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The Morning After: Kentucky vs. Auburn

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The Cats played their first game without senior Reid Travis on Saturday afternoon and absolutely dominated Auburn from start to finish in an 80-53 win.

Auburn is far from a scrub team, coming into Rupp with a top-15 offense and a top-30 defense they had all the tools to put up a fight. This game came with a lot of unpredictability, and it definitely didn’t go how most people had predicted. Let’s dive deeper and dissect Kentucky’s firm whoopin’ over Auburn.

Three-Point Shooting

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Kentucky hasn’t been a great perimeter shooting team for the majority of the year. Coming into the game the Cats shot 35.4% from three on the season, which was outside the top-100 in the country. This percentage is also off of the 10th least three-point attempts in the country.

Despite this, Kentucky was shooting plenty and making them on Saturday. The Cats shot 11-24 from outside and were 9-17 at halftime. Kentucky gladly benefitted from the shooting of PJ Washington (5-8 3P) and Tyler Herro (3-6 3P), with PJ making three consecutive to start the game. For the second game in a row, Ashton Hagans even made two from outside (and a few more if his foot wasn’t on the line) and is beginning to make teams respect his outside shot.

When the Cats are shooting from outside as efficiently as they did on Saturday, they may be the hardest team in the country to beat because they do so many other things well.

EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards

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With Reid Travis out, I fully anticipated for Kentucky to lose some grit, toughness, and productivity. While EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards can’t make up for Travis’ intangibles, they were able to make up for his production statistically.

Reid Travis season averages: 11.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 0.8 bpg

EJ/Nick vs. Auburn: 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 blocks

If Montgomery and Richards are able to sustain this level of play throughout Reid’s absence, this will do nothing but increase their confidence and their level of play come March and next year if they decided to return.

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Rebounding (Keldon Johnson)

It’s no secret that Kentucky is a very good rebounding team, a staple for most Calipari teams. Saturday was no different as the Cats outrebounded Auburn 43-24.

With Reid’s absence, the Cats knew they had to make up for his rebounding efforts and no one showed that more than Keldon Johnson, who finished the game with a game-high 17 boards and played I believe his best game of the season.

Calipari is expecting a much more consistent effort from Johnson on the boards with his performance today. During the postgame show, Cal said, “Keldon told on himself today. If he thinks he’s getting two rebounds next game, I’m going to be all over him. You’re able to get that many rebounds? He went after the ball. He was screaming going after balls too; grabbing them with two hands. Proud of him.”

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Defense

Auburn’s 53 points, is the lowest scoring output for the Tigers since their exit to Clemson in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament. Kentucky’s defense, which is now 9th in the country in terms of efficiency, held Auburn to 32.8% FG and 29.6% 3P. The Cats also crashed the defensive glass hard, getting 35 defensive rebounds on 39 misses.

This team’s defense has improved each game since December, and if Kentucky is not making shots they will always have a chance with their stifling defense.

Cal Makes History

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With the win, Calipari passed Joe B. Hall for the 2nd most wins in Kentucky basketball history in humbling fashion at 298. Swaggy Cal was in full effect as he joked that Coach Hall had asked him to vacate some of his wins to keep him at 3rd.

“Coach Hall just asked me to vacate any games that go by him. I said, they’ve already vacated some of my games, maybe they’ll just vacate some more and at the end of the day I’ll be one less than him.”

Calipari accepted the honor in humbling fashion, take a look at Coach Hall congratulating Cal and the accomplishment below

Cal now only trails the great Adolph Rupp, who won 876 games at Kentucky. It took Calipari 366 games to get to 298. Rupp accomplished the feat in 364 games and took Joe B. 397 games.

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It was a great Caturday in Kentucky, as the Cats made another statement win over a quality opponent and showed just again just how dangerous this team can be. This team is now what we thought it could be in the summer and still with room to grow. I like my team!

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Men's Basketball

CBS Sports: Kentucky Has “ended pursuits” in Transfer Portal Following Aberdeen Commitment

In the wake of yet another addition to Kentucky’s incoming roster, CBS Sports reports that Coach Pope and staff may have closed the portal.

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Mark Pope and staff may have everything they need from the transfer portal.
Chet White | UK Athletics

Following another flurry of transfer portal additions in his second year at the helm, it appears that Mark Pope and staff are satisfied with their sophomore haul. The portal in Lexington may be officially closed for the 2025-26′ season.

Right after Kentucky received the surprising commitment of Denzel Aberdeen, Matt Norlander, an analyst for CBS Sports, posted the following on X (Twitter):

“Barring any portal defections, Kentucky has ended its pursuits of all other portal targets, sources told CBS Sports. Getting Aberdeen today [April 21] meant they’ve moved off Andrej Stojakovic, Rylan Griffen, etc. Otega Oweh going through pre-draft process-but I expect him back in Lex”.

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With the addition of Aberdeen, the Wildcats’ roster ballooned to near-max capacity for next season. Seeing two of the team’s walk-on players, Grant Darbyshire and Walker Horn, enter the transfer portal seemed to all but confirm this suspicion, too.

Losing One of Our Own

That is, until last night. With less than two hours remaining for players to do so, Travis Perry shocked much of the Big Blue Nation by throwing his name into the hat. This came just weeks after a string of comments from the Kentucky-native point guard seemed to confirm his return for a sophomore season.

Though all the same, given Kentucky’s bulk of back-court additions this offseason, his departure makes sense for the sake of playing time alone. The Lyon King will be sorely missed.

So while the Kentucky staff may still be very much content with their current roster, with hundreds of players remaining in the portal and an unexpected spot on the roster coming open, another grab is far from out of the question.

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Who Coach Pope and company would go after is entirely unclear, as that potential player would likely have to accept a minimized role off the bench for a stretch of his time in Lexington. If anything, the logical replacement would be a direct fill-in at the PG2/PG3 spot in Perry’s absence.

Either way, the ‘Cats are set to come into next season as one of the most exciting teams in college basketball with a ceiling far out of view. Mark Pope continues to prove his prowess in the transfer market, too, easing the worries of Wildcats fans and closing the door on many supposed “insiders” who’ve spent the last month suggesting otherwise.

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Men's Basketball

REPORT: Travis Perry Enters Transfer Portal

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Kentucky basketball Travis Perry talks about growing more comfortable on the court.
Jordan Prather | IMAGN

The transfer portal has been kind to Kentucky in the Mark Pope era. Last season, the staff was able to build a Sweet Sixteen roster almost exclusively from the portal, and this offseason have put together a top-five portal class.

While the portal giveth, it also taketh. Just hours before the deadline to enter, Kentucky native and fan favorite Travis Perry has entered the transfer portal, per multiple reports.

Coming to Kentucky as the state’s all-time high-school scoring record holder, fans were excited to see how his career would unfold in Lexington.

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Not expecting to play much freshman, he was called upon due to injuries and played some key minutes for the Wildcats into the postseason. He averaged 2.7 PPG and .6 APG on 32% shooting from three.

Looking at the depth chart, it was difficult to see where Perry would get much playing time next season, leading to his decision to enter the portal.

Perry has yet to release an official statement, but all the best to him in his future.

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Men's Basketball

Top Transfer Guard Denzel Aberdeen Commits to Kentucky

Former Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen commits to Kentucky, likely closing the transfer portal for next year’s roster.

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Denzel Aberdeen commits to Kentucky.
UF Athletics

Another day, another “boom.” Denzel Aberdeen has officially committed to Kentucky for the 2025-26’ season.

A soon-to-be senior guard fresh off his championship win with Florida, Aberdeen spent his first three years of eligibility in Gainesville. Now, following an apparent conflict in the Gators’ rotation, he’s swapped teams in the southeast.

At 6 ‘5”, 190, Aberdeen spent much of this past season beating defenders off the dribble and making them pay at the rim. His speed and size made him a nightmare off the bench for opposing teams, and for the short stretch of play that he started during the year, Florida didn’t miss a beat. 

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In 19 minutes, Aberdeen averaged 8 points, two rebounds and one assist per game. His consistent contribution to the Gators’ title run made him one of the most coveted transfers in the cycle this season, and given his big blue commitment just days after entering the portal, Mark Pope clearly wasted no time in Kentucky’s pursuit.

Aberdeen slots in as yet another addition to what was already one of the strongest portal classes going into next season. His SEC experience and combo-guard intangibles make Aberdeen one of the most exciting portal players to come through Lexington in a long while, reinforcing Kentucky’s back court to what may be the final degree.

Whether or not Mark Pope is officially done for next season, nobody is sure, but this commitment only further cements the fact that he knows exactly what he’s doing. Just like the  fanbase behind him, Coach Pope seems to never sleep.

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