KSR Today: Moving on from Michigan State + Men's Soccer in the NCAA Tournament

Good morning, folks! The emotions of Tuesday’s loss in the Champions Classic still linger a couple of days later, but we’re going to make this Thursday a great one.

And that’ll start by hearing from head coach Mark Pope, who will speak with the media later today for the first time since Kentucky lost to Michigan State. Pope was none-too-happy during his postgame press conference, carefully searching for his words after a poor performance from his now 3-2 ball club. Now that he’s had some time to reflect with a clearer head and dive into the MSU film, he’ll field questions about what went wrong and what needs to change moving forward. Kentucky will have a chance to bounce back on Friday when it hosts Loyola (MD) in Rupp Arena.

As always, we’ll have everything Pope has to say on the website and the KSR YouTube channel as soon as possible. Now, let’s dive into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

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Availability Report vs. Vanderbilt

The ‘Cats will be banged up for Saturday’s road showdown with No. 14 Vanderbilt. Defensive starters Sam Greene (OLB) and Jordan Lovett (DB) have already been ruled out against Vanderbilt. Another starter, DJ Waller Jr. (DB), is listed as doubtful and is likely to miss his 10th straight game. Rotational pieces Jantzen Dunn (DB) and Jaden Smith (DB) will also be out. Alex Afari Jr. (LB), Terhyon Nichols (DB), and Kahlil Saunders (DL) are all listed as questionable.

OUT

• WR Troy Stellato
• OLB Sam Greene
• 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 DJ Waller Jr.
• CB Nasir Addison
• OL Malachi Wood

QUESTIONABLE

• LB Alex Afari Jr.
• CB Terhyon Nichols
• DL Kahlil Saunders

Vanderbilt, on the other hand, will be mostly healthy going into this weekend. We’ll have another updated report later tonight. KSR’s Nick Roush and Adam Luckett broke down the matchup in their latest episode of 11 Personnel, which you can watch below.

Basketball recruiting news

The early signing period officially wrapped up on Wednesday night, but Kentucky still does not have a commit on the board. The one that could have popped in the ‘Cats favor, five-star wing Christian Collins, is now planning to sign in the spring, although UK remains in a good spot with him. Elsewhere, a couple of Kentucky targets committed to other schools: five-star wing Baba Oladotun (No. 7 overall in 2026) and five-star center Arafan Diane (No. 16) committed to Maryland and Houston, respectively.

Kentucky VB cleans up SEC awards

No. 2 Kentucky volleyball, recent winners of its ninth straight SEC championship, dominated the conference’s postseason awards announcement. Five Wildcats received honors from the league office, headlined by Eva Hudson being named SEC Player of the Year. We should see some All-Americans from this list in the near future, too.

• Eva Hudson – SEC Player of the Year, SEC Newcomer of the Year, First Team All-SEC
• Kassie O’Brien – SEC Freshman of the Year, First Team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team
• Brooklyn DeLeye – First Team All-SEC
• Molly Tuozzo – Second Team All-SEC
• Craig Skinner – SEC Coach of the Year

Kentucky is currently preparing for the SEC Tournament, which begins on Friday in Savannah, GA. But the Wildcats received a double-bye and will not play until the quarterfinal on Sunday. UK will face the winner of (9) Oklahoma/(16) Arkansas vs. (8) Auburn on Sunday at noon ET on the SEC Network. Coach Skinner will speak with the media later this morning to preview the matchup.

Jon Sumrall WON’T meet with Florida

The Coaching Carousel continues to spin despite the ongoing college football regular season. The latest update came out of Gainesville when it was reported that Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall was planning to meet with Florida on Thursday. But a few hours after that news went public, the meeting was quickly canceled with Sumrall reportedly removing his name from the Florida coaching search altogether. Sumrall has Tulane ranked No. 24 in the CFP rankings, the final spot in the field as the Group of 5 representative. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is a name that continues to come up in conversations regarding the Florida job.

Men’s soccer in the NCAA Tournament

After winning the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship for the first time since 2022, Kentucky men’s soccer is now looking to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. That begins tonight as the Wildcats (10-3-5, 7-1-1 SBC) take on Saint Louis (10-2-7, 5-0-3 A10) in the first round in St. Louis, MO. This will mark just the second-ever meeting between these two programs, the first coming all the way back in 2000, a 4-2 win for UK. The Billikens made it to the NCAAT (its fourth in the last five years) by winning the A-10 Tournament.

Kickoff tonight at Hermann Stadium is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

KSR Happy Hour LIVE at 4!

It’s Friday Jr., which means the KSR Happy Hour show returns to the KSR YouTube channel. As always, we’ll be going live around 4:00 p.m. ET. Tyler Thompson, Drew Franklin, and Adam Luckett will make up today’s panel. Come for the sports talk, stick around for when things inevitably go a bit off the rails.

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