in for the 3-seed and a double-bye in next week’s SEC Tournament.

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Let’s take a look at what all occurred in the win.

Things Got Chippy

Arkansas is known for being a very physical team. In their last matchup that took place in Lexington on February 7th, Arkansas’ physicality was too much for Kentucky. The Wildcats lost that matchup 88-73.

Coming into Fayetteville, Kentucky refused to let that happen again. The Cats were able to match the physicality of the Razorbacks and it led to a chippy game from start to finish.

When it was all said and done, a total of five technical fouls were called in addition to a single Flagrant-1 call.

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From the tip, Oscar Tshiebwe and Arkansas’ Makhel Mitchell were going at it. Tensions came to a boil at the 16:12 mark of the first half. In an attempt to secure position in the post, Mitchell pushed and threw his weight into Tshiebwe in which Tshiebwe would retaliate with an elbow into Mitchell’s neck area.

Mitchell would be assessed a common foul, while Tshiebwe would receive a dead ball technical foul. Arkansas’ Anthony Black would receive a technical foul, also, for getting involved in the scuffle.

Many people across social media and including the CBS announcers believe Tshiebwe’s action deserved to be classified as a flagrant foul. Tshiebwe would be called for a Flagrant-1 later in the game for a separate incident that appeared much less intentional.

Shortly after returning from the halftime break, Arkansas’ Davonte Davis and Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves got nose-to-nose before being broken up by the pinstripes.

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Moments later, Davis would be called for a foul that he expressively disagreed with. He would be assessed a technical foul and then ejected after a second technical foul minutes later for continuing to voice his displeasure with the call.

Kentucky’s Lance Ware would receive a technical foul in the second half after making some “colorful” comments towards Arkansas’ Anthony Black.

Kentucky needed toughness to get this win, and that is exactly what they brought to Arkansas. “We understand teams are going to be aggressive with us, but we’re not going for any of it,” said Jacob Toppin. “They tried to punk us, and we weren’t having it.

Antonio Reeves

With the lack of an available point guard, someone had to step up and be the one to make plays. Senior guard Antonio Reeves answered the call.

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Reeves went nuclear, scoring a career high of 37 points. He went 12-17 from the field and 11-11 at the free throw line. The Arkansas defenders couldn’t find an answer for him all day. Reeves never left the game as he played all 40 minutes.

Other Wildcats contributed significantly to the win as well.

Notably, Jacob Toppin scored 21 points of his own on 6-9 shooting and going 7-8 from the stripe. He and Reeves combined to shoot 4-7 from the three point line. Toppin also shared some of the ball-handling duties with Reeves. He added 4 assists and 4 rebounds in the contest, as well as a block and a steal.

Oscar Tshiebwe got his 18th double-double of the season in only 26 minutes played. Tshiebwe faced foul trouble throughout the game and fouled out with 4:58 left in the game. Nevertheless, he was able to score 12 points and grab 13 rebounds.

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CJ Fredrick only scored two points in 15 minutes played. However, he had the highest “+/-” stat of any player in the game with +16. Even though Fredrick had limited time due to his gradual recovery from injury, he was able to contribute to the win. He added four assists and a steal to the stat sheet.

Fredrick would receive the “Most Impactful Player” award from his coaches and teammates.

Box Score

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Men's Basketball

La Familia’s Lexington Regional Bracket Revealed

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Israel Schill | KY Insider

Kentucky’s alumni team, La Familia, has officially unveiled the bracket for The Basketball Tournament’s (TBT) Lexington Regional.

The No. 1 seeded alumni will face off against Stroh’s Squad (Bowling Green) in the opening round on Friday, July 18 with a late 9:00 p.m. ET tip time.

The Lexington Regional will take place at Memorial Coliseum from July 18-22, where Kentucky will host a plethora of teams looking to grab some gold.

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Familiar teams, such as Eberlein Drive, who former Wildcat Archie Goodwin used to play for and who have been around since the beginning of TBT, will lead the bottom of the bracket. In the second round, Big Blue Nation may see a way-too-early SEC matchup, technically, with the Auburn Tigers’ alumni team, War Ready.

The name is definitely fitting, obviously a play on Auburn’s “War Eagle” call, but as a whole defines the type of play that the TBT unleashes against every competitor.

When asked about who the “alpha dog” will be on this year’s team, someone who is going to be ready to go to war, general manager Twany Beckham admitted he emphasized finding guys like that during the offseason.

“That was one thing, you know when we lost last year, I feel like that Ohio State team, I’m not gonna say punked us because our guys played extremely hard,” said Beckham before head coach Sean Woods budded in and said “they were more physical.”

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“When I sat down after the season was over last year I sad to myself, ‘I want nine to 10 dogs’, and I think we did that with this roster,” Beckham added.

The winner of the Lexington Regional will play the winner of the Louisville Regional in the quarterfinals on Monday, July 28, at 6 p.m. ET on FS1, the team also announced recently.

Below is the entire bracket for the 2025 tournament:

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Men's Basketball

Top Guard Prospect Taylen Kinney Takes Official Visit to Kentucky

Perhaps the most highly touted guard in the 2026-27 class, Taylen Kinney has begun his visit to Kentucky – Mark Pope is on the clock.

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Taylen Kinney takes his official visit to Kentucky.
USA TODAY NETWORK

Directly following his involvement with Mark Pope and Jasper Johnson at the USA U19 basketball camp, Taylen Kinney has taken an official visit to Kentucky.

One of the top guards in the nation, Kinney is a native of Newport, Kentucky. As a result, naturally, both Louisville and Kentucky are in strong pursuit — among pulls on both sides, one potential advantage Kentucky has over their in-state rivals is Kinney’s extensive past ties to the aforementioned Jasper Johnson.

The two blue bloods manned the backcourt together for the Overtime Elite RWE team during the 2024-25 season. With Johnson being the first to pull the trigger in taking on the blue and white, the onus is on Kinney to potentially rekindle the duo’s dominant guard play in a new setting.

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Given Jasper’s potential for multiple years in Lexington, the likelihood that he could impact Kinney’s recruitment is all the more tangible.

The 6-foot-2 floor general stayed firmly put in the 2026-27 class, despite rumors of a reclassification, ranking atop national lists across the board as arguably the best available at his position. And while a timetable for Kinney’s ultimate decision hasn’t yet shaken out, it’s clear that the blue and red rivals each hold a powerful stake in his recruitment.

Regardless of the rumors, if Mark Pope gets a guy on campus, there’s a solid shot the Cats can capitalize on a commitment. When one battle ends for Kentucky’s staff, the next begins — if nothing else, it’s clear that the team has already started working towards as solid a roster next season as they put together for the one that’s about to begin.

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History Made: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Crowned NBA Finals MVP

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Associated Press

For the first time ever, the Oklahoma City Thunder have reached the mountain top, beating the Indiana Pacers in a win or go home game seven, becoming NBA Champions.

Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hoisted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy and the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award in front of more than 18,000 fans in Oklahoma City after leading the Thunder with 30.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.8 blocks in the Finals.

The former Wildcat posted 29 points, 12 assists, and five rebounds in the series defining game where the Thunder won 103-91. Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA Finals in points.

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Not only is Gilgeous-Alexander making NBA history for becoming only the 11th player to win league MVP, the NBA Finals and Finals MVP, but he joins an exclusive club of Hall of Famers, consisting of Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kareem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and LeBron James. 

James was the last “triple-crown” winner in 2013 as a member of the Miami Heat.

Gilgeous-Alexander made Kentucky history by becoming the first ever former Kentucky player to win Finals MVP. Last month, Gilgeous-Alexander made history by becoming the first Kentucky alum to earn league MVP.

This was an incredibly impressive feat considering Gilgeous-Alexander is one out of 137 ex-Kentucky players to play professional basketball, and now is the only one to claim those honors.

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Another fellow Wildcat, Cason Wallace, joined Gilgeous-Alexander in a historic list of fellow Kentucky products to win the NBA Finals. The most recent players consist of Jamal Murray in 2023, Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo in 2020, Jodie Meeks in 2019, and Rondo’s first ring in 2008, respectively.

Wallace averaged six points and 2.6 rebounds in the season-defining series.

This NBA Championship is technically the second in the organization’s history, with the first coming in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics defeated the Washington Bullets in five games. However, this marks the first time the franchise has boasted an NBA Championship as the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

In 2008, the SuperSonics, with a rookie Kevin Durant, left Seattle and relocated to the midwest and rebranded as the Thunder. Five years later, the Thunder, led by future MVPs Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, would lose in five games to the Miami Heat.

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It has truly been an unforgettable season for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder. Oklahoma City accomplished the unthinkable, winning the most games in it history with an NBA-best 68-14 record.

The Thunder swept the Memphis Grizzlies in round one, beat the Denver Nuggets in a seven-game series and bested the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games to win the Western Conference Championship en route to their NBA Finals victory.

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