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Kentucky Men’s Soccer Snags Sun Belt Crown for the Second Time in Program History

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Kateri Sherman | UK Athletics

It was Halloween night, and in the 81st minute, Kentucky’s Isaiah Chisolm hit a left footer inside the box to give Kentucky a 1-0 lead that would be written in history.

The No. 18 Wildcats (10-2-3, 7-1-0 SBC) took on the Georgia State Panthers (4-6-6, 2-3-3 SBC) in a game that would mark history for the Wildcats and potentially hold the keys to a successful tournament run.

Conference Title Advantages

After the win, it was officially official that the Cats only lost one conference game, giving them the Sun Belt Conference regular season title.

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The record will give Kentucky a spot as a host site for the 2025 SBC conference tournament, with games scheduled for next week on Nov. 9. The eight-team bracket will be released just a few days before on Nov. 4.

Because of UK’s play during the season, they can expect a smooth path to start the tournament, likely facing James Madison, who does not have a win in the SBC this season.

Another advantage for Kentucky is that history is on the Cats’ side. The last time Kentucky took the regular season title, they would go on to dominate the tournament and take home the tournament title in 2022. This was the first and only time the Wildcats had either.

How It Happened

The first 45 minutes of the game was relatively stagnant. Only one shot on goal was recorded for both teams. It was Chisolm that sent the shot, but Panthers keeper Loan Marin would be the one between the ball and the back of the net.

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Then, in the 80th minute, Kentucky found themselves in the box but not in a position to score.

It was only when Kentucky’s Max Miller and Kevin Larsson, both chasing after the runaway ball, deflected it towards the right of the box.

Thankfully for the Wildcats, midfielder Alex Ruiz ended up with the ball. His pass would split three Panthers defenders and that’s where Chisolm took over.

Chisolm, with his left foot, placed the ball in the far left side of the net and because of his close positioning, Georgia States keeper had no time to react.

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The Wildcats will end their regular season on Tuesday Nov. 4 in an away game against Old Dominion. That game can be found on ESPN+ and will kickoff at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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Tonie Morgan Breaks Assist Record, No. 18 Kentucky Back in Win Column

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Morgan Simmons | UK Athletics

The No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats (19-7, 6-6 SEC) put away Texas A&M (9-11, 2-9 SEC) in one of the most dominating conference wins UK has had this season, winning 75-55 on Thursday, Feb. 12.

The Wildcats, before the dominant win in Historic Memorial Coliseum, had dropped three straight losses in a row, two to top 10 opponents.

Tonie Morgan Makes History

The long and overdue victory wasn’t the only reason for celebration for blue and white fans, as in the first quarter of the game point guard Tonie Morgan dished away five assists, breaking the all-time Kentuckys women’s basketball single-season assist record.

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The record now stands with Morgan at an impressive 218 assists.

The previous record was held for just one year by Georgia Amoore, who set the record in her sole season wearing Kentucky blue.

Morgan finished with 19 points and 8 assists, and one of the nation’s top assist per game leaders now has four games to add on to her new record.

A Cautious Future

With only four games left in the season, it’s of the utmost importance that the Wildcats play smart and grind for every win they can.

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No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 5 Vanderbilt and No. 3 South Carolina, could all very well defeat Kentucky, making this final stretch telling of what the Wildcats’ postseason expectations will look like.

Arguably, the most important precaution for Kentucky is to make sure its players recover. Clara Strack, in particular, who in the win versus Texas A&M went down in the first quarter with a left knee injury, is someone who needs to be taken care of.

Strack came back just a few minutes after checking out and played the rest of the game, but you can never be too cautious.

Losing your star center due to fatigue or injury is something that can derail the postseason plans.

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Up next for the Wildcats is a home game against No. 14 Ole Miss (20-5, 7-3 SEC) on Sunday, Feb. 15. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET inside Historic Memorial Coliseum and the game will also be streaming on SEC Network.

KY Insider will be there for in-game coverage.

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No. 18 Kentucky Suffers Second Straight Loss to Top Ten Opponent

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Morgan Simmons | UK Athletics

The No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats (18-7, 5-6 SEC) are off to a rough start in the month of February, losing on Monday, Feb. 9 against No. 4 Texas (23-2, 8-2 SEC) by a score of 64-53.

Kentucky has now lost five of its last six games, including three ranked losses against No. 17 Tennessee, No. 7 Vanderbilt and now No. 4 Texas.

Loss in Austin

Yet again, the Wildcats had a night where nobody could successfully play their role.

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Tonie Morgan finished with 12 points and four assists, yet tied Teonni Key for a team-high six turnovers.

Morgan would go the entire second half without an assist, a feat she has only done a handful of times throughout her college career. However, the blame in basketball never falls on just one person alone

Jordan Obi had zero points on Monday, and in her 28 minutes of play, her biggest contribution to the team was four rebounds. Obi has been in a slump for a few nights now, only recording seven points in the last three games combined.

When looking at the front court, Key recorded an eight-point and three-rebound game and star Clara Strack only had 14 points and seven rebounds on the night. All of these numbers are well below both their averages.

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To round out the subpar team performance, Amelia Hassett got her only three points from a made three in the first quarter, not scoring again in Austin.

The only bright spot for the Wildcats was Asia Boone, who shot 4-6 from three-point territory, finishing with a team-high 16 points. Boone was the Cats’ save and grace as she was the only one in blue and white to record any points in the second quarter.

Moving Forward

Kentucky can likely kiss any chance at a double-bye goodbye after this performance. For both the SEC Tournament and March Madness, the Wildcats have very little room for error if they want favorable seeding.

To get those seeds, they will have to have dominant wins in these last five games of the season, with matchups against No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 5 Vanderbilt and No. 3 South Carolina coming up.

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Now, the Big Blue Nation will watch as the countdown to tournament time inches clo

The Wildcats next matchup is against Texas A&M on Thursday Feb. 12th at 6:30 p.m. inside Historic Memorial Coliseum streaming on SEC Network

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Nick Mingione “Has a Plan” for Matt Ponatoski, Discusses Working With Two Sports

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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