The #1 Tennessee Volunteers came into Rupp hailed as the best team in all the land and came out with a 17 point loss and a welp on their ass to THE Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky thoroughly dominated Tennessee from the tip and was the most physical team on the floor.
Kentucky led at one point by 24 points and each player gave positive contributions. PJ Washington outplayed Grant Williams and helped his case for SEC Player of the Year with an extremely efficient 23 pts, 5 reb,75% FG 50% 3P performance. Ashton Hagans broke through the freshman wall with a 7-1 assist:turnover ratio and bouncing back on the defensive end. Tyer Herro finished 3-11 from the field but recorded a sneaky double-double with 15 pts and 13 reb.
This team is coming into its own at the right time, right before March. This team is going to be fun!
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NBA Cats Take Over All-Star Weekend 2019 in Charlotte
The Kentucky Wildcats were well represented this weekend at the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, as usual since Calipari began his NBA factory in 2009.
Here’s a quick look at who will be involved.
Friday- The Rising Stars Game: De’Aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Knox
Saturday- Skills Challenge: De’aaron Fox
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Saturday- 3-point Contest: Devin Booker
Saturday- Slam Dunk Contest: Hamidou Diallo (WON)
Sunday- All-Star Game: Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis
This is always great exposure for Kentucky as future recruits watch them on the biggest stage.
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Vince Marrow Promoted to Associate Head Coach
Vince Marrow has been absolutely critical to the recent success of the Kentucky Football team in his role as tight end coach and recruiting coordinator.
Back on New Years Day, Marrow was reported to have signed a three-year extension. It has been reported that as a part of this extension, Marrow will be promoted to Associate Head Coach with a $650,000 base salary, while still retaining his current roles.
UK Target Keion Brooks Jr. Cancels Michigan St. Visit
2019 Kentucky target Keion Brooks Jr. was in Rupp for the Tennessee game and was able to experience one of the best Rupp Arena atmospheres in the Calipari era. On Sunday, Brooks canceled his last remaining visit to Michigan State and is anticipated to make a decision this week. This appears to be great news for Kentucky and their chances to land the 6-7 wing from Indiana.
For the majority of his recruitment, most recruiting experts believe that its either his home school of Indiana or Kentucky. With the dumpster fire that Indiana has been this season, and the Rupp atmosphere he got to experience. I don’t see how he could turn down Kentucky, but more shocking things have happened.
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Kentucky Boys Dominate the PGA
J.B. Holmes and Justin Thomas, both Kentucky natives battled it out for first and second in the Genesis Open, with Holmes coming out on top. Holmes came into Sunday with a 4-hole deficit. However, the golfers had to compete in a 34-hole day due to weather issues on Thursday.
It came down the last three holes as Justin Thomas missed a putt to force a playoff, allowing Holmes to win his first major in three years when he had brain surgery.
UK Hoops Win on a Last-Second Shot
In the postgame interview, Howard admitted the last shot was supposed to be for Maci Morris. But when Arkansas’ defense was all over Morris, Howard was able to create an open look for herself. The game started end ended with a Rhyne Howard jumper, as UK Hoops won 61-59.
The #17 Kentucky Women’s basketball team have outperformed their expectations all year. Predicted to finish 7th in the SEC, the Wildcats are tied for 3rd in the SEC. Rhyne Howard was the savior on Sunday afternoon. At the end of a back-and-forth game with Arkansas, tied 59-59, Rhyne Howard pulled up from free throw line to make the game-winning basket.
Not a lot of good things came from Kentucky’s 24-10 loss to Auburn on Saturday, but one fan did get FIFTEEN (yes, 1-5) hot dogs courtesy of Grammy-nominated folk-pop artist Noah Kahan.
To clarify it was not a gift, rather the fan stole Kahan’s wallet at Laguardia Airport in New York City. Of all the places for it to venture to, it was Kroger Field.
“The guy who took my wallet went to a Kentucky football game last night,” Kahan shared on social media. “I just know that Mofo bought 15 overpriced hot dogs.”
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Kahan has found comedy in the situation, despite having hundreds of dollars in hot dogs purchased on his dime.
“Come on dawg we gotta be collaborative in our spending!! Check with me first,” Kahan shared.
Kahan headlined Railbird Music Festival in Lexington this past summer. Maybe the next time he is in town, he can get a hot dog of his own.
The fourth-ranked Cardinals traveled to Memorial Coliseum in Lexington on Wednesday night to take on the 11th-ranked Wildcats.
The stage was set for another memorable Battle of the Bluegrass with both teams having a national ranking. In addition to that, the game was broadcast nationally on ESPN and was in front of a great crowd of 3,838 in Memorial.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for the Cats to pull through as they lost in four sets, 25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16
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The lady Cats have now fallen to 6-4 on the season, as well as 0-4 against ranked opponents. To make matters worse this is the 4th consecutive loss to Louisville in the annual match-up. However, Kentucky still holds the series 37-29.
After the match, Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner said “Our team did a good job of sustaining their concentration level, but execution suffered at times.” He also gave credit to the Louisville team, complimenting their ability to “play well for a long period of time.” He also credited the 4th ranked team’s ability to “continue to limit options,” and elaborated. “I mean, I think the first several passes, they were doing a good job keeping themselves in the system. And when you’re playing against teams like that, to get blocks when they’re passing the ball within 8 feet of the net, it’s tough. And so it comes down to individual plays, reading the situation of the attacker and making those moves and getting those stuffs. And creating chances by transition opportunities to limit their options that way, too. But yeah, it took a while. And obviously, something we continue to work on.”
Looking to shake off this series the Wildcats will face No.2 Stanford who are 7-1 in Palo Alto, California, on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
The Kentucky Baseball program is coming off its first-ever trip to the College World Series and they have carried that momentum to the recruiting trail. After losing a large amount of production and experience, Nick Mingione and Co. went and hit the transfer portal hard and are bringing in some talented players.
According to 64Analytics, the Bat Cats are bringing in the 9th-best portal class in the country. The class consists of fifteen players totals, including seven players within the top 250.
92. 1B/DH Cole Hage (Columbia) 114. C Raphael Pelletier (Kansas State) 152. INF Luke Lawrence (Illinois State) 156. OF Shaun Montoya (San Diego State) Transfer Spotlight 168. RHP Nic McCay (South Dakota State) 211. RHP Scott Rouse (Radford) 235. LHP Ethan Walker (Longwood) Transfer Spotlight 272. OF Carson Hansen (Milwaukee) Transfer Spotlight 319. RHP Oliver Boone (California) Transfer Spotlight 398. OF Will Marcy (Memphis) 407. RHP Simon Gregersen (Indiana State) 425. LHP Cole Hentschel (Richmond) Transfer Spotlight 752. 1B Dylan Koontz (Columbia) Transfer Spotlight 2872. RHP Chase Alderman (Eastern Kentucky) Transfer Spotlight 2893. LHP Adam Hachman (Arkansas)
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Mingione is no stranger to the transfer portal as he has effectively used the portal to completely change the outlook of his tenure and the program.
From the brink of being fired in 2021, he has led the Cats to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history. In those appearances, they advanced to the Super Regionals in each and the aforementioned CWS this past season. With this incoming class, Mingione will hope to continue that trajectory and become a consistent tournament team and contender.
That said it will be difficult. While Kentucky has one of the top classes in the portal, it is the 7th best in the SEC, with top 25 programs in Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference as well.
There will likely be some fall exhibitions for the Kentucky Wildcats, but it won’t be until February that we get to see how this collection of talent looks and if they can make another run to Omaha.