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KSR GAMEDAY: Kentucky hosts Indiana in Rupp, volleyball 'Cats battle Creighton in Elite 8

Zack Geogheganby: Zack Geoghegan4 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

Good morning, folks! A massive Saturday doubleheader is on deck in the world of UK Athletics. Kentucky men’s basketball looks to get its season on track at home against Indiana, while Kentucky volleyball is one win away from the program’s second Final Four. The two games will happen a little over the mile down the road from each other. It could be a great day to be in Lexington.

We’ll start with what’s happening on the hardwood.

Kentucky and Indiana haven’t faced each other since the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, a 73-67 loss for Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray‘s Wildcats. This will be the first time the two teams have played in Rupp Arena since 2010, an 81-62 victory for the Brandon Knight-led ‘Cats. UK leads the all-time series 32-25 with a 10-3 mark in games played in Lexington.

This used to be one of the better rivalries in the sport, one played annually for over 40 straight years. It returns tonight (7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN) in a must-win for Mark Pope‘s 6-4 Kentucky squad.

“I love this game,” Pope said on Friday. “I love all these games, I mean, I love them all. And this is Indiana-Kentucky… I love the game. I have such great memories of playing in these games, and I like it for us, I like it for fans, and I like it for Indiana, and I think it’s a great game.”

As of this morning, UK is a 2.5-point favorite to beat the Hoosiers with the point total set at 158.5. Kentucky is 6-0 this season against terrible teams but 0-4 against teams ranked among KenPom’s top 25. Indiana sits at No. 21 in KenPom (Kentucky is 20th). The Hoosiers bring an 8-2 record to Lexington, which includes back-to-back losses against Minnesota and Louisville earlier this month before bouncing back with a 113-72 drumming of Penn State. That’s the game Lamar Wilkerson — who chose IU over UK in the transfer portal — popped off for 44 points on a program record 10 made three-pointers.

Based on what Pope said during his pregame press conference yesterday, Mo Dioubate‘s (ankle) status for tonight’s game is up in the air, but Pope didn’t rule out the 6-foot-7 forward completely. Dioubate has missed the last five games. But everyone else (sans Jayden Quaintance, who is inching closer to his debut) is expected to suit up and play against Indiana.

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Kentucky VB in the Elite Eight

A couple of hours before tipoff in Rupp, Kentucky volleyball will take the floor at Memorial Coliseum in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Craig Skinner’s squad, the one-seed in the Lexington Regional, will go head-to-head with 3-seed Creighton at 5:00 p.m. ET (ESPN2). The winner moves on to the Final Four next week in Kansas City.

Kentucky has had little issue reaching this stage in the tournament. The ‘Cats swept Wofford in the opener, took down 8-seed UCLA 3-1 in round two, then smacked Cal Poly with another sweep in the Sweet 16 on Thursday. Creighton will easily be the toughest challenge yet, but nothing this seasoned group hasn’t already experienced this season.

Tickets are still available for tonight’s match (click here to purchase). UK is even offering a free shuttle between Memorial and Rupp for those planning to attend both the volleyball and men’s basketball games. If the volleyball ‘Cats can take care of business, you should have plenty of time to make your way down to Rupp ahead of tipoff.

Tom Leach interviewing Mitch Barnhart ahead of IU game

Tonight’s UK basketball pregame show, Countdown to Tipoff, could be an interesting one. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart will join Tom Leach for an exclusive sitdown interview starting at 6:00 p.m. ET. With so much talk lately surrounding JMI’s impact on UK Athletics (including KSR’s reporting on how it’s influencing men’s basketball recruiting), it’s certain to be a topic of discussion.

Pope praised Barnhart and JMI during his Friday presser.

“We’re in such a good spot right now, in the sense of, I’m telling you, and it’s like, this would probably be when someone needs to do like a super in-depth New Yorker magazine 30-page article on Mitch,” Pope said. “But his leadership in this space has been incredible, and I get to see it firsthand, where I have ADs from other major universities reach out and try to figure out, ‘How are you doing this?’”

We’ll hear Barnhart’s thoughts on the state of UK Athletics tonight.

UK football news and notes

  • Will Stein is expected to name Texas A&M’s Jay Bateman as Kentucky’s next defensive coordinator, but before Bateman makes his way to Lexington for good, he’ll first finish out his College Football Playoffs run with the Aggies. Stein will also stick with Oregon as the team’s offensive coordinator through the Ducks’ CFP run.
  • Earlier this week, Jabbar Juluke was a top candidate to be the next running backs coach at Kentucky. But Texas came calling for the Louisiana native, and it was too much to turn down. Juluke was officially named to the Longhorns’ staff on Friday.
  • Louisville is adding Chase Heuke, who served as Kentucky’s general manager, to the staff to help with the Cardinals’ recruiting efforts. UK recently swiped away one of UL’s longtime recruiting staffers, Pete Nochta.

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2025-12-13