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Men's Basketball

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

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Kentucky Wildcats forward Trent Noah (9) reacts after making a three point basket
Jordan Prather-Imagn

Following a disappointing loss on the road to Texas, the Kentucky Wildcats return to Rupp Arena for a rematch against the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Looking to avenge a loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville, the Wildcats need to win this one or they are in danger of falling out of the top 10 in the SEC standings. That could mean a Wednesday game in the SEC Tournament.

Vanderbilt is currently projected in the NCAA Tournament field, but as a 10 or 11 seed, they are certainly no lock. A road win over Kentucky would certainly boost their resume and give them more confidence.

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That said, neither team has been playing great of late. Battling injuries, Kentucky has lost five of their last eight, sitting at .500 in SEC play. On the other side, Vanderbilt has lost four of their last five games, including a thirty-point loss to Oklahoma.

Kentucky tends to play some of their best basketball at home, while Vanderbilt is just 1-5 on the road in the SEC but nearly took down Tennessee this past Saturday.

Let’s take a look at what to watch for in this matchup.

Turnover Bug

The biggest story of the first matchup was Kentucky’s lack of ball security, turning the ball over 17 times, still a season-high. Which was a big reason why the Commodores had twelve more possessions.

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While Vanderbilt is one of the best teams in the country at generating turnovers, many of Kentucky’s were unforced. That included two at the end of the game where errant passes were forced and Kentucky gave away any shot they had to win.

This time Kentucky will likely be without Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson and will have to rely on a point-guard-by-committee approach: Travis Perry, Koby Brea, Otega Oweh, and Amari Williams. Each of have shown the ability to

A -12 possession margin isn’t going to win many games. Take care of the ball.

Late-Game Execution

While Kentucky has certainly had games where they executed to near perfection at the end (i.e. Duke, Gonzaga), there have certainly been some late-game execution issues recently, including at Vanderbilt, Alabama, and at Texas on Saturday.

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Again, Kentucky will likely not have a true point guard, but they still have the talent to win this game. That said, they have to execute for 40 minutes, not 36 as they did against Texas. There are no excuses for not blocking out on a free throw, or inbounding a ball directly to a defender.

3-Point Attempts

Before the season started, Mark Pope and multiple staff members talked about the goal of averaging 30+ three-point attempts per game. Now 25 games into the season, Kentucky has only done so in four games and just once in SEC play.

If there is a team that you want to shoot a lot of threes against, it is Vanderbilt who allows their opponents to shoot better than 37% from deep, one of the worst marks in the country. In SEC play, that number is even worse at 41%.

Kentucky only had 23 attempts from deep in the first game. That number needs to be higher in this rematch.

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Opposing Players to Watch

G Jason Edwards

  • 17.6 PPG (4th in SEC)
  • 38.5% 3P (9th in SEC)
  • 5.4 3PA

F Devin McGlockton

  • 10.8 PPG
  • 7.8 RPG (6th in SEC)
  • 60.2% FG

G AJ Hoggard

  • 10.5 PPG
  • 4.6 APG (5th in SEC)
  • 37.1% FG

Kentucky Basketball vs. Vanderbilt Commodores

Time: 7 PM ET on February 19th
Location: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, Kentucky
TV Channel: SEC Network
Online Stream: ESPN+ 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 | VANDY
Stats to Know: UK | VANDY
KenPom: UK | VANDY
Team Sheet: UK | VANDY

Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has Kentucky -5.5 with an over/under of 161.5. ESPN is the most confident in the Cats, giving them an 81.7% at victory. EvanMiya is the least confident, taking into account injuries, giving Kentucky a 69% chance at victory. KenPom (79%) and BartTorvik (76%) lie in between.

Predictions: BartTorvik (91-82) and KenPom (89-80) each have Kentucky winning nine points. Haslametrics (86-79) and EvanMiya (85-79) have the Cats by slightly lesser margins, seven and six points respectively. I’m going with an 83-77 victory, Kentucky!

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

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Go CATS!

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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Men's Basketball

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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