Tag: Kentucky

Kentucky upsets Tennessee in top 15 matchup

Kentucky upsets the Vols at Food City Center.

No. 12 Kentucky (15-5, 4-3 SEC) defeated No. 8 Tennessee (17-4, 4-4 SEC), 78-73, on Tuesday at Food City Center. Rankings reflect the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll.

Igor Milicic Jr. led Tennessee in scoring with 19 points. He converted 6-of-10 field goal attempts, 4-of-8 three-point attempts and 3-of-4 free throw attempts.

Chaz Lanier (15) and Zakai Zeigler (13) also scored 10-plus points for the Vols.

Milicic Jr. led Tennessee in rebounding with nine, while Zeigler led the Vols with six assists.

Koby Brea led Kentucky with 18 points.

Rick Barnes is 11-11 against the Wildcats as Tennessee’s head coach. The Vols are also 52-57 all time against Kentucky at home.

Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images

Three players listed as out in Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game

A look at the final injury report for the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game.

No. 8 Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC) will return to action on Tuesday in Southeastern Conference basketball play. The Vols will host No. 12 Kentucky (14-5, 3-3 SEC) at Food City Center.

Rankings reflect the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll.

Tipoff between the Vols and Wildcats is slated for 7 p.m. EST (ESPN).

Beginning with the 2024-25 athletics calendar, Southeastern Conference schools will provide public reports on availability of student-athletes to participate in each conference game in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball.

Tennessee sophomore forward J.P. Estrella is listed as out. Estrella will miss the remainder of the season due to a foot injury.

Graduate student guard Lamont Butler and fifth-year guard Kerr Kriisa are listed as out for Kentucky, while graduate student forward Andrew Carr is questionable against Tennessee.

Wisconsin top transfer target commits to an SEC school

Wisconsin top transfer target commits to an SEC school

Wisconsin top remaining transfer portal target, Mi’Quise Grace, committed to Kentucky on Sunday.

Grace, a Football Championship Subdivision All-American at South Dakota in 2024, chose the Wildcats over Wisconsin, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Mississippi State. Wisconsin hosted Grace on a visit this month.

Related: Tracking Wisconsin football’s transfer portal offers, visits and commitments

The transfer is 247Sports’ No. 70 overall player in the portal and the No. 11 edge rusher. He joins the Wildcats after that mentioned All-American season, which included 58 tackles, 9 1/2 sacks, 17 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and two pass deflections.

In addition to being named a first-team All-American, Grace’s top-end production also earned Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors.

He joins a Kentucky program that went 4-8 in 2024. That down year followed a streak of eight consecutive bowl-eligible seasons dating to 2016.

Wisconsin has continued to pursue pass-rushing talent and depth at this late stage in the transfer cycle. It recently watched Grace choose Kentucky, Ohio transfer Bradley Weaver commit to Rutgers and Michigan transfer Owen Wafle land at Penn State.

The Badgers have landed several players at the position: Mason Reiger (Louisville), Tyreese Fearbry (Kentucky) and Michael Garner (Grambling State). Still, the program is working hard to bolster a defensive front that tallied 1.3 sacks per game in 2024 (No. 120 in the nation).

Grace was one of the program’s final reported visits. As of now, it doesn’t seem poised for another winter window splash. It will, however, have the chance to revisit the position during the spring transfer window in April.

Wisconsin has landed 19 transfers during the winter window. That class ranks 13th in the 247Sports’ national rankings and third in the Big Ten.

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USC fans will be watching the state of Kentucky in 2025

Sam Greene is at Kentucky. Miller Moss is at Louisville. USC fans will be watching the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the 2025 season.

Less than two weeks after entering the transfer portal, former USC defensive lineman Sam Greene has a new home. Greene recently announced his commitment to Kentucky. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining with the Wildcats.

Greene originally signed with USC as a highly-touted recruit in the class of 2023. After redshirting his first season on campus, he earned a reserve role this season, recording 15 tackles and one sack. Now, he will look for a fresh start in Lexington.

In a weird twist, Greene was essentially part of a “trade” between the Trojans and the Wildcats. On Thursday, USC landed a commitment from former Kentucky defensive lineman Keeshawn Silver. Hence, the two teams essentially swapped defensive linemen.

While Silver is a veteran player with proven production at the college level, Greene is younger and has more eligibility left. Hence, both teams can feel reasonably good about how the “deal” turned out.

Greene’s transfer to Kentucky has been accompanied by Miller Moss transferring to Louisville. USC football fans will be watching both Kentucky and Louisville to see how key 2024 players fare in the commonwealth in 2025. There will be a Bluegrass storyline for USC fans to follow next year.

Former Wisconsin guard registers career outing in narrow loss to Kentucky

Chucky Hepburn continued his stellar start to the season

Former Wisconsin point guard Chucky Hepburn continued his stellar 2024-25 campaign on Saturday afternoon, this time with a career performance in Louisville’s road loss to No. 5 Kentucky.

The former Badger star finished the 93-85 defeat with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists on 9-of-18 shooting. His play in 39 minutes of action almost single-handedly kept Louisville in the game against a Kentucky team that appears to be among the best in the country.

The strong outing on a national stage is the second time Hepburn has surpassed 25 points this season, the previous was a career-high 32 points in a Battle 4 Atlantis win over West Virginia.

His season averages are up to 15.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3 steals on 47.7% shooting from the floor and 33.3% from 3.

It’s safe to say both Hepburn and Nebraska shooting guard Connor Essegian are faring well at their new destinations. Kansas’ A.J. Storr, meanwhile, is still trying to find a consistent role in the lineup.

Wisconsin is off to a strong start to the 2024-25 season without those three transfers. Wing John Tonje has mostly filled the scoring void left by Storr, and a combination of players have worked to fill the leadership void left by Hepburn.

Of all who left via the portal, Wisconsin still likely misses Hepburn the most. His three steals per game rank No. 5 in the sport — that paired with a career-best output on the offense end of the court. Max Klesmit, John Blackwell and Kamari McGee have all played well to begin the season, but none have risen to the level of Hepburn’s.

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Kentucky transfer WR Dane Key visiting Georgia

Kentucky’s leading receiver from the 2024 college football season is set to visit Georgia

Kentucky Wildcats transfer wide receiver Dane Key is reportedly going to visit the Georgia Bulldogs. Key, who was Kentucky’s leading receiver in 2024, is a speed threat that would immediately contribute for Georgia..

The 6-foot-3 210 pound receiver from Lexington, Kentucky, has one year of eligibility remaining. Key recorded 47 catches for 715 yards last season at Kentucky, averaging 15.2 yards per reception. This past season was his best season during his college career.

Now, Key is seeking a new destination to conclude his college career. Key has accumulated 126 career receptions for 1,870 yards, 14 touchdowns, and an excellent 14.7 yards per catch.

Known for his amazing speed, big-play ability, and his continued progression year in and year out. His size, speed and his ability to catch the 50/50 balls makes him a very coveted transfer. He is planning a visit to Georgia and has already scheduled a visit to Louisville, while Nebraska and South Carolina are also expected to be in the running for Key’s services.

Georgia is actively addressing its wide receiver position in the transfer portal this offseason, as Dillon Bell, Dominic Lovett, Arian Smith, and Colbie Young could all enter the 2024 NFL draft.

Georgia Tech transfer wide receiver Eric Singleton is also expected to visit Georgia.

Key has faced Georgia all of his three years at Kentucky. Seeing the success of the Bulldogs could be a pitch that will attract Key to be part of the UGA program.

Notre Dame forward reaches stat line achieved only by Anthony Davis

Quite a comparison.

As excited as Notre Dame fans are about [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], they want to look at a third potential star if they aren’t already. Freshman forward [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag] was inserted into the starting lineup during the Irish’s season opener and has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Through three games, Koval has a total of 40 points, 33 rebounds, eight assists and 15 blocks. According to OptaSTATS, only one other Division I freshman, men or women, has achieved at least that stat line over that span. That freshman is Anthony Davis, who did it in his final three games with Kentucky en route to the 2012 national championship.

Davis’ stat line objectively was better at 42 points, 41 rebounds, eight assists and 17 blocks. That won him the Most Outstanding Player award.

Only time will tell whether Koval can keep up this level of production. That she already is drawing comparisons to Davis this early though indicates that the Irish might have hit yet another home run with her.

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The Champions Classic apparently featured a basketball the players don’t usually play with

This would explain a lot of the poor shooting we saw in the Champions Classic

Last night in the Champions Classic, we saw Michigan State shoot 12-percent from three, Duke shoot 17-percent, and Kansas shoot 29-percent. According to Matt Jones of Ky Sports Radio, this could have been due to the use of a Spalding basketball in the games that teams don’t usually play with.

Even more interesting, Jones said that Kansas, who shot 40-percent from three last night, practiced with the Spalding ball all week. It seems like that foresight and practice paid off.

So, for Michigan State fans who are doom and gloom after watching the team shoot so poorly from three, there may have been some other factors in that. That being said, MSU hasn’t really shot well in any of their games this year, so take it with a grain of salt.

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Champions Classic renewed through 2028-29 basketball season

The Champions Classic has been renewed through the 2028-29 season

The Champions Classic will continue. The annual event that features Michigan State, Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas in revolving match-ups has been renewed through the 2028-29 basketball season.

The news came the day of this year’s event, which included MSU vs. Kansas. Next year, the Spartans are scheduled to play Kentucky. This year, MSU was given some grief from fans of other teams for their inclusion in the event. This writer’s opinion is that this criticism is ridiculous.

John Fanta of CBB on Fox reported the news.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.

Mark Stoops recaps Kentucky’s performance at Tennessee

Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops recaps the Wildcats’ performance at Tennessee.

Mark Stoops is in his 12th season as Kentucky’s football head coach. Stoops and the Wildcats suffered their sixth loss of the season on Saturday at Tennessee.

The Vols scored 21 second-half points to defeat Kentucky, 28-18, at Neyland Stadium.

Stoops recapped the SEC contest in Week 10.

“It’s not the outcome that we were looking for at all,” Stoops said. “I really do appreciate the toughness that our team displayed just in preparation throughout this week and coming in here and really playing, really tough, and playing winning football in a lot of ways, in certain areas, that obviously we didn’t.

“Credit to them (Tennessee), that’s a very good team and we knew coming in here, in a tough environment, was going to be very challenging, but our team was up for it. I think we finished the game down 10 starters and it’s no excuse, it’s just a fact. I really do appreciate the effort of some of our other guys just stepping up, battling and giving us an opportunity in the fourth quarter to take the lead and it didn’t happen. So, again, not the outcome we’re looking for, but proud of the effort.”

READ: 2024 SEC football power rankings after Week 10

Saul Young/USA TODAY Network