John Calipari, Oscar Tshiebwe, and CJ Fredrick announce Kentucky Flood Relief Telethon

John Calipari and three of his Kentucky Basketball players held a press conference in Lexington on Monday to announce the Kentucky Flood Relief Telethon, a player-led fundraiser for flood relief in Eastern Kentucky. The telethon will take place Tuesday evening from Rupp Arena where the players will hold an open practice to draw attention and encourage contributions to the relief effort.

During the announcement, Calipari mentioned auction items and giveaways, including 100 basketballs signed by the entire 2022-23 team, as part of the ways the team decided to raise donations to the fund. “This is driven by them, which really, really makes me happy,” Calipari said Monday.

One of the leaders behind the telethon, CJ Fredrick explained how this tragedy hit him a little harder, being the Kentucky native on the team with personal ties to the mountains. “Being from this state and seeing the devastating things that happened, it immediately came to me and the whole team, what can we do to help… This means a lot to me and as a team, we’re excited for tomorrow night and to help out in any way we can in Eastern Kentucky.”

Oscar Tshiebwe added a call for prayer because, as he put it, “the same God who sent the storms, he is the only one who can fix that problem.”

For more, hear the 15-minute conversation with Calipari regarding the floods and the team’s plans to help out, plus comments from Fredrick, Tshiebwe, and Jacob Toppin on how they were called to assist yet again.

John Calipari

CJ Fredrick, Jacob Toppin, Oscar Tshiebwe