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Kentucky vs. Oklahoma: TV/Streaming Info, Preview, and Betting Odds/Predictions

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Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) fives a teammate.
Jordan Prather | Imagn

Following a tough road loss to Alabama, the Kentucky Wildcats look to bounce back as they travel to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Sooners started the season 13-0, going undefeated in their non-conference slate, including wins over Arizona, Michigan, and Louisville. However, they’re 4-10 in SEC play, putting them firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. A win over a top-20 Kentucky team would certainly bolster their resume following a huge home win over Mississippi State, who Kentucky is battling for SEC Tournament seed positioning.

ESPN currently gives the Sooners a 55% chance of making the Big Dance.

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Led by fourth-year head coach Porter Moser, he is likely coaching for his job, as he has yet to make an NCAA Tournament in Norman.

The Wildcats will be taking on a desperate team with a desperate coach on the road while likely shorthanded. That’s no easy task.

Let’s take a look at the matchup.

Dominate Rebounding

Averaging less than 33 rebounds per game, Oklahoma is the worst rebounding team in the SEC. For comparison, Kentucky averages more than 39 rebounds per game.

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Head coach Porter Moser explains that the Sooners struggle with rebounding “in the trenches,” which has led to some very lopsided rebound battles. The most notable coming against Texas A&M just a few weeks ago, losing the rebounding battle 44-19. In that game, the Aggies had more offensive rebounds than Oklahoma had total rebounds.

There is no big size difference. It simply comes down to who wants the ball more. Kentucky needs to crash the boards hard.

Fix the Turnovers

What Oklahoma lacks in rebounding, they try to make up for on the defensive end. While not a great defensive team overall, they do turn their opponents over 13 times per game, with nearly eight steals per game.

That defensive havoc has given a lot of teams trouble. Missouri, one of the most efficient offenses in the country, recently turned the ball over 15 times to the Sooners.

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Without a veteran point guard available, Kentucky has turned the ball over 12 or more times in three straight games. They need to try to keep that number under 10 against Oklahoma.

Pound the Paint

Oklahoma defends the 3 very well, ranking in the top 20 in that category, forcing teams into shooting less than 30% from deep. However, they are not great at defending inside, allowing teams to shoot nearly 55% on two-point shots.

Amari Williams has been playing at an elite level, averaging 15 points on 65 percent shooting inside. He is primed to continue that against the Sooners, but Otega Oweh and Andrew Carr need to have big games as well.

If they are taking averaging in the paint, that should open up opportunities from 3. Carr could even slip out to the corner like he did several times against Alabama.

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Opposing Players to Watch

F Jalon Moore 6-7, 215 lbs

  • 17.0 PPG (8th in SEC)
  • 5.7 RPG
  • 38.2% 3P

G Jeremiah Fears 6-4, 182 lbs

  • 15.9 PPG
  • 4.0 APG (8th in SEC)
  • 4.0 RPG

G Duke Miles 6-2, 188 lbs

  • 10.1 PPG
  • 2.1 APG
  • 43.8% 3P

Kentucky Basketball vs. Oklahoma Sooners

Time: 9 PM ET on February 26th, 2025
Location: Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma
TV Channel: SEC Network
Online StreamESPN+ and the ESPN app.
Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Network (check local listings).
Rosters: UK | OU
Stats to Know: UK | OU
KenPomUK | OU
Team SheetUK | OU

Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has Kentucky favored by 1.5 points with an over/under of 163.5. BartTorvik gives the Cats a 62% chance at Victory. ESPN is at 60.8%, followed by KenPom at 57%. EvanMiya is almost at a coin flip at 51.3%, which is with the expectation that Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson are not available.

PredictionsHaslametrics (83-78) and BartTorvik (85-81) are the models that give Kentucky a two-possession win. KenPom (84-82) and EvanMiya (80-79) pick Kentucky a single bucket. I think the Cats pull out a close one against a desperate Oklahoma team, 84-80.

Send us your Kentucky vs. Oklahoma score predictions in the comments section!

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Go CATS!

Also posted on A Sea of Blue.

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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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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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