Kentucky

Scangarello, Levis Excited to Plug Chris Rodriguez into Kentucky’s Offense

Published

2 years ago

September 28, 2022

Scangarello, Levis Excited to Plug Chris Rodriguez into Kentucky’s Offense

It is all in regards to the return of Chris Rodriguez Jr for Kentucky’s offense because it prepares to tackle Ole Miss.

The sixth-all-time main rusher in program historical past is lastly set to make his 2022 debut on Saturday in Oxford because the Wildcats look to enhance to 5-0.

On Monday, head coach Mark Stoops spoke in regards to the return of Rodriguez, saying that the Cats do not want him to come back in and be a “savior” for the offense, however relatively simply be himself.

Offensive coordinator Wealthy Scangarello echoed these sentiments following UK’s observe on Tuesday, although he is not denying the sheer luxurious will probably be to have him within the backfield as soon as once more:

“It is good to only have him within the conferences making ready, realizing he is aside of this complete factor,” Scangarello mentioned. “He is such a great man and such a great participant, he makes us a lot a greater offense simply having him…his complete persona, the best way he carries himself, he is a veteran on this league, he is very tough-minded, tremendous proficient.”

Rodriguez pled responsible to a DUI cost in July, and rumors have additionally circulated surrounding an “off-the-field” challenge that coincided with him not seeing the sphere for the primary few video games of the season. Experiences revealed that an investigation was launched by the College of Kentucky in February, wanting into gamers on the Kentucky soccer staff for allegedly submitting inaccurate time playing cards whereas working underneath UK HealthCare. The names of the gamers have been redacted. It was lastly introduced on Sept. 12 that Rodriguez would make his return this coming Saturday.

Whereas Scangarello would’ve liked to have had the senior in for the primary 4 video games of the 2022 marketing campaign, he can not less than relish in the truth that C-Rod will convey contemporary legs to a considerably overwhelmed up working again room.

“Doubtless. He is stayed energetic, however he hasn’t been taken all the way down to the bottom in a month both,” Scangarello mentioned. “I am not nervous about that, he is been very dependable and sturdy, he is in nice form. He is dealt with issues very, very effectively in a really tough scenario so i am very proud of how he is carried himself mentally, taking himself to the place he must go.”

Kavosiey Smoke has been serviceable within the beginning working again function, incomes 263 yards and one landing. Kentucky’s RB room has handled accidents this season as effectively, as senior switch Ramon Jefferson tore his ACL within the season-opener, whereas JuTahn McClain has additionally missed two video games.

One other distinctive factor that Rodriguez will convey to the backfield is his astounding capacity to interrupt tackles. So lots of his 2,739 yards have come after shedding off a defender or two.

“He ran for lots of yards as a result of he isn’t gonna go down on contact,” Scangarello mentioned. “It is why he is gonna be a extremely good NFL working again.”

“It’s totally uncommon that he would not make the primary one miss,” UK quarterback Will Levis mentioned. “If you’re in conditions like that, the place you suppose the play could also be damaged, it may be a optimistic game-winning play with a man like that. So, it is a matter of getting the ball in his arms at any time when we are able to.”

If that is not sufficient, Rodriguez will even add a layer to Scangarello’s passing assault, one thing that none of his different RB compatriots have been capable of convey up to now this season.

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“It has been very pleasing to me, his capacity to run routes, his capacity to catch, his really feel for the cross recreation, I feel Will (Levis) likes throwing to him. It offers him nice worth on third downs, actually good in safety, he is massive, sturdy,” Scangarello mentioned.

Whereas he hasn’t been working with the starters all through the season, C-Rod has nonetheless been collaborating in observe. Levis has seen the development of the veteran RB, and has even seen an uptick in his prep as his last season debut as a Wildcat approaches:

“He is undoubtedly taking his preparation as much as a brand new degree realizing that he is taking part in this week and that there is a gameplan he has to give attention to critically now,” Levis mentioned. “He is an electrical playmaker that we’re excited to have again.”

Seeing No. 24 on the sphere inside Vaught Hemingway Stadium will formally flip a brand new web page on Kentucky’s season, because it seems to stay undefeated in its second hostile surroundings of the 12 months.

All eyes will probably be on the backfield in Oxford on Oct. 1.

Kentucky Soccer Information

Kentucky launched its week 5 depth chart on Monday, welcoming again Chris Rodriguez Jr

Outdoors linebacker J.J. Weaver shouldn’t be anticipated to play this weekend in opposition to Ole Miss

SEC Nation will probably be in Oxford for the upcoming matchup between the No. 7 Wildcats and No. 14 Rebels

Kentucky vs. South Carolina will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 8

Barion Brown has been named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week

Need the newest on nationwide soccer and basketball recruiting, together with Cats targets? Head over to SI All-American for the newest information, blogs, and updates in regards to the nation’s finest prospects.

Sports activities Illustrated additionally presents perception, info and as much as the minute particulars for gamblers. Test it out right here.

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Kentucky

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

Published

4 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

12 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

21 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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