Rajon Rondo and Tayshaun Prince were special guests on Kentucky's first day of practice

Rajon Rondo speaks to Kentucky Wildcats at practice (Photo: @KentuckyCards)

Tayshaun Prince will be inducted into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025 this week, but first, a return home to Rupp Arena to check out his Wildcats in action for the first day of preseason practice. He was joined by fellow legend Rajon Rondo in the star-studded day in Lexington.

Monday marked the start of fall practice for DI teams, a transition from eight hours upon returning from summer break to 20 hours with the 2025-26 season right around the corner — Big Blue Madness is just 19 days away, followed by the Blue-White Game in 25 days, Purdue exhibition in 32 days, Georgetown exhibition in 38 days and the season-opener vs. Nicholls in 43 days.

Mark Pope had a bright-and-early session at the crack of dawn this morning at the Joe Craft Center, followed by an afternoon practice at Rupp Arena. He excitedly shared footage from the first practice right after things wrapped up, highlighted by Trent Noah splashing threes and Malachi Moreno throwing down a filthy poster.

Practice #1 in the books. Hard work & so much fun. Couple clips of BG and MM making plays and Mountain Mamba making shots. Can’t wait ‘til 2pm for #2 #BBN pic.twitter.com/NYTlRetEE7
— Mark Pope (@CoachMarkPope) September 22, 2025

After getting over to the most iconic building in college basketball for session No. 2, the Wildcats shared a few more highlights from day one. Those included Pope getting the team ready to go in a defensive stance, Mo Dioubate and Moreno throwing down dunks, Jasper Johnson and Andrija Jelavic finishing at the rim, Noah and Kam Williams hitting shots and Johnson wrapping things up with a backward half-court make to make you feel all warm and fuzzy about the official start of basketball season.

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Wait, was that Rajon Rondo talking to the team? It sure was.

We heard that Dioubate was the king of motivational quotes last week, and now, we got to see it in action for a Mo-Tivational Monday.

“The road is long, but every stone that you pass is proof that you’re moving forward.”

Mondays with @MoDioubate debuts on day one. pic.twitter.com/1vVNw1G2Pt
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 23, 2025

Nothing but good vibes on day one. The only thing that would make it better is a recently inducted Basketball Hall of Famer and soon-to-be KSHOF member with 1,775 career points as a three-time All-SEC honoree showing up.

Oh, right. Mr. Prince himself was there, too.

Jimmy Mahan of Jimmy’s Kentucky Roadshow Shop attended practice and shared a photo of No. 21 there with Rondo, the Wildcat legends soaking in the new era of UK basketball together.