KSR Today: La Familia vs. War Ready, final day at Peach Jam, and a future Wildcat going for gold

Good morning, folks! Kentucky’s alumni squad in The Basketball Tournament, La Familia, returns to action this afternoon for game two of the single-elimination event.

The team of former Wildcats obliterated their first-round opponent in the Lexington Regional on Friday night, smashing Stroh’s Squad 105-52 inside Memorial Coliseum. There was an obvious talent difference between the two sides, which was made clear when La Familia was running a fastbreak dunk contest throughout the entire second half. Head coach Sean Woods had guys full-court pressing up 40 points, for goodness’ sake!

But the crowd of Big Blue Nation faithful was loving every moment of it. Archie Goodwin and Kahlil Whitney, two of the best performers from Friday’s win, were able to have their moments with the fans. Ansley Almonor, who played for Mark Pope last season, knocked in the Elam Ending game-winner. Other UK alums such as Rajon Rondo and Darius Miller were also in the building. It was a fun time to be a Kentucky fan.

Let’s do it all again in a few hours, shall we?

Up next on the schedule is War Ready, the region’s 4-seed and a team made up mostly of Auburn alums. War Ready was able to sneak past 5-seed X-Rayted, 61-55, in the opening round, but the competition will go up a few notches today. Some familiar faces will suit up across from La Familia, too. Former Auburn players such as Malik Dunbar, Wendell Green Jr., and Antoine Mason were all contributors against X-Rayted. Green and Dunbar combined to drop 32 points. KD Johnson is another name the BBN will remember fondly, although he did not play in the opener due to personal reasons. His status is TBD for today’s game.

Tipoff back inside Memorial is set for 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Tickets are still available if you want to make a trip down to campus. A full bracket is available here. The KSR crew will be on location to cover all the action once again. Let’s have some fun with it.

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Final day at Peach Jam

The July live period is coming to an end. Today marks the final day of Nike Peach Jam action in North Augusta, SC, which also means this is the final day college coaches can watch their favorite recruits in person for the remainder of the summer. Head coach Mark Pope and a pair of his assistants, Alvin Brooks III and Jason Hart, have been living in these gyms since Thursday.

Jacob Polacheck of KSR+ has been right there with them the entire time, tracking which high school prospects they’ve been monitoring the most. With only a handful of championship games going on today (and no major Kentucky targets set to play in them), Jacob is getting a head start on his drive back home to the Bluegrass State. But he did drop a significant intel piece on KSR+ yesterday that is a must-read for those who follow the recruiting trail.

If you need to catch up on what you’ve missed from the last few days, check out KSR’s Peach Jam Live Blog to stay in the know.

Maddyn Greenway, Team USA going for gold

Kentucky women’s basketball 2026 commit Maddyn Greenway is only one more win away from helping Team complete a perfect run at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in the Czech Republic. The Americans cruised through the group stage before dominating China in the first round (122-57), sneaking past France in the quarterfinals (70-65), and doing just enough to take down Spain in the semifinals (70-58).

The only country standing in Team USA’s way of another gold medal is Australia, which has also yet to drop a game in this event. Greenway hasn’t been the most efficient player when it comes to scoring the ball (3.3 points per game on just 31.8 percent shooting), but she’s been the United States’ best playmaker. Her 4.5 assists in 14.3 minutes per outing are the most on the team. She’ll need to bring her A-game against the Australians today at 2:00 p.m. ET. A live broadcast can be found on FIBA’s YouTube channel.

Did you know this about Alex Afari?

Alex Afari was recruited to play cornerback at Kentucky. Upon his arrival, he was moved to safety, then primarily played nickel before transitioning to linebacker ahead of the 2024 season. Moving around and trying new things is nothing new for this Kentucky Wildcat.

“I was born in Italy, lived there for four years. Then moved to Ghana. That’s where my parents are originally from, so I lived with my Grandma and Auntie. Then I came to the United States,” he shared with KSR at SEC Media Days.

When the idea of playing football was first mentioned to Afari, he assumed everyone was talking about soccer — until he stepped on a practice field and they put a helmet and shoulder pads on him. He nearly quit before his friend, First Team All-American Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson, who now plays in the NFL, convinced him to keep going.

Otega Oweh 🤝 DeAndre Liggins

DeAndre Liggins and Otega Oweh wore Kentucky uniforms more than a decade apart, but the Wildcats have more in common than you might think.

With La Familia competing in the TBT, UK Sports Video connected former greats with current players for the Back in Blue series. While talking together for about 15 minutes, the two Wildcats learned they had quite a bit in common.

🎙️ Back in Blue featuring @OtegaOweh and DeAndre Liggins. pic.twitter.com/VeGF0hsEth

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) July 18, 2025

Championship day at Las Vegas Summer League

We won’t have any former Wildcats in the actual championship game on what is the final day of NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas, but a few will suit up in one of the two consolation games.

TIME (ET)	HOME	AWAY	TV/STREAMING	ROUND
6:00 PM	Atlanta Hawks (Lamont Butler, Jacob Toppin)	Boston Celtics (Amari Williams)	ESPNU, ESPN+	Consolation
8:00 PM	Los Angeles Clippers	Memphis Grizzlies	ESPNU, ESPN+	Consolation
10:00 PM	Charlotte Hornets	Sacramento Kings	ESPN, ESPN+	Championship

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