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No. 16 Wildcats loses to No. 7 Vandy

Published

4 months ago

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Thursday night would see one of No. 16 Kentucky Women’s Basketballs’ (18-6, 5-5 SEC) toughest matchups in terms of differences in rankings

No. 7 Vanderbilt (22-2, 8-2 SEC) walked into Historic Memorial Coliseum with a clear plan that ended up in an 84-83 win over the Wildcats

PG in Prison

Play physical and force UK to play a different brand of basketball. That is how Vandy was able to beat the Cats in Lexington

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Now how does one force a team to play a “different brand” of basketball? You take away the orchestrator of the offense

A 5’6 freshman and full court defensive schemes from the Commodores shut down Kentucky’s star point guard Tonie Morgan in the Coliseum

Vanderbilt freshman Aubrey Galvan was tasked with face guarding Morgan for 37 minutes

In that time Morgan shot a mere 3-9 from the field totaling eight points and ten assists

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The Box score may show that Morgan was still able to get her teammates involved, but that is only half the story

What the box doesn’t show is that for majority of the game the ball was almost never brought down the court by Morgan

In fact to was a tall task to even get the point guard a touch during a possession

Vandy played such smothering off ball defense on Morgan that it was on Teonni Key and Asia Boone to bring the ball up the court most possessions and initiate the offense

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Many inbounds were met with either a steal or a full court press resulting in a Kentucky turnover

But those weren’t the only mistakes that came from the blue and white

Repercussions

As a team the Cats totaled 20 totals, a harsh number by itself, but an even worse stat when you notice Vanderbilt only had 6 turnovers as a team

Kentucky allowed the visitors to score 25 points off of their turnovers

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Those mistakes are what you expect when point guard Tonie Morgan can’t get a touch

It led to Clara Starck having to make tough passes that would end up in the stands as well as Asia Boones attempts at bringing the ball up the floor

Instead of being met with a set offense Boone was more often greeted to a quick trap forcing her to throw the ball away

Though the story seems to be getting worse and worse the game wasn’t all bad for the Cats

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Through the second and third quarter UK seemed to be doing fairly decent on offense

Teonni Key scored 13 of her 27 points in those two quarters after going scoreless in the first quarter

And Boone made some key momentum swinging threes. And with a four point lead at halftime and a four point lead heading into the fourth, it looked like Kentuckys game to lose

But then the mistakes stopped being so spread out

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Fourth quarter fail

A quick Vandy three-pointer followed by a steal and a layup was the start of their run to the finish line

Commodore sophomore Mikayla Blakes, went off for 19 points in the fourth, only missing one shot in the clutch

Although UK went down by as much as ten points they managed to cut the lead to just two points with under a minute left

However it all fell apart after Mikayla Blakes hit a go ahead three pointer with 46 second left on the clock

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After that the game had to turn into a chess match of fouling, free throws, and clock management, all go which Kentucky was on the wrong side of

After Blakes’ three, UK couldn’t respond with a bucket, and on the next possession for Vandy, Asia Boone fouled with 42 second left on the game clock with time still on the shot clock

This decision turned the game into a free throw battle where the Cats could only take one step forward after taking two steps back for the next 42 seconds

Vanderbilt freshman Aubrey Galvan iced the game with free throws in the finals seconds and that was that, Kentucky fell to a top ten opponent for the second time this season

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So now it is on Head Coach Kenny Brooks and the teams vocal leader Teonni key to watch film, prepare, and try to be better for their next matchup

The Wildcats next game is an away game versus No. 4 Texas in Austin on Monday Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET streaming on SEC Network

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Kentucky Baseball Selected to Fourth Consecutive NCAA Tournament

Published

1 week ago

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May 25, 2026

By

Sydney Yonker | UK Athletics

In the final bracket reveal on the ESPN selection show, Kentucky baseball was named as the No. 3 seed in the Morgantown Regional. This is the fourth year in a row that the Bat Cats have been selected to the NCAA tournament, extending the school record.

West Virginia is the No. 16 overall seed in the tournament and the one-seeded host of the regional. Also in the bracket is No. 2 Wake Forest, Kentucky’s first-round opponent, and No. 4 Binghamton.

On Friday, May 29, Kentucky (31-21, 13-17 SEC) will take on Wake Forest (38-19, 16-14 ACC) at 12:00 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on ESPN2.

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The similarities that led both teams to the tournament will likely lead to an entertaining first game of the double-elimination format. Both schools went one and done in their respective conference tournaments, as well as facing multiple ranked opponents during the season.

The difference in the schools’ season is Wake Forest was swept twice while Kentucky avoided being swept all season, but on the flip side, the Cats lost all but two of its conference series while the Demon Deacons only lost four.

A schedule only means so much when two teams from different conferences meet. Wake Forest has a high-powered offense, putting up nine games with 14 or more runs and scoring 22 or more runs on two separate occasions.

That can prove problematic for a Kentucky team that has made 55 errors this season. The Demon Deacons lack of depth in the bullpen could benefit the Wildcats. This is an area that Kentucky has had some problems with this season as well, but with 12 of their 22 listed pitchers having a sub 6.00 ERA, they certainly have the edge.

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UK is a team that pressures the infield with stolen bases, which will due part put much pressure on Wake Forest – they’ve made 59 errors on the season.

Overall, getting past round one is just the first step to getting out of Morgantown and driving the rest of the long road to Omaha.

Morgantown Regional (Morgantown, West Virginia)

Friday:

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Game 1: Kentucky vs. Wake Forest; 12:00 p.m ET on ESPN2
Game 2: No. 16 West Virginia vs. Binghampton; 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Saturday:

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Sunday:

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Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5

Monday:

Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch Game 6

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Kentucky Baseball Set to Face Vanderbilt in First Round of the SEC Tournament

Published

2 weeks ago

on

May 17, 2026

By

Eddie Justice | UK Athletics

The bracket is set. Kentucky Baseball, earning the No. 13 overall seed, will face No. 12 Vanderbilt (32-24, 14-16 SEC) in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday, May 19.

Nick Mingione’s squad finished the regular season with a 31-20 overall record and a 13-17 conference record, going 1-2 in the final series against the Arkansas Razorbacks, who ultimately earned the No. 7 overall seed in the tourney.

These two teams clashed back on April 17-19, where Vanderbilt came into Kentucky Proud Park and stole both game two and three from the Wildcats. Kentucky scored a total of 18 runs in the series, but it let up 23 runs of its own.

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In the series-opening win, pitcher Jaxon Jelkin tossed 105 total pitches through eight innings, only allowing two runs and six hits between the 31 batters he faced.

A time is yet to be announced, but it is confirmed that the Bat Cats and the Commodores will play in game two, taking place after game one between No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 16 Missouri at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Kentucky is currently on the “safe” part of the NCAA Tournament bubble, but a win in Hoover, Alabama would have the Wildcats as locks to make yet another appearance in the big dance.

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BREAKING: Former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins second consecutive NBA MVP Award

Published

2 weeks ago

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May 17, 2026

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Photo via Imagn Images

History has been made by former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as he becomes the 14th player in league history to win back-to-back MVP awards. Last season, he became the first Wildcat ever to hoist the trophy, a feat that he still holds with utter dominance.

The Toronto, Canada native averaged 31.1 points per game (second in the league) to go along with 4.3 rebounds per game and 6.6 assists per game. He did this all on 55.3/38.6/87.9 shooting splits and led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the best record in the league with 64 wins.

How about this for a stat? Gilgeous-Alexander is now just the fifth guard in NBA history to win back-to-back MVP awards, joining Hall of Fame guards Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry and Steve Nash.

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News of the award will officially be announced tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBA on Prime, with Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama as the other two finalists.

Gilgeous-Alexander will be back in action on Monday, May 18 to face off against Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, looking to lead his team to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances.

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