KSR GAMEDAY: Kentucky looks to get back on track against Missouri

Good morning, folks! It’s gameday once again for Mark Pope‘s Kentucky men’s basketball team. After getting trounced in Tuscaloosa over the weekend, the Wildcats will look to bounce back against a pesky Missouri squad.

The Wildcats will host the Tigers tonight inside Rupp Arena with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Kentucky, which just fell to a nine-seed in ESPN’s latest Bracketology update, enters this game as a double-digit favorite. Our friends at BetMGM have UK sitting as 13.5-point favorites, which is up a point from the opening spread. The point total has been set at 149.5, with Kentucky’s point total set at 81.5. We’ve talked plenty about must-win games this season, but this one might truly be one of those matchups. Missouri is currently considered a Quad 3 opportunity — losing those does real damage to a team’s NCAA Tournament resume.

Missouri is coming off a 76-74 win at home over Florida, but the game before that, all the way back on Dec. 22, resulted in a 91-48 blowout defeat against No. 16 Illinois. Other than the win over the Gators, Mizzou’s best win is an 83-60 victory over Minnesota (ranked No. 91 in KenPom). Kansas beat this team by 20. Despite how poor Kentucky looked against Alabama a few days ago, the ‘Cats are huge favorites for a reason.

What the Tigers do well is shoot the ball. They rank 14th nationally in effective field goal percentage while knocking down 36.5 percent of their outside looks. They hit the offensive glass well. Led by versatile 6-foot-8 forward Mark Mitchell, four different players average double-figures. But Missouri is far from being considered a good defensive squad, ranking third-worst among all SEC teams in defensive rating.

Kentucky won’t play many teams in the regular season as talented as Alabama. That’s the good news. The bad news is the Wildcats need a win just for the good vibes bump. Pope’s postgame Alabama press conference and Monday night radio show both felt strange. Jaland Lowe and Mo Dioubate were honest with their assessment of the team during Tuesday’s pre-game interviews. It’s time to start putting all the pieces together.

• Mo Dioubate wishes Kentucky’s scouting report was better at Alabama: ‘The way they played, I was kind of expecting that’
• Jaland Lowe’s shoulder is ‘the best it can be’ as he navigates playing through injury
• Jaland Lowe stresses importance of getting off to quicker starts ahead of Missouri game
• Mo Dioubate ‘would love’ to see Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance join him in the starting lineup

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Will Stein is COOKING in the portal

This week has already been a busy one for the Kentucky football program. New head coach Will Stein has added several transfer portal additions in just the last two days. Four portal prospects committed to the Wildcats on Tuesday alone. And literally as I was writing this paragraph, Alabama offensive lineman Olaus Alinen signed with the ‘Cats. More will be on the way soon.

Below are Kentucky’s current portal additions.

• QB Kenny Minchey, Notre Dame
• IOL Coleton Price, Baylor
• LB Tavion Wallace, Arkansas
• DT Ahmad Breaux, LSU
• EDGE Antonio O’Berry, Gardner-Webb
• CB Hasaan Sykes, Western Carolina
• DB Aaron Gates, Florida
• IOL Max Anderson, Tennessee
• RB Jovantae Barnes, Oklahoma
• DT Jamarrion Harkless, Purdue
• OL Olaus Alinen, Alabama

We also learned Tuesday that defensive back Nasir Addison has removed his name from the portal and is returning to UK. He’ll provide quality depth at the cornerback spot. On top of that, UK received a high school commitment. 2026 four-star safety Andre Clark (No. 229 overall) was released from his signing at Michigan on Monday before flipping to Kentucky. Stein is putting together a good roster.

Want more Kentucky football intel? Join KSR Plus for access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

Tonie Morgan named National Player of the Week

Kentucky women’s basketball point guard Tonie Morgan had one hell of a two-game stretch last week. It resulted in her winning USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, but somehow only a share of SEC Player of the Week. We’ll gladly highlight the national recognition over the conference one, though. Morgan was more than deserving of that honor.

In the Wildcats’ road win over No. 5 LSU, Morgan finished with 24 points, 12 assists, and zero turnovers while hitting the go-ahead three-pointer in the final second that lifted UK to victory. A few days later, in a blowout win over Missouri, the Georgia Tech transfer went for 18 points and 14 assists. In those two games, Morgan shot 14-21 from the field and 5-6 from deep. She currently leads the entire nation in assists at nine per game.

With Morgan’s help, Kentucky jumped to a 2-seed in ESPN’s latest Bracketology update. Now let’s just hope Kenny Brooks can get Teonni Key back on the floor sooner rather than later. The ladies return to action on Thursday against Alabama on the road. KSR’s Phoenix Stevens has everything you need to know about the program right now in his latest episode of Memorial Memo.

Karl-Anthony Towns went on Late Night with Seth Meyers

I’ll end today’s morning post with Karl-Anthony Towns making an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Towns talked about his relationship with actor Timothée Chalamet, getting engaged to Jordyn Woods, and much more. Start your day off right with a fun conversation between KAT and Meyers.