Kentucky
Kentucky-Louisville Men’s Hoops Rivalry Adds Spicy New Chapter
With five minutes and seven seconds remaining in a very good game between the Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats, a disappointingly dormant rivalry erupted back to life in Rupp Arena.
Louisville guard Reyne Smith dove on the floor for a loose ball in front of the Cardinals’ bench. Kentucky big man Brandon Garrison bent down and attempted to yank the ball away, but in the process fouled Smith. Tempers flared briefly—did Garrison attempt to drop a foot on Smith’s chest?—and Garrison was pushed by a scrum of players into the Louisville bench, a white jersey surrounded by red. Wildcats guard Lamont Butler joined the hubbub, and coach Mark Pope sprinted over to make sure nothing escalated. So did a handful of sheriffs, who quickly appeared on the court.
“That was probably the most fun part of the game, right?” Pope quipped afterward.
That moment—and the play of both teams before and after the little dustup—was exactly what the most heated rivalry in men’s college basketball needed. Some juice. Some edge. Some competitive heat. Some pride. Nothing stupid and nothing violent, but a clear indication that the Cards and Cats are going to resume going at each other without backing down.
Kentucky won the game, 93–85. That was the expected outcome, as the Cats improved to 10–1—better than expected for a completely new roster. But shorthanded Louisville (6–5), which has lost two key players for the season to injury, battled for 40 minutes against its hated rival. That’s more than the Cardinals have done in this game in years.
Here’s how it went during the dismal, disastrous two years with Kenny Payne as coach: Louisville trailed Kentucky 18–2 out of the gate in 2022 at Rupp; and Louisville trailed by 17 at halftime last year at home. They were early knockouts, after which Wildcats coach John Calipari insulted everyone’s intelligence by trying to prop up his former assistant, Payne, as a capable head coach. Payne was fired with an embarrassing 12–52 record after dragging the program to the bottom.
Now Louisville has a real coach in Pat Kelsey. And Kentucky has a real coach who knows what it means to play in this rivalry, having gone 1–1 against Louisville while playing for Rick Pitino during the 1994–95 and ’95–96 seasons. The memories of the 88–86 loss in Freedom Hall came flooding back to Pope on Friday night.
“The bus ride home from Louisville—I was in a full-on, teary-eyed sweat last night,” Pope said postgame. “I had blocked it out of my head and it all came rushing back. You get locked in a bus with Coach P for an hour and a half after a two-point loss against Louisville? Whew. I wouldn’t wish that on any of you. I bet only half you guys would come out alive.”
In an era of constant player movement, both these teams are stocked with first-year players who hail from all over the place and had no firsthand knowledge of what Kentucky vs. Louisville means, and what it has meant for 40 years. To help them understand, Pope had 15 former UK players write letters to the 15 current players to tell them their memories of playing Louisville. It was an inspired teaching moment.
“Those letters, they’re really, really special,” Pope said. “Some time five, 10, 15, 20 years from now, our guys will be writing letters to the next generation of players.”
Duke vs. North Carolina draws brighter lights and has probably produced more great games, but this is the basketball version of the Iron Bowl football rivalry between the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide. In a state without major pro sports, this is an all-consuming competition between fan bases that can become a veritable culture war.
There was, memorably, a fight at a dialysis clinic between a Louisville fan and a Kentucky fan before the teams met in the 2012 Final Four. But every day of the year there are lesser skirmishes happening—in offices, on school buses, in bars, anywhere.
That’s especially true in the battleground city of Louisville, where the majority of the town wears red and black but a large minority wears blue and white. Get out further into the state and it’s almost all blue. Even after taking over a depressed program that had some of the spirit beaten out of it, Kelsey has quickly picked up on the dynamic.
“This is a great, great rivalry,” Kelsey said. “Not just in collegiate basketball, but it’s one of the really cool rivalries in all of American sports. We’ve got to do our part and win some to continue to make it a rivalry. It’s hard to truly describe—especially in our city of Louisville—how much this rivalry means. [The fans] reminded me early and often, every single day. Every time I get gas, every time I get something to eat in the community, ‘Hey Coach, how’s it going? You going to beat Kentucky this year?’ So I get it, I get it.
“When I walked out there today, I’m going to be honest with you, the pageantry of the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry hit me. I looked around and saw the atmosphere before the jump ball went up, and I took a minute to truly appreciate how special it was. But if it’s 365 days until we play again, I’m going to be reminded four million times when that game is coming up. And we’ll be looking forward to it.”
Kelsey will be thrilled that next year he won’t have to face fifth-year Kentucky guard Lamont Butler, who transferred in from San Diego State and was absolutely brilliant for the Wildcats. Butler had missed the last two games with an ankle injury and hadn’t even practiced much—then he went out and hung 33 on the Cardinals, making every shot from the field. Butler was 10-for-10, including 6-for-6 from three-point range, scoring a career-high 33 points.
“Lamont Butler just gave us one of the all-time great performances in the history of this super-special game,” Pope said, without exaggerating.
Butler had made only seven threes all season, out of 31 attempts. Then he lit up Louisville, opening the second half with three straight threes and scoring nine of Kentucky’s first 11 points after intermission.
“It was like [he was] touched by God,” Kelsey said of Butler’s shooting spree. “That ball was going in.”
But every time the Cats staggered the Cards with a run, Louisville answered. The Cardinals cut the deficit to three points twice in the second half on baskets by guard Chucky Hepburn (26 points, five assists). They cut it to five with just over three minutes remaining. But Kentucky never let it become truly nerve-wracking for the crowd of 21,093, which kept the heat on the visitors throughout.
“That’s the greatest atmosphere I’ve ever played in,” Louisville’s Terrence Edwards Jr. said.
That’s what this game should be like every year.
Sadiqa Reynolds was removed from the University of Louisville board of trustees last week, as the Kentucky Senate did not confirm her appointment before they adjourned the 2026 legislative session.
Reynolds, the former president of the Louisville Urban League, was appointed to a six-year term on the board last April by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
Under state law, gubernatorial appointees to boards must be confirmed by the state Senate during the subsequent legislative session in order to stay in that position. While the Republican supermajority filed and passed more than 50 resolutions to confirm appointees, none were filed to confirm Reynolds.
Reynolds told Kentucky Public Radio this week that she was not given any reason for why the Senate failed to confirm her, but suspected Republicans wanted her out due to her open criticism of the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in education by President Donald Trump and the legislature.
“Attacks on education are attacks on our democracy,” Reynolds said. “There is no honor in following the lead of Kentucky Republicans when they are hellbent on destroying any gains we have made in this country.”
Reynolds added that it was “a badge of honor” to be rejected by Senate Republicans.
“Fascists refused to confirm me,” she said. “One little woman with one voice. I have never felt more powerful.”
Asked why Republican leadership did not confirm Reynolds, a Senate GOP spokesperson replied that “there was no resolution filed by a Democrat or Republican for the Senate to consider.”
Republican senators — who make up 84% of the chamber — filed all of the 50-plus resolutions to confirm Beshear appointees. Only one Senate bill filed by a Democrat was passed into law this session.
Senate Democrats did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the chamber not confirming Reynolds.
Scottie Ellis, the spokesperson for Gov. Beshear, replied in a statement that Reynolds “is an accomplished leader and University of Louisville alumna who cares about the direction of the school and served on its Board of Trustees with pride and integrity. Her removal is the latest politically motivated move by the Republican-led General Assembly, who are ultimately hurting UofL and its students with this baseless action.”
Asked to comment on Reynolds’ removal from the board of trustees, U of L spokesman John Karman said it was “not our decision,” adding that “the university is appreciative of Trustee Reynolds for her service and grateful for her contributions as a member of the Board of Trustees.”
Reynolds was critical not just of the Trump administration’s actions targeting DEI initiatives, but legislation passed into law by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2025 to ban all DEI initiatives at public colleges. She added that she pushed the university not to “overcomply” with such efforts and challenge them legally, or “at least explain the impact of compliance to the legislators and to the public.”
“People are so afraid to ask questions and challenge them, and I was not afraid,” she said. “Republicans have heard what I said and didn’t like it.”
Reynolds was not the only Beshear appointee to not be confirmed by the Senate. Though Republicans filed a resolution to confirm Michael Abell to the Fish and Wildlife Resources Commission, they did not vote on it before the legislature adjourned.
Responding to Abell’s removal last week, Ellis said the Senate GOP “once again refused to confirm a commissioner nominated by the Kentucky sportsmen and appointed by the Governor. This is now the eighth time they have done so. Kentuckians should be very worried about the operations at Fish & Wildlife.”
Reynolds was formerly a judge and top aide to former Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, until she was named CEO of the Louisville Urban League in 2015. She left that position in 2022 to become CEO of the Perception Institute, a New York City think tank that counters bias and discrimination. Reynolds stepped down from that position last fall to focus fully on the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, a West End sports complex she pushed for while at the Urban League.
The Louisville Urban League president that succeeded Reynolds in 2022 was fired after four months, then filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit alleging she was wrongfully terminated for airing concerns about its finances and allegations of conflicts of interest involving the sports complex. A mistrial was declared in that case, and a new trial was granted last month.
Collin Chandler’s arrival at BYU was a long time coming, and left fans in suspense for over four years. The highest-rated recruit in program history at the time, Chandler first committed to BYU basketball four years ago before departing on his two-year missionary service. The timing of his return couldn’t have been worse, as he arrived soon after the news that head coach Mark Pope would be leaving Provo for the same position at a blue blood and his alma mater, Kentucky.
Deny it and fight it as much as you can, but there was no avoiding the truth: Collin Chandler would be out the door in Provo before ever suiting up for the Cougars.
But now in the present day, two years through his collegiate career, Collin Chandler is back in Provo. Now under a new regime, Chandler hopes to fill the void left by Richie Saunders’ departure, and assume a leadership role with the program he left years ago.
All is forgiven for the prodigal son, but hearing why Chandler jumped ship from Lexington for a spot back in the Beehive State makes his decision to transfer from UK all the more fascinating. In a radio interview with ESPN The Fan, the blonde blur opened up about his choice to return home.
“There are a lot of great things about BYU off the court. But basketball-wise, I’m most excited about development,” the junior guard shared. “Coach [Kevin] Young’s NBA experience is unique. I want to play at the next level, and learning from someone with that background is huge.”
“I’ve talked to players who’ve worked with him, and they all say development is his strength. That’s what really stood out to me.”
Chandler continued, sharing the relationships that helped him confirm his decision to take another shot at BYU.
“I talked to Richie Saunders,” Chandler noted. “I also have a good relationship with [former BYU player] Trevin Knell since we had the same high school coach. They both gave me great insight and helped me think through everything.”
Collin went a bit further on the Saunders comparisons, acknowledging where their skill sets overlap.
“First off, being compared to Richie Saunders is an honor. He’s left an incredible legacy at BYU. With new rosters come new styles, but I think this year’s team will play fast, share the ball, and make plays for each other. We’ve got a lot of guys who can handle the ball, so I see myself as part of that—making plays, playing fast, and being part of a fun system.”
On the topic of players Chandler would be teaming up with at his new program, he noted some teammates he had already shared the floor with as well as others who he looked forward to familiarizing himself with.
“Experience is huge,” Chandler noted. “That’s something I learned at Kentucky; having guys who know the system makes a big difference. Having someone like Rob Wright back is big. […] Jake Wahlin [former Timpview alumni and Clemson transfer] is someone I know really well. We played AAU together and faced off in high school. I’m excited to play with him again.”
Finally, on the topic of his return to BYU, Chandler’s off-court priorities paired with Kevin Young’s unique on-court capabilities made the Cougars the obvious favorites.
“Utah has a great staff and is building something strong, but I love the culture at BYU. I love what Coach Young is building and the foundation that’s already there.”
“It just felt like home.”
Chandler will be a junior at BYU this season, and hopes to build an NBA portfolio strong enough to carry the Farmington, Utah, native to the highest level of professional hoops. If Kevin Young’s NBA bootcamp is as good as Chandler believes it to be, you’ll see him taking great strides this season.
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Kentucky women’s basketball guard Asia Boone will be returning to Kentucky for her senior season, she announced.
Boone, who was a two-time All-Conference USA player at Liberty before arriving at Kentucky, averaged 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game this season. She was originally the team’s sixth man and at times, served as the backup point guard to Tonie Morgan, but she earned a starting role later in the season as she started in 19 of Kentucky’s 36 games.
The 5-foot-8 guard is the second confirmed returner for the 2026-27 squad, joining All-SEC First Team center Clara Strack, who will also be a senior this upcoming season.
She was one of two players this season who broke Rhyne Howard’s program record for threes made in a single season. Amelia Hassett finished the year with 99 threes made, setting the new program record, but Boone was just behind her with 96 made threes on 263 attempts (36.5%).
Boone’s highest-scoring game of the season was against Morgan State, when she had 21 points on 8-10 (5-7 3PT). She had 18 points in Kentucky’s win at LSU on New Year’s Day and topped that with a 19-point effort against Texas A&M on Feb. 12.
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