Kentucky
Mark Pope calls Kentucky’s loss to Ohio State “devastating” and “worst ever”
The Kentucky Wildcats are 10-2 on the young season and are coming off their worst performance of the Mark Pope era thus far.
Playing in the annual CBS Sports Classic, the Cats faced off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in a game many viewed as a likely win for UK in New York City.
No one told the Buckeyes that as they came out and dominated the Cats from the tip in Madison Square Garden, scoring a 20-point win.
On his Monday radio show, Coach Pope talked about the loss, and you can really tell how much he wanted to win this game for the BBN.
“What a bad night. Just devastating. It was just the worst, the worst ever. To do it in that venue wearing this jersey, it’s devastating.” Pope said.
The hope is that this loss will help Kentucky will learn from this performance and use it as fuel to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“There’s nothing you can do with it but help dig in and help it make you better, right?” Pope stated. “And in long conversations with our guys and our staff and digging into the numbers, the nuts and bolts, it’s also exciting to grow and get better and to move forward.”
Once again, this is a message that just shows that Coach Pope gets what this program means to the Bluegrass State.
Now, the Cats will turn their attention to a matchup with Brown on New Year’s Eve as they look to get back into the win column before the gauntlet of the SEC begins.
Who does conference play start with? None other than a top-10 team in the Florida Gators coming to Rupp Arena.
Going to be an interesting few weeks to see how Kentucky responds.
Mark Pope began his press conference with congratulations for Louisville, but quickly turned to a brutally honest assessment of his own team, calling the performance “extremely poorly” and an “incredibly disappointing” product for Kentucky basketball.
But the entire game —and Kentucky’s core issue —was summed up by one stat line.
Louisville had 20 assists and 6 turnovers. Kentucky had 14 assists and 14 turnovers.
“The 20 to 6 compared to the 14-14 tells the really the whole story of the game,” Pope said.
The Wildcats were “sticky with the ball,” as Pope put it, and completely abandoned their offensive principles. The result was a 20-point deficit and a final score that wasn’t as close as it looked. The Cats were able to get it to 4, but bad shot selection and bad defense allowed the Cardinals to end on an 8-4 spurt over the last 3 minutes.
How Kentucky got “punished”
Pope was clear that this wasn’t just a bad shooting night; it was a failure of execution that led to a confession you hate to hear, but know it is true:
“We’re going to lose a 20-to-6, 14-to-14 game. We’re just going to lose it,” Pope said. “And… we got punished for not playing it the right way.”
That punishment was clear. Louisville scored 19 points off turnovers and had 11 steals, constantly hounding Kentucky’s primary scorers. Otega Oweh, who finished with 5 turnovers on 4-for-13 shooting, was a primary target of the Cardinals’ defense.
“I thought they were physical with them. I thought they brought a crowd. They did everything we didn’t do,” Pope said of the plan against Oweh. “They were really good at bringing a crowd and… making them play through multiple defenders.”
Kentucky has a tune-up against Wright State on Friday, and it is really needed after the overall display put on tape last night. The good news is they still were in the game after playing so badly for long stretches. So, if you are a silver lining kind of fan, there you go.
The Kentucky Football Coaches Association has named its Players of the Year, Linemen of the Year and Coaches of the Year for all 48 districts, eight in each class.
Players of the Year, Linemen of the Year and Coaches of the Year for all six classes will be named during the state finals Dec. 5-6 at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field in Lexington. The KFCA Mr. Football and statewide Coach Haywood Lineman of the Year and Jimmie Reed Coach of the Year awards will be announced in mid-December.
Louisville-area Player of the Year winners are Christian Academy’s Ja’Hyde Brown, North Oldham’s Colin Daniels, Spencer County’s Keyon Davis, Atherton’s Garyon Hobbs, Bullitt Central’s A.J. Lee, Manual’s Gerian Traynor, Male’s Steron Davidson and Trinity’s Zane Johnson.
Louisville-area Lineman of the Year winners are Kentucky Country Day’s Kris Mandy, Christian Academy’s Kellan Hall, Valley’s Josh Vaughan, Spencer County’s Richard Gilbert, Iroquois’ Jeremiah Jackson, Fairdale’s Chaz Tutt, Male’s Christian White and Trinity’s Nate Shields.
Louisville-area Coach of the Year winners are Christian Academy’s Hunter Cantwell, Butler’s Gary Wheeler, Fairdale’s Louis Dover, St. Xavier’s Kevin Wallace, Male’s Chris Wolfe and Oldham County’s Jamie Reed.
Here are the award winners for each district, with Player of the Year listed first and followed by Lineman of the Year and Coach of the Year.
District One – Zayden Kinney (Fulton County), Drake Thorpe (Fulton County), James Bridges (Fulton County); Two – Kace Eastridge (Campbellsville), Kris Mandy (Kentucky Country Day), Dale Estes (Campbellsville); Three – Eddie Bivens (Newport Central Catholic), Will Sandfoss (Newport Central Catholic), Steve Lickert (Newport Central Catholic); Four – Charles Oglesby (Covington Holy Cross), Beckett Meersman (Bishop Brossart), Curt Spencer (Covington Holy Cross); Five – Caden Jones (Sayre), Wyatt Moore (Sayre), Chad Pennington (Sayre); Six – Landen Stiltner (Raceland), Jacob Litteral (Raceland), Michael Salmons (Raceland); Seven – Deakon Partin (Middlesboro), Christian Davis (Middlesboro), Larry French (Middlesboro); Eight – William Shoptaw (Hazard), Caden Thacker (Pikeville), Brian Melvin (Paintsville).
District One – Caden Howard (Crittenden County), Ashton Rodgers (Mayfield), Cliff Dew (Mayfield); Two – Miles Edge (Owensboro Catholic), Caden Conkright (Owensboro Catholic), Robert Eubanks (Hancock County); Three – Kris Hughes (Somerset), Andrew Houk (Green County), John Petett (Monroe County); Four – Tyler King (Lexington Christian), Sasha Wade (Danville), Lawrence Smith (Washington County); Five – Tyler Fryman (Beechwood), Lucas Tillery (Owen County), Steve Tarter (Bracken County); Six – Waylon Abner (Breathitt County), Waylon Abner (Breathitt County), Mark Easterling (Morgan County); Seven – Devan Maynard (Martin County), Preston Shepherd (Knott County Central), Randall Mullins (Knott County Central); Eight – Jonah Bartley (Shelby Valley), Bo Wolford (Belfry), Matt Varney (Belfry).
District One – Wyatt Robbins (Murray), Ryan Walls (Murray), Melvin Cunningham (Murray); Two – Hudson Gumm (Glasgow), Matt Stephens (LaRue County), Josh Robins (Butler County); Three – Ja’Hyde Brown (Christian Academy), Kellan Hall (Christian Academy), Hunter Cantwell (Christian Academy); Four – R.J. Blair (Garrard County), Mark Hosinski (Lexington Catholic), David Clark (Lexington Catholic); Five – Kaleb Evans (Lloyd Memorial), King Lee (Bourbon County), Kyle Niederman (Lloyd Memorial); Six – Jayden Frasure (Russell), Zach Brown (Russell), T.J. Maynard (Russell); Seven – Blake Burnett (Bell County), Spencer Phipps (Bell County), Dudley Hilton (Bell County); Eight – Luke Fetherolf (Lawrence County), Ty Brooks (Lawrence County), Alan Short (Lawrence County).
District One – Avery Thompson (Paducah Tilghman), Ben Myers (Paducah Tilghman), Coby Lewis (Calloway County); Two – Cavalli Pittman (John Hardin), Bryten Close (Taylor County), Josh Boston (Nelson County); Three – Colin Daniels (North Oldham), Josh Vaughan (Valley), Brock Roberts (North Oldham); Four – Keyon Davis (Spencer County), Richard Gilbert (Spencer County), Eddie James (Franklin County); Five – Tayden Lorenzen (Highlands), Max Merz (Highlands), Bob Sphire (Highlands); Six – Logan Music (Johnson Central), Drew Ferguson (Johnson Central), Jesse Peck (Johnson Central); Seven – Seneca Driver (Boyle County), Trashaun Bryant (Wayne County), Justin Haddix (Boyle County); Eight – Cole Stevens (Corbin), Malachi Brown (Corbin), Jacob Saylor (Harlan County).
District One – Markezz Hightower (Madisonville-North Hopkins), J.W. Muster (Owensboro), John Edge (Apollo); Two – Davis Chaney (Greenwood), Zach Jordan (Bowling Green), William Howard (Greenwood); Three – Garyon Hobbs (Atherton), Jeremiah Jackson (Iroquois), Gary Wheeler (Butler); Four – A.J. Lee (Bullitt Central), Chaz Tutt (Fairdale), Louis Dover (Fairdale); Five – Cam O’Hara (Cooper), Noah Reichel (Cooper), Randy Borchers (Cooper); Six – Timmy Emongo (Scott County), Justyn Perez (Woodford County), Dennis Johnson (Woodford County); Seven – Cooper Swaim (West Jessamine), Isaiah Wilkinson (West Jessamine), Scott Marsh (West Jessamine); Eight – Mason Griffin (South Laurel), Brady Hull (Pulaski County), Steve Nelson (North Laurel).
District One – James Bradley (Hopkinsville), Foster Jackson (Hopkinsville), Tyler Brooks (McCracken County); Two – Kayden York (South Warren), Malik Butler (South Warren), Brandon Smith (South Warren); Three – Gerian Traynor (Manual), Josiah Hope (North Hardin), Kevin Wallace (St. Xavier); Four – Steron Davidson (Male), Christian White (Male), Chris Wolfe (Male); Five – Zane Johnson (Trinity), Nate Shields (Trinity), Jamie Reed (Oldham County); Six – Jacob Savage (Ryle), Bo Gay (Ryle), Mike Engler (Ryle); Seven – Darnell Burnside (Tates Creek), Josiah Hernandez (Paul Dunbar), Jon Lawson (Lafayette); Eight – Dakari Talbert (Frederick Douglass), Camden Burke (Madison Central), William Blair (Madison Central).
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) — Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration is taking steps to classify a form of kratom, a popular legal stimulant known to possess opioid-like qualities in low doses, as a Schedule I narcotic.
According to a press release on Nov. 5 from Beshear’s office, leaders are targeting the 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) byproduct, making it illegal to sell, possess, or distribute in any isolated or concentrated form.
“We have marked three straight years of declines in overdose deaths in Kentucky, and that is progress we’re committed to building on as we work to protect more lives in the fight against addiction,” said Gov. Beshear. “Deadly and addictive drugs like 7-OH have no place in our communities, and this step will help us get these drugs off the streets and provide us more tools to keep Kentuckians safe.”
Officials wrote that while 7-OH is a naturally occurring component in the kratom plant, it’s only found in small amounts. Highly concentrated forms of it are put in shots, powders, and capsules at dosages that make it highly addictive and dangerous.
State leaders said that back in August, Beshear issued an emergency designation of bromazolam, also known as “designer Xanax,” as a Schedule 1 drug. The Cabinet of Health and Family Services is reportedly working to put 7-OH kratom in the same category alongside heroin, LSD, and fentanyl.
More information about the Beshear administration’s work to ban 7-OH in Kentucky can be found here.
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