Kentucky coach John Calipari is bringing a prolonged to-do listing because the No. 19 Wildcats start Southeastern Convention play at Missouri on Wednesday night time.
The Wildcats (8-3) have misplaced to Michigan State, Gonzaga and UCLA. They most not too long ago defeated Florida A&M 88-68 final Wednesday, however they led by simply seven factors with 5:35 left and Calipari was vexed by his workforce’s protection.
“We have got work to do now. We do,” Calipari stated after the sport. “We did not defend at present like we have been defending. It is loopy. I imply, the one factor that we may depend on is that we’d actually, actually guard. Nicely, they beat us on the bounce, they beat us taking pictures threes, they beat us offensive rebounding.”
Now Kentucky should journey to Columbia, Mo., to face the robust Tigers (11-1, 0-0 SEC) as Missouri comes off a 93-71 neutral-court upset of then-No. 16 Illinois on Thursday.
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“We did not play nicely. I am useless severe,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates stated. “I do not assume we performed nicely. And I will proceed to problem my guys. I need to execute on the issues we have to execute for 40 minutes. … We’re clearly excited concerning the route we’re going, however there are small issues that you could be not see with the bare eye that I see that we didn’t execute in an effective way. And I am gonna proceed to problem our guys.”
The Wildcats are anchored by heart Oscar Tshiebwe, who’s averaging 15 factors and 13 rebounds per sport. Guard Cason Wallace is averaging 11.8 factors and 4.4 assists and is 22 of 44 from 3-point vary.
“We have got to maintain working with him as he performs level,” Calipari stated. “Determination-making, seeing the courtroom higher. What he did at present is he made photographs so that you could not go below on the pick-and-roll. He dings a ball in.”
Sahvir Wheeler (8.8 factors, 6.6 assists per sport) provides Kentucky a pure level guard for the lead position, and Antonio Reeves (12.8 ppg) is a 43.7 % shooter from past the arc.
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“Mixtures matter with this group,” Calipari stated. “We will need to have some good combos. We’re nonetheless a piece in progress, and I’d inform everyone, simply be affected person … it takes time to get all of it collectively, and I am not panicked.”
However Calipari is worried about his workforce’s free-throw taking pictures.
“We needs to be probably the greatest free-throw taking pictures groups,” he stated. “That’s psychological toughness. Within the Energy 5 (and) Gonzaga video games, we’re taking pictures 58 % from the foul line. Fifty-eight %. You may’t win video games taking pictures 58 %.”
Missouri has a guard-driven workforce led by D’Moi Hodge, who averages 16.7 factors a sport and is taking pictures 42 % from 3-point vary. The Tigers haven’t got a real heart, so the duty of guarding Tshiebwe will largely fall to ahead Kobe Brown, who had 31 factors, eight assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals towards Illinois.
“I am happy with Kobe with the ability to have a breakout sport, which was coming for him,” Gates stated. “I simply noticed a degree of focus that he had.”
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The Tigers might want to get sturdy video games from forwards Noah Carter (10.8 ppg) and Ronnie DeGray III, who has labored his approach into the rotation.
Missouri’s solely loss this season was 95-67 to then-No. 6 Kansas on Dec. 10.
Kentucky football lost a 2025 wide receiver when recruit Ja’kayden Ferguson re-opened his recruitment in mid-November. Now, they have gained a commitment from top 500 receiver Dejerrian Miller to take the open spot.
Miller is a 6’3″, 195 lb receiver out of Missouri. He is rated four stars, and is ranked as the number 379 overall player in the 2025 class in the 247sports composite rankings. He is the 53rd ranked receiver in the class.
Eight options to replace coach Mark Stoops
Coach Mark Stoops and his staff have put together a solid recruiting class for 2025 so far. It’s currently ranked 25th in the country, though it is the 13th best class of the 16 teams of the SEC.
Miller joins Quintin Simmons Jr., Preston Bowman, and Montavin Quisenberry as wide receivers who are committed to Kentucky for 2025. Miller’s size should be an advantage for him as he looks to find playing time. It’s good get for the Wildcats and Stoops, who continues to bring in quality players at the receiver position.
EASTERN KENTUCKY (WYMT) – On Wednesday, President Joe Biden declared that a major disaster exists in Kentucky.
As a result, President Biden ordered federal assistance to supplement recovery efforts. This is locally as well as statewide following the damage left behind by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.
In a news release, federal funding will be available to eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations. This will be on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the remnants of the hurricane.
This includes many counties in our area: Bell, Breathitt, Clay, Elliott, Estill, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Letcher, Magoffin, Menifee, Morgan, Owsley, Powell, Rockcastle, Rowan, and Wolfe.
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In the announcement, it said federal funding will also be available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the entire state of Kentucky.
Now that the ink has dried and his signing with Kentucky has been made official, Jasper Johnson was finally able to be formally introduced to the Rupp Arena crowd during the Wildcats’ 87-68 win over Western Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Johnson, a class of 2025 five-star point guard born and raised in Lexington, sat courtside with his family to check out his future team in action against the Hilltoppers. During the second half, former Kentucky player Ravi Moss brought out the future Wildcat to midcourt where he was met with a chorus of cheers from the packed crowd of Big Blue Nationites.
After initially committing to Kentucky back in September, Johnson signed the necessary papers to play his college basketball at UK earlier this month. He’s been inside Rupp Arena plenty of times before over the years (and even played here with Woodford County as a sophomore), but never while wearing street clothes as the center of attention in front of over 20,000 screaming fans.
The smile says all you need to know.
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Johnson is one of three signees from Mark Pope‘s first recruiting class as Kentucky’s head coach, joining four-star center Malachi Moreno and four-star point guard Acaden Lewis. The 6-foot-4 guard is ranked No. 14 overall in the nation by the On3 Industry Ranking. He’s currently finishing up his high school career at Overtime Elite as a member of Rod Wave Elite (RWE).
Alongside Tay Kinney, a talented class of 2026 guard who is also from Kentucky and is being recruited by Pope, the two Bluegrass natives form arguably the deadliest backcourt duo in all of OTE. Through five games played this season, Johnson is averaging 19.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per outing while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from deep.
This time next year, we’ll hopefully see him do the same thing in Kentucky blue and white.
Johnson family – Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio
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