KSR GAMEDAY: No. 9 Kentucky hosts Georgetown in final exhibition game
Good morning, folks! The Kentucky men’s basketball team plays another game today. I know, it makes me emotional, too.
It’s only a preseason exhibition (the final one before next week’s season-opener), but that won’t stop the Big Blue Nation from treating tonight’s showdown with the Georgetown Hoyas as if it were an NCAA Tournament game. Vibes are especially high for the ‘Cats coming off of last Friday’s exhibition win over preseason number one Purdue, where UK essentially ran the Boilermakers out of the gym. What will tonight’s magic have in store for us at Rupp Arena?
Whatever it ends up being, it likely won’t include starting point guard Jaland Lowe, who was a non-contact participant in practice on Wednesday (more on the practice in a moment). The preseason All-SEC Third Team member was wearing a brace on his injured right shoulder early on in practice, which he later took off halfway through practice after going through shooting and conditioning drills with no problem.
But even if Lowe is sidelined once again, Kentucky has the juice to take down the Hoyas. Head coach Ed Cooley took Georgetown from a 9-23 record in year one to an 18-16 mark in year two. What will year three look like? For starters, it won’t include 6-goot-9 center Thomas Sorber, who went 15th overall in this past year’s NBA Draft. 6-foot-8 guard Micah Peavy also left for the league. Most of Cooley’s top contributors from last season are no longer on the roster, but there were plenty of additions via the transfer portal.
For more on what lies ahead with the Hoyas, dive into Jack Pilgrim’s preview from this earlier week by clicking the link below. Once you do that, we’ll run through the rest of this morning’s news and notes. Tipoff for tonight’s game is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+. If you’re not quite sure how to access SEC Network+, KSR’s Steven Peake is here to help walk you through it.
[KSR’s first look at the Georgetown Hoyas ahead of Kentucky’s second exhibition game]
Mark Pope hosted a family media day
Mark Pope and the rest of the Kentucky men’s basketball program did something that they did not have to do on Wednesday — but we’re all incredibly grateful they did. For his usual mid-week press conference, Pope let the media bring members of their family in to join in on the presser and also watch practice afterward. I brought my girlfriend, Jack brought his wife and kids, Drew Franklin brought his wife (and long lost son, Mario), and Matt Jones brought his parents.
Pope made sure that every question during his 25-minute press conference came from a family member — and of course, he answered all of them as seriously as he would any other. We even learned more about Pope’s famous chess battles with Collin Chandler and Jayden Quaintance. Everyone received a special media credential with their name on it.
Then we all got to sit in on a practice for roughly 90 minutes inside Rupp Arena. We were live-blogging about it over on KSBoard if you want to know the juicier details. We even saw Pope yell at a player — yes, he can get loud! There was plenty of drill work, 3-on-3s, 5-on-5s, etc. Drew has a full rundown of everything he saw at practice, which you can read through the link below.
[“Back up! Back up!” What happened in Kentucky’s 5-on-5 scrimmage in Rupp Arena]
After practice wrapped up, Pope had every single player come by and thank the media and their families for being there. They took pictures with everyone and signed autographs for the kids. Lee Anne Pope said this was an event they’ve done at previous coaching stops and enjoy hosting. Was Pope trying to massage the media a bit with this kindness? Probably a little, but it was still a very cool opportunity that most of us media members had never been a part of. We’ll gladly return next year if it means another chance to be around our loved ones while watching a Kentucky practice.
Kentucky prepares for the Hot Seat Bowl
Where excitement for Kentucky basketball (both on the men’s and women’s side) is peaking, excitement for Kentucky football is waning. The ‘Cats head to The Plains on Saturday to face an Auburn team that is on the brink of firing its coach. The Tigers hold a 4-4 record after entering the season with College Football Playoff hopes.
Top 10
- 1Trending
85-90% chance
Stoops is gone, per Matt Jones
- 2New
UK vs. Georgetown
Staff Predictions for Cats vs. Hoyas
- 3New
Otega Oweh
voted Preseason SEC POY by coaches
- 4Hot
Hot Seat Rankings
Stoops is on fire.
- 5
Georgetown
First look at the Hoyas
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Hugh Freeze could easily find himself out of a job if things continue to go south for Auburn. Mark Stoops might be in a similar boat for the ‘Cats. On3’s Andy Staples believes Stoops and Freeze are numbers one and two, respectively, on his coaching hot seat board going into this weekend. BetMGM has Auburn as a 10.5-point favorite as of Thursday morning.
How will Kentucky’s defense respond after giving up 49 offensive points to Tennessee last week? For once, offense was not the issue for the Wildcats in that blowout loss. UK is likely to be down a couple of key defensive backs this weekend. Some pride will be on the line for the defense when the ball is kicked.
“There’s a lot of embarrassment and humility coming out of Saturday,” Defensive coordinator Brad White said following Wednesday’s practice. “On all levels — starting with me.”
Fresh Availability Report from the SEC
The first SEC Availability Report for Kentucky vs. Auburn came out on Wednesday night.
- WR Troy Stellato: Out
- RB Jamarion Wilcox: Out
- OLB Jacob Smith: Out
- LB Devin Smith: Out
- DL Nic Smith: Out
- WR David Washington Jr.: Out
- TE Elijah Brown: Out
- CB DJ Waller Jr.: Doubtful
- CB Terhyon Nichols: Doubtful
- OL Aba Selm: Doubtful
- WR Ja’Mori Maclin: Questionable
- LB Landyn Watson: Questionable
- RB Seth McGowan: Probable
Seth McGowan being listed as probable is a good sign after he sat out last week, but it doesn’t look good for either of the starting cornerbacks, DJ Waller Jr. and Terhyon Nichols. Ja’Mori Maclin also made a surprise appearance on the list. As for Auburn, the Tigers could be without three of their top four pass-catchers. Cam Coleman (32 receptions, 440 yards) has been a major impact piece for the Auburn offense — he’s listed as questionable.
Another updated report will drop tonight during the basketball exhibition.
Lamont Butler tears his ACL
This one is just a straight-up bummer. Injuries plagued Lamont Butler during his lone season at Kentucky, and now they’re impacting his professional career. Butler revealed on Wednesday that he has torn both his meniscus and his ACL. He’ll miss the entire 2025-26 season, where he was expected to play in the G League. Butler was able to battle through his injuries at Kentucky and still play at a high level, but now he has no choice but to rest and recover in hopes of making a comeback in 2026-27.
KSR’s Happy Hour is moving to Halloween
With Kentucky-Georgetown soaking up all the attention tonight, we’re pushing our weekly KSR Happy Hour show back to Friday. It’ll get going a bit earlier than usual around 3:00 p.m. ET, but with it being on Halloween, we’re going to lean into the spookiness of the day. We’ll see you on the KSR YouTube channel tomorrow to help kick off your weekend.
Go Cats. Beat the Hoyas.
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