Kentucky
LIVE BLOG: Kentucky vs. Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge
After four easy wins at home, it’s time to see what this Kentucky team can do on the road. KSR’s new and improved LIVE BLOG will bring you all the sights and sounds from Littlejohn Coliseum as No. 4 Kentucky takes on Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Kentucky is 7-0, the best start since the 2016-17 season. If the Cats win tonight, it’ll be the best start since the 2014-15 season. Tonight, they’ll face a Clemson team that is 7-1, the only loss coming at Boise State. The Tigers made it to the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA Tournament but lost seven players from that squad. This year’s team was picked to finish fourth in the ACC preseason poll and is led by Chase Hunter (16.4 points per game) and Ian Schieffelin (11.6 rebounds per game).
Refresh the feed below for updates and our takes on the game, from both Littlejohn Coliseum and the couch. You can also join the conversation on the KSBoard Game Thread or by texting your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
Special thanks to today’s live blog sponsor, Ole Jim’s BBQ:
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Andrew Carr picks up his 2nd foul
12/03/2024 09:09:04 PM
The fouls are mounting at Littlejohn Coliseum. Andrew Carr picked up his second, bringing Kentucky’s team total to five. Lamont Butler has been on the bench after picking up his second foul at the 15:11 mark. Brandon Garrison also just picked up a foul to take Kentucky’s total to six. Clemson has eight fouls total. This game could drag on well into the night.
Score Update: 11:40 1H – Kentucky 17, Clemson 15
12/03/2024 09:02:03 PM
It’s a back-and-forth battle so far. After missing two free throws Andrew Carr hit a huge three to put the Cats up 17-12. Clemson’s Dillon Hunter responded on the other end to cut that lead to three at the Under-12 media timeout. The Tigers are having their way on the offensive glass so far, with five offensive boards to Kentucky’s three for six second-chance points.
Clemson takes the lead, but Koby Brea takes it back
12/03/2024 08:58:55 PM
Myles Foster gave Clemson its first lead of the game but Koby Brea stole it back with his first three of the game. Unfortunately, he picked up a foul on the other end, but we’ll forgive it if it means more threes.
Score Update: 15:11 1H – Kentucky 11, Clemson 8
12/03/2024 08:51:49 PM
Good news or bad news? Good: Kentucky leads Clemson at the first media timeout. Bad: Lamont Butler just picked up his second foul. Butler’s been playing great otherwise, leading Kentucky with five points, so this is not ideal.
Both teams are a little cold early on. Kentucky is 3-9 from the floor, Clemson 2-8.
Christian Reeves picks up his second foul
12/03/2024 08:49:07 PM
Clemson center Christian Reeves just fouled Otega Oweh on a three-point shot, his second foul of the game. Oweh made two of three from the stripe to make it 9-5 Cats with 16:11 to go until half.
Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr pick up early fouls
12/03/2024 08:44:07 PM
The refs are already making themselves known, calling two early questionable fouls on Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr. Mark Pope, who famously attended a referee symposium to better understand officiating, is unhappy with them so far.
It’s okay because a Lamont Butler and-one makes it 6-2 Kentucky with 18:13 to go.
Birthday boy Jaxson Robinson starts things off with a three!
12/03/2024 08:41:44 PM
Today is Jaxson Robinson’s 22nd birthday and he tipped off the celebration with a big three-point bucket on the opening possession.
Tennessee cruises past Syracuse
12/03/2024 08:33:02 PM
If you’ve got ESPN on waiting for Kentucky vs. Clemson, you watched the end of Tennessee vs. Syracuse. I hate to say it, but the Vols looked very good, cruising past the Orangemen 96-70. Add in Missouri’s win over Cal and the SEC now leads the SEC/ACC Challenge 5-0.
Time for the main event. The crowd at the KSR Road Trip watch party in Fort Collins, Colorado is ready:
10 minutes to go until tipoff
12/03/2024 08:30:29 PM
The crowd at Littlejohn Coliseum looks ready to roll:
Usual Starting Lineup
12/03/2024 08:22:16 PM
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Kentucky will go with its usual starters vs. Clemson.
00 Otega Oweh
01 Lamont Butler
02 Jaxson Robinson
07 Andrew Carr
22 Amari Williams
Pope confirms Brandon Garrison will play vs. Clemson
12/03/2024 08:18:49 PM
Jack Pilgrim said Brandon Garrison looked good in warmups after sitting out the Georgia State game as a precautionary measure (soreness). In his pregame conversation with Tom Leach, Pope confirmed Garrison will play vs. Clemson.
“He got in a really light workout on Sunday evening, got to practice yesterday. So, he’s should be a full go today.
Love to hear it.
Good crowd at the KSR Road Trip Watch Party in Fort Collins
12/03/2024 08:13:33 PM
The radio crew is in Fort Collins, Colorado tonight and, of course, some fans showed up at the Grey Rock Sports Grill to watch the game with them. I’m sure that’s just the beginning of Blue getting in.
Arkansas comes back to beat Miami
12/03/2024 08:08:18 PM
Miami led almost the entire game but Arkansas came back to win it 76-73 thanks to some big buckets by Boogie Fland. Miami has now lost five straight games.
The SEC is now 3-0 in the SEC Challenge, as South Carolina beat Boston College 73-51 and Georgia beat Notre Dame 69-48. No. 3 Tennessee is cruising vs. Syracuse and it looks like Missouri will beat Cal too. So far, it just means more.
Brandon Garrison looks good to go
12/03/2024 08:02:57 PM
Held out “more as a precaution than anything else” due to “a little bit of soreness” against Georgia State, it appears Garrison will make his return for the Wildcats following the one-game absence.
The sophomore forward went through full warmups with no apparent setbacks.
Looks like Kentucky is back at full strength.
Sights and sounds from Littlejohn Coliseum
12/03/2024 07:55:28 PM
KSR has arrived for Kentucky’s matchup at Clemson inside Littlejohn Coliseum ahead of the opening tip. Students flooded the venue as soon as doors opened while the rest of the orange and purple have trickled in since.
They’re not alone, though. Big Blue Nation has showed out, too, with most sections featuring at least a couple of Kentucky fans and several with a good chunk of blue. Talking with BBN members around the arena, many made the short trip from Atlanta over to Clemson — just two hours away.
Plenty to get a “Go Big Blue” chant going if things swing Kentucky’s direction this evening.
Take a look at some of the early views from Littlejohn Coliseum:
Tip time now 9:41 p.m. ET
12/03/2024 07:38:04 PM
The game is already being pushed back. According to Dave Baker on the official UK pregame show, tipoff has been pushed back to 9:41 p.m. ET, probably because Tennessee/Syracuse, which is also on ESPN, is only at halftime. Yawn.
Here are your How To Watch Details for whenever this one does tip off.
Television: ESPN (Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes)
Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
Online Radio: iHeart
Satellite Radio: Sirius 158 or 190
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Which teams need to nail the NBA Draft the most?
Listing the teams that can least afford to mess up this year’s NBA draft.
LEXINGTON — Otega Oweh will begin his NBA career on the move.
The Miami Heat drafted Oweh in the second round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Wednesday, June 24. Oweh was the No. 41 overall pick (and the 11th selection of the second round).
But he won’t remain in Miami: Oweh reportedly is part of a trade that will send him to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Oweh starred for Kentucky basketball the past two seasons. He was a primary component of the first and second squads of coach Mark Pope’s tenure at UK.
Here’s what to know about Oweh, the Wildcats’ newest draft selection:
Oweh began his time as a collegian at Oklahoma, where he spent two seasons. He played in 32 games (28 starts) for the Sooners in 2023-24, averaging 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1 assist per outing.
But he was a revelation at Kentucky, inarguably the team’s top player the past two seasons.
During his debut in 2024-25, Oweh paced the Wildcats in points per game (16.2) and double-digit efforts (33 times in 36 games). He started the season scoring 10 or more in the team’s first 26 games, which was the longest streak by a Kentucky player since Malik Monk did so 30 times in a row in 2016-17.
After going through the draft process and returning to UK, Oweh entered the 2025-26 campaign as the SEC’s preseason Player of the Year.
He wound up being every bit as consistent as in Year 1, scoring 10-plus points in 35 of the Cats’ 36 games. Oweh, who was named to the All-SEC Second Team by the league’s coaches, averaged a team-high 18.6 points per game.
He finished his Kentucky career with 1,255 points, the most ever by a player in his first two seasons with the program.
Along with his scoring prowess, Oweh also set single-season personal bests for rebounds (4.8), assists (2.7) and steals (1.8) per game.
Despite his standout two-year career with the Cats, Oweh was not a highly touted transfer portal prospect following the 2023-24 season. He was 31st according to 247Sports, while ESPN ranked him 59th and On3 didn’t even include him in its top 100.
Hailing from Blair Academy in New Jersey, Oweh was unanimously rated as a four-star prospect in the 2022 class, earning that ranking from Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN.
Oweh was slightly taller than 6-foot-4 (without shoes) at the NBA Draft Combine. During that testing, he weighed 216 pounds. That’s nearly identical to Oweh’s figures on Kentucky’s official 2025-26 roster, where he was listed at 6-4 and 220 pounds.
NBAdraft.net wrote that Oweh’s most logical pro comps are the Harrison twins — ex-UK greats Aaron and Andrew — and Josh Okogie.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
Kentucky
Top knee doctor confident Jayden Quaintance’s injury not a long-term concern, but clean-up procedure possible
One of the nation’s top knee doctors shared a positive diagnosis with former Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance going into the 2026 NBA Draft, revealing that his knee is not expected to be a long-term concern, KSR has learned.
That may include a second procedure to officially put the injury suffered in February 2025 behind him, however.
Dr. Riley Williams III — head team physician and orthopedic surgeon for the Brooklyn Nets and famous for performing surgery on Paul George’s gruesome open tibia-fibula fracture with USA Basketball in 2014 — gave a second opinion on Quaintance’s injured right knee that limited him to four games in Lexington and recommended a follow-up procedure that could keep him off the floor for six months. The 6-foot-11 prospect’s ACL remains fully intact and his knee can be maintained at its current state, but a clean-up is preferred for a permanent resolution.
Medical concerns led to his slide in final mock drafts — he was projected to go No. 27 overall to the Boston Celtics, according to ESPN — before ultimately landing with the San Antonio Spurs at No. 20. This procedure could lead to a delayed start to his rookie season, but the long-term reward of a healthy 15-year career in the NBA is the prize on the table. It kept teams in the lottery and late teens intrigued, despite rumors of a potential fall to the second round. Sources close to Quaintance felt San Antonio at No. 20 was a backstop for the talented forward going into draft night, an educated hunch that proved to be accurate.
Quaintance worked out for the Dallas Mavericks (No. 9, No. 30), Milwaukee Bucks (No. 10), Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 12, No. 17), Chicago Bulls (No. 15), Toronto Raptors (No. 19), San Antonio Spurs (No. 20) and Boston Celtics (No. 27) ahead of the draft, but the Thunder and Spurs were the most aggressive throughout the predraft process, sources tell KSR. Once OKC snagged Michigan’s Aday Mara at No. 12 overall, it opened the door for a move to San Antonio for the former Wildcat.
There was disappointment in Quaintance’s absence on draft night after failing to receive a green room invite, but receiving confirmation of no long-term knee concern was the biggest priority — and that came after meeting with arguably the nation’s top knee doctor before the 2026 NBA Draft began in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
Quaintance was not the top-five pick he was expected to be going into his lone season at Kentucky, but he found himself in a perfect winning situation in San Antonio next to the future face of the NBA in Victor Wembanyama, even if that includes a short-term setback.
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