KSR GAMEDAY: Kentucky looks to respond vs. Loyola (Md.)
We’re on day three post-Michigan State — where are you in your five stages of grief? Have we all made the acceptance transition, or is it all still depression? Wherever you are, it’s okay, just make sure you’re ready to go by 7 p.m. ET, because Kentucky has business to take care of, taking on Loyola (Md.) at Rupp Arena in game six of the regular season. It’s not the name-brand competition we’re all wanting to see after missing on both opportunities to start the year, but we only get so many of these. Don’t take a single one for granted because we’ll be missing these days when summer rolls around. At the end of the day, it’s still your Wildcats playing in front of the greatest fanbase in the world, and there’s truly nothing like it.
For now, there is obviously a ton to work on with this team. Rotations are a mess, and without Jaland Lowe, there is no offensive identity. Bad shot selection and limited ball movement are crushing the Wildcats against teams with legitimate talent. That’s what these next couple of matchups are for: tinkering and tweaking to find what truly sticks. Tighten things up, play the guys most deserving of minutes based on effort, work ethic and tangible production, not preseason hype or money spent in a desperate attempt to get a return on investment. Get creative with lineups in an effort to get the struggling players going, putting shooting around athletes to improve spacing. Shoot, go small if you’re gonna get outrebounded anyway, as we saw against the Spartans.
More than anything, have a plan. No reckless substitutions with players constantly in and out, abandoning feel and momentum for numbers on a spreadsheet. Use this time to nail things down ahead of a massive December for Mark Pope and the program.
Kentucky vs. Loyola (Md.): How to Watch, Listen
- Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET
- TV: SEC Network+ (Darren Headrick and Cameron Mills)
- Local Radio: UK Sports Network (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
- AM: 840 WHAS, 630 WLAP
- FM: 98.1 WBUL
- Online: iHeart Radio
- Sirius XM: 81
You can also follow along on the KSR LIVE BLOG, which will start a few hours before tipoff, and join the conversation on KSBoard.
Quick facts on the Greyhounds
What do you need to know about Kentucky’s competition tonight? Loyola (Md.) enters tonight with a 2-4 overall record with wins over Penn State Abington and Stonehill with losses to Towson, NJIT, Fairfield and Duquesne.
The Greyhounds are coached by Josh Loeffler in the Patriot League, returning nine players to their roster from a year ago featuring three seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen overall. Jacob Theodosiou is your leading scorer at 17.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, followed by Braeden Speed at 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists and Emmett Adair with 11.0 points per contest.
As a team, they’re scoring 75.0 points per game on 46.3 percent shooting, 32.9 percent from three and 67.0 percent at the line with a -0.8 rebounding margin and a -0.8 turnover margin, averaging only 12.0 assists per contest.
Mark Pope’s take on tonight’s matchup
The focus has been on the aftermath of Michigan State and how to figure things out against name-brand competition, but Pope still has his scouting report down for Loyola (Md.): a player he didn’t know existed to begin the week had a big game against Duquesne, which was a solid performance for the Greyhounds (albeit in a 92-78 loss).
“Good team. They’re playing well right now,” Pope said of the 2-4 competition. “They just played a terrific game last night on the road at Duquesne. It was a good team. They are – they’ve changed defenses. They’ll give us all different defensive looks. They’ve had some guys that have been shooting it better and better and better.
“They had a player that I didn’t even know was on the roster that showed up last night and actually played really well. They’re a good team. It’s going to be a good competitive game. We’re looking forward to it.”
Everything else from Pope’s press conference
It was an anticipated press conference for all of the reasons that had nothing to do with Loyola. Coming off that disastrous performance at Madison Square Garden, Pope answered questions on Jaland Lowe’s status, team chemistry, what actually happened before Louisville, why he went with a quarter-zip in NYC over a suit and much, much more.
Top 10
- 1Hot
UK-UofL "Incident"
Pope shares what happened
- 2New
Jaland Lowe
Pope gives update
- 3
Flip to FSU
UKFB loses a commit.
- 4
Brandon Garrison
Pope defends BG
- 5Trending
Locker Room Problems?
Pope doesn't see it that way.
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Among the highlights:
- On Lowe: “Can he get to a place where he feels some stability and some strength? … It really is a day-to-day kind of process to see where he ends up. He’s got really good mobility right now. And so it’s just a matter of stability and strength and kind of see what we get and take another swing if he can.”
- On Mo Dioubate’s injury: “It’ll be a game-time [decision]. I would think there’s probably some significant chance he won’t play. But he’s tough as nails.”
- On the pregame experience vs. Louisville: “There’s nothing there. Literally, we flipped the switch early. … I wish there was more drama to make it more exciting, but there just wasn’t.”
- On team chemistry being an issue: “I don’t think that’s our issue at all right now. I wouldn’t say that’s even close to our issue. I don’t think that pops up on my radar at all. This is a really special group of guys that are trying to find themselves right now.”
A new Sources Say to get your day started
How is the KSR crew handling things? Well, it was a tough couple of days coming back from New York, but things are trending back in the right direction. That was only possible by talking about it all in the latest edition of Sources Say.
The big talking point: Kentucky can and should be fine and Pope continues to be the man for the job, but there are questions that must be answered to feel good about the trajectory both now and down the road.
Tune in:
A tough injury report for Kentucky FB at Vandy
The Wildcats will head to Nashville extremely shorthanded, especially on the defensive side of the football. The latest injury report did Mark Stoops’ squad no favors while Vanderbilt is doing pretty well on that front.
KENTUCKY
OUT
- WR Troy Stellato
- OLB Sam Greene
- CB DJ Waller Jr.
- CB Jantzen Dunn
- RB Jamarion Wilcox
- DB Jaden Smith
- DB Jordan Lovett
- LB Devin Smith
- OL Aba Selm
- WR David Washington Jr.
- TE Elijah Brown
DOUBTFUL
- CB Nasir Addison
- OL Malachi Wood
QUESTIONABLE
- LB Alex Afari Jr.
- CB Terhyon Nichols
- DL Kahlil Saunders
VANDERBILT
OUT
- DL Yilanan Ouattara
- QB Drew Dickey
- RB Chase Gillespie
- DB Vanzale Hinton
- DL Nikhil Jefferson
Can Kentucky ruin Diego Pavia’s Senior Night?
Is that an early uniform announcement?!
It’ll be the blue-white-blue combo for the Cats in Nashville.
That’s the same uniform the team wore on the Plains for the 10-3 win at Auburn. They’re gonna need all the good vibes they can get as a sold-out crowd awaits Kentucky at FirstBank Stadium for a 3:30 ET kickoff on ESPN.
Ray Davis scores a 97-yard TD on TNF
It wasn’t the final result the Buffalo Bills wanted, but the former Wildcat had himself a night, scoring the first special teams touchdown of his two-year career.
A heartbreaker for UK Men’s Soccer in the NCAA Tournament
The Wildcats couldn’t get it done in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament, eliminated by the Saint Louis Billikens in devastating fashion — a 2-1 extra-time loss, despite scoring a goal in the fifth minute to take an early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, Saint Louis responded in the 86th minute with a goal to tie it up, followed by two periods of extra time that saw the Billikens ultimately finish it off.
Kentucky finishes the season with a 10-4-5, 7-1-1 SBC record, the program’s first 10-win season since 2022 while also bringing home the regular season Sun Belt title.
Tough one for the Cats.
Enjoy your Friday, BBN. Time to beat Loyola (Md.).
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