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.

Kentucky’s Collin Chandler made it an even more memorable weekend for himself for the holidays in New York.

While in The Big Apple for the Wildcats’ game in the CBS Sports Classic against Ohio State, Chandler got down on a knee in Central Park and proposed.

Chandler is a freshman on the roster this season at UK. He has appeared in 10 games off of the bench and, in eight minutes a contest, is averaging 2.0 points, 0.7 rebounds, 0.7 steaks, and 0.4 assists per game while shooting 41.2% from the field and 25% from three. That includes six minutes played with an assist, a steal, and a pair of fouls against the Buckeyes.

This comes after Chandler, who originally committed to Mark Pope at BYU, followed him to Lexington. However, as the No. 35 recruit in the country and a four-star in 2022, he did not immediately come to college as he went on a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sierra Leone as well as London. That makes him a 21-year-old freshman for them to continue to develop over his career there.

However, this, along with the other off-court plans, was all that went well for Kentucky in NYC. The Wildcats, coming in ranked fourth in the nation, were upset by Ohio State by a final score of 85-65. That one really got away from the Wildcats in the end, especially in the second half, in the 20-point margin as they shot just 29.8% from the field and 18.2% from three while the Buckeyes shot 56.6% overall.

The recruiting dead period begins at midnight. That means players in the transfer portal cannot visit campuses until Jan. 1. It’s a mad dash to secure a spot and a few former Kentucky Wildcats found a new home in the Power Five ranks.

Former four-star talent Tyreese Fearbry is heading to Camp Randall to Jump Around with the Wisconsin Badgers. The Pittsburgh native has two years of eligibility remaining.

The decorated recruit had plenty of promise, but that never turned into production. In three years and over 350 defensive snaps, he recorded 21 tackles, one tackle for loss, two pass breakups, and 21 pressures. His best performance came against Clemson in the Gator Bowl to end the 2023 season when the edge rusher logged a career-high five pressures.

Feary was one of three departures from Brad White’s position room. Kentucky ended the live period by hosting a couple of EDGE players, Chris Murray and Kameron Olds.

Kentucky also lost three tight ends this offseason. Khamari Anderson revealed he will be joining a CFP team next fall. He’s putting his forks up to play for Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State. The former Under Armour All-American also visited Auburn during the process. I can’t blame the Detroit native for moving to the desert instead.

He had six receptions for 40 yards during his two seasons in Lexington. Kentucky received a commitment from Illinois tight end Henry Boyer to add size and depth to Vince Marrow’s tight end position room. For those keeping tally at home, nine of the 21 departing Kentucky football transfers have landed in the Power Conference ranks, and that number will likely grow.

The transfer portal is open for business and so far we know of 21 players who will be seeking out greener pastures this offseason.

• DL Keeshawn Silver (Committed to USC on Dec. 19)
• DB Avery Stuart
• LB Jayvant Brown
• TE Tanner Lemaster
• TE Khamari Anderson (Committed to Arizona State Dec. 22)
• TE Jordan Dingle (Committed to South Carolina on Dec. 18)
• OL Courtland Ford (Committed to UCLA on Dec. 17)
• OL Ben Christman
• OL Dylan Ray (Committed to Minnesota on Dec. 21)
• OL Koby Keenum (Committed to Mississippi State on Dec. 22)
• DL Tommy Ziesmer (Committed to EKU on Dec. 15)
• WR Dane Key
• WR Barion Brown (Committed to LSU on Dec. 14)
• WR Anthony Brown-Stephens
• WR Brandon White
• EDGE Tyreese Fearbry (Committed to Wisconsin Dec. 22)
• EDGE Noah Matthews
• EDGE Caleb Redd (Committed to Kansas on Dec. 20)
• RB Chip Trayanum
• QB Gavin Wimsatt
• LS Walker Himebach (Committed to Colorado State on Dec. 22)

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. Keep closer tabs on the Cats with our staff-only sticky thread on KSBoard, which will have updates on departures and targets throughout the offseason. Not a KSR+ member? Try it out today.