KSR Today: Kentucky Basketball Returns To Rupp, Mark Stoops Speaks, and More

Good morning, Big Blue Nation. Today, Kentucky plays basketball again in Rupp Arena in the final game of the Wildcat Challenge presented by Kentucky Tourism. The Wildcats host Saint Joseph’s at 7:00 pm in the fifth game on the 2023-24 regular season schedule.

Today also marks the beginning of Governor’s Cup week for Kentucky Football. After a Sunday off to reflect on Saturday’s bad loss at South Carolina, Mark Stoops and his team “get back to work” for rivalry week and the regular season finale at Louisville.

We have other weekend notes and Monday matters to address, too.

Kentucky vs. St. Joseph’s

We’ll start with tonight’s game at Rupp since it’s another opportunity to watch Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham play basketball. Those two were awesome Friday night in the win over Stonehill.

Tonight, the new fan-favorite backcourt duo is back in action with their UK teammates as a 15.5-point betting favorite against the Hawks. Saint Joseph’s comes into the game with a 3-1 record, having won the first three games of the season against Lafayette, Penn, and Stonehill before losing to Texas A&M-Commerce by three Friday night. Kentucky also has a 3-1 record, with four players averaging double figures in scoring.

Tonight’s game will air on the SEC Network, with Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw voicing the broadcast.

The KSR Pregame Show begins at 4:30 pm from Lexington.

Other College Basketball Today

Need something to do while counting down until tip-off? Some of Kentucky’s rivals play afternoon games.

TIME/TV
2:30 pm / ESPN2	(7) Tennessee (-13.5)	Syracuse
4:30 pm / ESPNU	Indiana (-7)	Louisville
5:00 pm / ESPN2	(2) Purdue (-5)	(11) Gonzaga
7:00 pm / ESPNU	(5) UConn (-5.5)	(19) Texas
11:30 pm / ESPN 2	UCLA	(4) Marquette (-6)

Congratulations to Louisville for maybe not being terrible? The Cards nearly took down Texas yesterday. Currently, Kentucky is No. 17 in the former and No. 16 in the latter

New College Basketball Rankings To Come Out Later Today

Around lunchtime, we will learn where Kentucky lands in the new AP and Coaches college basketball polls. The Wildcats suffered a loss to No. 1 Kansas since the last update, but still may climb a few spots considering how close that game was last week.

Jay Williams Makes Things Up

During yesterday’s college basketball slate, ESPN broadcaster Jay Williams made bizarre comments about DJ Wagner while doing commentary during the Indiana-UConn game. The former Duke guard was looking ahead to Louisville-Texas (another game that doesn’t include Kentucky or Wagner) when Williams speculated Wagner could transfer to Louisville next season.

“In our second game, obviously, Texas vs. Louisville, something that stands out from that game is Milt Wagner, who played at Louisville, one of their top players of all time, his grandson, DJ Wagner, plays for Kentucky. There are a lot of guards on Kentucky’s roster who are really good, that can go. And you wonder how that situation plays out over time.

Does DJ find himself back out at Louisville? I’m not saying that he can’t be a star for Kentucky because he might but it always leaves things out there where you’re wondering, if things aren’t going their way, they’ll get out and go somewhere else.”

ESPN’s Jay Williams while calling a basketball game that didn’t include DJ Wagner or Kentucky

The comments are dumb for many reasons, from Wagner’s current draft stock (first round) to it being FOUR GAMES into the season. Williams talked out of his ass.

Mark Stoops’ Monday Press Conference

At Kroger Field later today, Mark Stoops will hold his weekly Monday press conference to preview the final week of the regular season and the next game on the schedule, the Governor’s Cup. Additionally, Stoops must explain further what happened on the road at unranked South Carolina when Kentucky left a win on the field with missed opportunities at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Once the press conference concludes, we’ll have a video of that conversation for you here on Kentucky-Sports-Radio-dot-com.

Stoops’ Monday night call-in show is postponed until tomorrow due to the basketball game.

New KSR Football Podcast

Rather than postponing the KSR Football Podcast until tomorrow, we’re moving it up in the day so we can put that loss to South Carolina and all that came with it in the rearview. You can find today’s live episode at 1:30 p.m. on KSR’s YouTube channel. Like, comment, and subscribe to the page if you enjoy the show.

You can find the new episode on KSR’s YouTube when it goes live or consume the audio-only version of KSR’s podcasts on Apple and Spotify.

Ryan Lemond Got Sucker-Punched In Columbia

You’ll want to tune into Kentucky Sports Radio today to hear how Ryan Lemond took one on the chin at the Kentucky-South Carolina game over the weekend. He spent Sunday eating soft foods like scrambled eggs for dinner, and today on the show, we’ll hear what exactly happened.

Kentucky Volleyball Still Winning

There is no hotter team on campus than Kentucky Volleyball, with its FOURTEENTH-STRAIGHT WIN on Sunday. Craig Skinner’s Wildcats beat Missouri in four sets (25-12, 25-15, 18-25, 25-21) to maintain UK’s lead at the top of the SEC standings.

Kentucky Volleyball has two more matches in the regular season: a trip to Arkansas on Wednesday and then Florida comes to Rupp Arena next Saturday for Senior Day in Lexington.

Kentucky Women’s Basketball Lost Another One

Sunday was a great day for Kentucky Volleyball but not for Kentucky Women’s Basketball. Kyra Elzy’s Wildcats went down to Florida Gulf Coast and suffered a second-straight loss in the early season, losing 59-48 to the Eagles. Amiya Jenkins and Ajae Petty combined for 33 of Kentucky’s 48 points but got little scoring help elsewhere. The Cats shot 38 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from three.

Up next, Kentucky plays NC State on Thursday in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands.

UK Men’s Soccer Eliminated From The NCAA Tournament

Sunday also marked the end of the road for Kentucky Men’s Soccer. The Wildcats season ended at the hands of Notre Dame, the No. 2 seed, in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky lost 2-0 in South Bend in the program’s fifth-straight trip to the second round. Only Indiana and Georgetown can say they too have won a match in each of the last five tournaments.

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