Kentucky

Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Northern Illinois

Published

2 years ago

September 23, 2022

Preview

No. 8/9 Kentucky will finish its two-game homestretch by taking part in host to Northern Illinois on Saturday for Household Weekend in Kroger Subject, when the Wildcats look to defend its nation-leading streak of 18 straight nonconference wins. Just like final weekend, it would mark the primary all-time assembly between the Wildcats and the Huskies. In the meantime, it’s Kentucky’s final non-Energy 5 opponent of the common season and its final nonconference matchup earlier than embarking on seven straight Southeastern Convention appointments, starting with a highway journey to ranked Ole Miss.

The Wildcat protection, which has restricted its opponents to zero factors over the past six quarters, will proceed to play a big position if Kentucky goes to outlast Northern Illinois. A 4-0 report on the season would mark simply the third time within the head coach Mark Stoops period that Kentucky has gotten off to pretty much as good of a begin.

Cat Scratches: White Is aware of UK Protection Nonetheless Has Room to Enhance

From the skin, it seems that the Kentucky protection is on the high of its sport. The Cats appear to be doing many, if not all, of the proper issues.

Kentucky shut out Youngstown State 31-0 on Saturday, the primary time UK has blanked an opponent since 2009 (Miami College). It was the Cats’ first dwelling shutout since blanking Vanderbilt in 1996.

Going again to the Florida sport, Kentucky has not allowed a degree in additional than six quarters. Actually, it has been 95 minutes and 49 seconds of sport time since anybody has scored on the UK protection.

The Cats are at present twelfth within the nation in scoring protection via three video games, permitting simply 9.67 factors per contest. UK is 14th within the nation in whole protection, surrendering simply 253.7 yards per sport.

All of that is unbelievable, however UK defensive coordinator Brad White is aware of that it’s nonetheless early and there are nonetheless loads of issues that his unit can do higher…Learn Extra

A UK Win Would…

• Be its first towards Northern Illinois, in its first all-time assembly with the Huskies.
• Enhance UK to 35-7-1 (2-0 this season) vs NIU’s Mid-American Convention. The Cats haven’t misplaced to a MAC workforce since falling to Ohio, 28-16, on Oct. 2, 2004 in Lexington. UK defeated Miami earlier this season, 37-13.
• Be the third timme within the head coach Mark Stoops period that Kentucky has gotten off to a 4-0 begin to the season, additionally 2018 and 2021.
• Prolong Stoops’ all-time successful report at Kentucky to 63 and his all-time successful report at dwelling to 44.
• Prolong UK’s nonconference win streak to 19 video games, longest energetic streak within the nation.
• Be UK’s fourth straight win at Kroger Subject, courting again to 2021

Nice Dane

• Via week three, freshman huge receiver Dane Key has caught 13 passes for a team-leading 226 yards and three touchdowns.
• Key’s three landing catches already ties this system’s freshman single-season report, becoming a member of Derek Abney in 2000 and Tommy Cook dinner in 2001.
• The final Wildcat with a landing catch within the first three video games of a season was La’Rod King in 2011.
• Key additionally turned the one true freshman at UK, since freshmen had been granted eligibility in 1972, to report receiving touchdowns in every of his first two collegiate video games and the primary freshman since Derek Abney (2000) to catch a minimum of two scores via his first two video games (Abney had a pair of TD catches vs. South Florida in his debut).
• The rookie is fifth within the Southeastern Convention in yards per reception with 17.38.
• Key snagged a 55-yard landing at Florida, with a extremely contested leaping catch, to earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors for his spectacular efficiency in The Swamp

By the Numbers

0
Factors allowed by Kentucky in final week’s 31-0 win over Youngstown State. It was UK’s first shutout since 2009 and the primary dwelling shutout since 1996

2
Touchdowns allowed by the UK protection via three video games

18
Consecutive non-conference wins for Kentucky, the longest streak within the nation

27
Interceptions by Kentucky since 2020, rating second within the SEC

200
Factors scored by UK kicker Matt Ruffolo, which ranks sixth in class historical past

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Kentucky

Kentucky has more Top 15 wins than any team in the country

Published

2 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky has more Top 15 wins than any team in the country

The start of Mark Pope‘s head coaching career at Kentucky couldn’t be off to a better start.

Sure, the Wildcats have taken some lumps as we’re roughly halfway through the 2024-25 season. But when the moment is the brightest or when Kentucky desperately needs a bounce-back win, Pope’s team continues to find ways to pull out massive victories.

Following Saturday night’s 95-90 road win in Starkville over No. 14 Mississippi State, Kentucky is up to a 13-3 record (2-1 SEC). Four of those 13 wins have come against teams that were (and still are) ranked among the AP Poll’s Top 15 in the country at the time. UK has taken down No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 6 Florida, and now the 14th-ranked Bulldogs. The wins over Duke and Gonzaga required huge halftime comebacks, as well.

Kentucky’s 4-0 mark against Top 15 teams is best in the country. UK is also now 4-3 in Quad 1 opportunities. After all three of the Wildcats’ losses this season, Pope has coached his team to bounce back wins in all of them. Two of those were against the aforementioned Top 15 opponents: Gonzaga and Mississippi State.

The schedule (somehow) only gets tougher from here too. Up next? Two more Top 15 matchups next week at Rupp Arena. Kentucky will host No. 10 Texas A&M on Tuesday and then No. 5 Alabama on Saturday. The ‘Cats also have to take on top-ranked Tennessee twice, Alabama a second time, and No. 2 Auburn later in conference play. Not to mention showdowns with No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 17 Oklahoma.

But if we’ve learned anything from the first 16 games of the Pope era, it’s to never count out this group of Wildcats.

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Kentucky

Kentucky vs Mississippi State score today: Updates, highlights from UK basketball game

Published

10 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Kentucky vs Mississippi State score today: Updates, highlights from UK basketball game

Mississippi State, Mark Pope joked, has “the bio” of seemingly every team in the SEC.

The Bulldogs are aggressive, offensively and defensively. They induce turnovers at a high rate. And they excel at offensive rebounds.

But they have two individuals that are hard to approximate elsewhere in guard Josh Hubbard and forward Cameron Matthews.

A 5-foot-11, 190-pound sophomore, Hubbard was one of the league’s best players as a freshman last season. He’s only built off that in 2024-25. He leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.90). And he ranks among the top 10 in the conference in multiple categories, including 3-point percentage (38.2) and 3-point makes per game (3.13) entering tonight’s game versus Pope’s Kentucky squad.

“He is a real talent,” Pope said. “He’s been doing it for a while. He’s really, really dangerous.”

Matthews, meanwhile, reminds Pope of one of the NBA’s most well-known players of the past decade.

“He’s very much a Draymond Green vibe,” Pope said. “He’s a really terrific, creative passer. He’s got an unbelievable sense of space and time away from the ball. He can see cutters. He can pass off the bounce. He can be really aggressive to the rim. He plays like a really, really big point guard. So he’s a unique piece for them.”

It’ll be a matchup of ranked squads tonight at Humphrey Coliseum: The Wildcats are No. 7 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25, while the Bulldogs are 13th and 14th, respectively.

Here’s what you need to know to follow today’s game from home:

The contest between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will air on SEC Network. Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will have the call.

Authenticated subscribers can access SEC Network via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com, the WatchESPN app or ESPN+.

You also can stream SEC Network on Fubo, which offers a free trial.

Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the UK radio network call on 840 AM in Louisville and both 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington.

You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.

Betting odds: Kentucky is a 5⅟₂-point road underdog (-110) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 161 points (-110). The money line odds are Kentucky +190, Mississippi State -230.

Oct. 23: exhibition vs. Kentucky Wesleyan ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 123, Kentucky Wesleyan 52
Oct. 29: exhibition vs. Minnesota State Mankato ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 98, Minnesota State Mankato 67
Nov. 4: vs. Wright State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 103, Wright State 62
Nov. 9: vs. Bucknell (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 100, Bucknell 72
Nov. 12: vs. Duke (Champions Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Duke 72
Nov. 19: vs. Lipscomb, (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 97, Lipscomb 68
Nov. 22: vs. Jackson State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 108, Jackson State 59
Nov. 26: vs. Western Kentucky (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 87, Western Kentucky 68
Nov. 29: vs. Georgia State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 105, Georgia State 76
Dec. 3: at Clemson (ACC/SEC Challenge) ∣ SCORE: Clemson 70, Kentucky 66
Dec. 7: vs. Gonzaga (Climate Pledge Arena; Seattle) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 90, Gonzaga 89 (OT)
Dec. 11: vs. Colgate (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Colgate 67
Dec. 14: vs. Louisville (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 93, Louisville 85
Dec. 21: vs. Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York) | SCORE: Ohio State 85, Kentucky 65
Dec. 31: vs. Brown (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 88, Brown 54
Jan. 4: vs. Florida (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 106, Florida 100
Jan. 7: at Georgia | SCORE: Georgia 82, Kentucky 69
Jan. 11: at Mississippi State, 8:30 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 14: vs. Texas A&M (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN2
Jan. 18: vs. Alabama (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN
Jan. 25: at Vanderbilt, 2:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
Jan. 28: at Tennessee, 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 1: vs. Arkansas (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 4: at Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 8: vs. South Carolina (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN/ESPN2
Feb. 11: vs. Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 15: at Texas, 8 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 19: vs. Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 22: at Alabama, 6 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 26: at Oklahoma, 9 p.m., SEC Network
March 1: vs. Auburn (Rupp Arena), 1/4 p.m., ABC/ESPN
March 4: vs. LSU (Rupp Arena), 7/9 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
March 8: at Missouri, noon, ESPN/SEC Network

Record: 12-3 (1-1 SEC)

Ansley Almonor (forward, senior)
Koby Brea (guard, graduate)
Lamont Butler (guard, graduate)
Andrew Carr (forward, graduate)
Collin Chandler (guard, freshman)
Grant Darbyshire (guard, junior)
Brandon Garrison (forward, sophomore)
Walker Horn (guard, junior)
Kerr Kriisa (guard, senior)
Trent Noah (forward, freshman)
Otega Oweh (guard, junior)
Travis Perry (guard, freshman)
Jaxson Robinson (guard, graduate)
Zach Tow (forward, junior)
Amari Williams (center, graduate)

Mississippi State went 21-14 overall last season, posting an 8-10 mark in SEC play. Its season ended in an 69-51 loss to Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs are 14-1 this season. Their lone loss was an 87-77 setback to Butler on Nov. 29 at the Arizona Tip-Off event in Tempe, Arizona. MSU is 2-0 in conference competition, routing South Carolina by 35 points (85-50) at home last week and topping Vanderbilt on the road, 76-64, on Tuesday.

Though UK has beaten Mississippi State nine straight times at Humphrey Coliseum, the Bulldogs haven’t lost at home this season, sporting a 7-0 record entering tonight’s game.

Click here to see the Bulldogs’ full 2024-25 schedule.

Want to learn the Bulldogs’ roster?

Click here for player bios and more.

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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

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Kentucky

Drone Gives Bird's-Eye View of Snow-Covered Kentucky Neighborhood

Published

19 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Drone Gives Bird's-Eye View of Snow-Covered Kentucky Neighborhood

Drone footage offered a bird’s-eye view of a snow-covered neighborhood in London, Kentucky, as a winter storm hit the area on January 10. Local videographer Johnnie Nicholson captured the snowy scenes, as a thick layer of the white stuff coated streets and buildings alike. Credit: Johnnie Nicholson via Storyful

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