2025-12-03- KSR - Hour 1

Summary

KSR - Hour 1 | December 3, 2025

Podcast: Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR)
Hosts: Ryan Lemond, Drew Franklin, Shannon Dawson (Matt Jones absent)
Date: December 3, 2025
Episode Theme: Dealing with disappointment after Kentucky's home basketball loss to North Carolina, and updates on UK football with new coach Will Stein.

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Kentucky’s tough loss to North Carolina in men’s basketball, frustration among fans, and analysis of what went wrong for the Wildcats. The team looks ahead to a challenging matchup against Gonzaga and also discusses the bright spot of new football coach Will Stein’s introduction. The hosts field several calls from fans—ranging from venting and concern to optimism and musical tributes—while Matt Jones is absent, supporting his father after surgery.

---

Main Discussion Points & Key Insights

1. Reaction to the Kentucky-North Carolina Loss (03:40–14:28)

- Game Summary & Emotions

• Kentucky lost 67-64 at home, wasting what the crew described as an electric Rupp Arena atmosphere.
• Drew Franklin summed it up:

  "Just so disappointed. I mean, I don't even know where to begin." (04:04)

• The hosts expressed disbelief at a 10-minute field-goal drought in the second half:

  "10 minutes without a field goal, 10 minutes without a bucket. And they finished the second half two of their last 16." — Ryan Lemond (04:57)

- Offensive Woes

• Only attempted 13 threes, making one.

  "This is a Mark Pope team. [He] wants 30 threes a game, spacing, let it fly. And they went one for 13." — Drew Franklin (08:10)

• Inconsistent offensive identity, possibly due to missing starters to injury.

- Rebounding and Effort

• North Carolina secured 20 offensive rebounds and outscored Kentucky in second-chance points 22–5.

  "I'm shocked. It's a three point loss." — Drew Franklin (05:16) "UK wasn't even trying... they were sitting around and just watching them grab their own misses." — Drew Franklin (06:43)

- Defensive Performance

• Hosts credited the defense for keeping the score close.

  "Defense kept them in the game. You hold the team... to 67 points. Especially in this day and age, you think you're going to win..." — Shannon Dawson (05:20)

---

2. Player & Coaching Analysis (09:31–12:22)

- Injuries and Depth

• Discussion of missing key players such as Jalen Lowe, and whether injuries are a valid excuse.

  "You should have enough depth to be playing better than you are right now." — Drew Franklin (10:23)

- Attempts to Fix the Team

• The consensus: little can be fixed until the team gets healthy.

  "If you trot this same lineup out there Friday against Gonzaga, I think they're going to get murdered." — Shannon Dawson (11:11)

• Lack of shooters in games despite reputations from practice.

  "All summer long, we heard how Trent Noah hit 100 in a row. Cam Williams hit 100 in a row. Yet out of the 13 three pointers you shot last night, your best three-point shooter on the floor, Colin Channer, only took two." — Ryan Lemond (11:40)

- Late Game Execution

• Critique of inbound play and effort at the end.

  "With two seconds left, they just threw in the towel... they had him inbound the ball and he just threw it to the other free throw line." — Drew Franklin (12:22)

---

3. Broader Program Concerns & Fan Reaction (13:14–27:27)

- Losing Record in High-profile Games

• Kentucky now 0–3 in major non-conference games this year (Michigan State, Louisville, North Carolina).

  "All of our high-profile games in the last couple weeks have been disasters." — Ryan Lemond (25:33)

- Disappointment Despite Strong Fan Support

• The Rupp Arena crowd was praised for energy.

  "That's one of the better Rupp crowds I've seen... some of Rupp’s best stuff." — Drew Franklin (13:14)

- Ineffective Substitution Patterns

• Mark Pope ran with primarily five players in the second half, possibly due to bench ineffectiveness.

  "A lot of those guys off the bench did not look good last night. I mean, you knew the moment they were in. All right, go sit back down." — Drew Franklin (20:09)

- Recruiting Consequences

• Concern that sharing minutes among many players might deter top recruits.

  "...no 5-star wants to come play 24 minutes when they can go play 35 and take all the shots somewhere else." — Drew Franklin (21:28)

---

4. Listener Calls: Frustration, Humor & Optimism

- Big Don Venting (21:52–23:51)

"That's as bad as the Billy G era right there... It's just aggravating and I don't know what to do." (22:11)

Big Don describes his long, costly, and emotional night, including getting a ticket on the way home from the game.

- Braden Criticizes Spending vs Results (27:41–28:17) Complaints about the program's lack of return on its financial investment:

"22 million. And this is what we get?"

- Isaiah Offers Tempered Optimism (33:57–35:23)

"...the pieces are potentially there. So I'm just asking the UK fans just to be optimistic... Mark is a smart guy...he will figure it out."

- Kentucky Joe Delivers Original UK Songs (36:32–39:47) Kentucky Joe delivers impromptu musical performances, including "Roar, Mr. Wildcat" and a reprise of "Willie Collie Steinman."

---

5. Quick Football Updates (29:20–33:54)

- Will Stein Introduction

• New football coach Will Stein received an enthusiastic welcome at the basketball game.

  "That was a loud pop. And then... when he started pumping his arms and yelling, let's go. Rupp went even louder." — Drew Franklin (13:55)

• Announcement of upcoming staff additions (e.g., Pat Biondo, Justin Burke).

• QB recruit Ponotoski signed, providing a positive note.

---

6. Key Stats & Historical Lowlights (44:17–45:42)

- Notable Quotes & Stats

"Last night was the first time in UK history that we had more Y's in a game than threes made in a game." — Jay in Lyndon, Tweet of the Day (44:00)

"In their last eight ranked matchups, Kentucky is 1–7, 0–3 this year, 1–4 last five SEC games last year." — Ryan Lemond (45:14)

"What the Power Four games are now: 14–15, a losing record [against] teams since he's been here." — Drew Franklin (45:36)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On how the game felt:

  "I'm shocked. It's a three point loss." — Drew Franklin (05:16)

• Summing up the team’s offensive woes:

  "I've never seen someone airball threes as much as Denzel Aberdeen has airball threes this year. It is truly remarkable." — Drew Franklin (08:39)

• On effort and fatigue:

  "I hate hearing the fatigue. I mean, played 30 minutes." — Drew Franklin (20:32)

• Big Don’s emotional reaction:

  "I went and watched that crap... That's as bad as the Billy G era right there. I'm not kidding." (22:11)

• Fan call for optimism:

  "With our defense, you know, we held them to 67 points... the pieces are potentially there. I'm just asking UK fans just to be optimistic." — Isaiah (33:59)

• Statistical absurdity:

  "Last night was the first time in UK history that we had more Y's in a game than threes made in a game." — Jay in Lyndon (44:00)

• On home-court letdowns:

  "Whenever we played good teams this year we have showed we cannot shoot, we cannot out physical a team... I don't even know where we begin to find a way to win." — DG (45:54)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:40] – Initial reaction to the loss and atmosphere at Rupp Arena
• [04:57] – Discussion of scoring drought and rebounding issues
• [08:10] – Three-point shooting failures and personnel
• [11:11] – How can the team be fixed?
• [13:14] – Crowd energy and high-profile game disappointment
• [15:35] – Matt Jones absence explained (supporting his father post-surgery)
• [21:52] – Big Don’s caller segment (raw fan emotion)
• [29:20] – Excitement over Will Stein’s introduction as football coach
• [33:57] – Isaiah’s call for patience
• [36:32] – Kentucky Joe’s musical interlude
• [44:00] – Don Franklin tweet of the day: More Y’s than threes
• [45:51] – DG’s call about loss of home-court advantage

---

Conclusion

This hour of KSR blended sharp criticism, down-to-earth fan angst, flashes of humor, and a rare sliver of optimism after a demoralizing Kentucky basketball loss. The discussion ranged from technical shortcomings and coaching decisions to the broader health of the program and its relationship with the fan base. Sprinkled in were football updates to soften the blow, and classic UK fan entertainment courtesy of Kentucky Joe.

Overall tone: Frustrated, candid, occasionally comic; an honest portrait of Big Blue Nation nursing its wounds and asking tough questions.

---

For those who missed the episode:
Expect a deep dive into what went wrong against UNC, soul-searching about the team’s direction, passionate calls from fans, and a look ahead to another tough matchup. Plus, a dose of football optimism and signature Kentucky fan culture.

Transcript

[Commercial Narrator]

Men today are measurably weaker than men 30 years ago. Grip strength, bone density, muscle mass, all declining. We don't move like we used to. Your grandfather lifted and carried. All day long you sit at a desk, then try to make up for it with a 45 minute workout. But here's what military trainers have used for load bearing during normal activity. Research shows it can burn an extra 400 calories daily. The Wolf Tactical Weighted Vest. True fit engineering means it locks to your core without flopping around and risking injury. Turn your morning walk, your chores, your entire day into functional strength training. Go to wolftactical.com to see more. That's wolftactical.com.

[Drew Franklin]

And Doug here we have.

[Shannon Dawson]

The Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and.

[Ryan Lemond]

Save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Shannon Dawson]

Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Caller]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[Drew Franklin]

Cut the camera.

[Shannon Dawson]

They see us.

[Drew Franklin]

Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts.

[Shannon Dawson]

Amazon Five Star Theater presents real customer reviews performed by Ed Helms. Tonight's review, Tactical jacket. I was living a simple life. Didn't get out much.

[Ryan Lemond]

Then I bought this jacket and everything changed.

[Shannon Dawson]

Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign. On the 245 day sailboat voyage home.

[Ryan Lemond]

I was attacked by a shark. I knew it was the jacket he was after giving up the jacket in.

[Shannon Dawson]

Exchange for my life. 5 stars Amazon Customer 69.

[Ryan Lemond]

Shop the perfect gift this holiday on Amazon.

[Drew Franklin]

OK, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first. Ah, there.

[Ryan Lemond]

The last one.

[Drew Franklin]

Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes. Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington welcomes Cincinnati.

[Ryan Lemond]

Native and club favorite Josh Sneed November 14th and 15th. Then catch the return of AGT finalist Preacher Lawson November 21st through the 23rd and November 28th and 29th. Don't miss the Queen of Comedy and Lexington's own Adele Givens. For tickets to all comedy off Broadway shows, call 859271 joke or visit comedyoff broadway.com comedyoff broadway.

[Shannon Dawson]

This is Kentucky Sports Radio, presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

[Ryan Lemond]

Good morning, big Blue nation. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Grandpa's grandmas, aunts and uncles, welcome this is the Thursday edition of Kentucky Sports Radio. Thursday, Wednesday.

[Shannon Dawson]

Welcome to Wednesday.

[Ryan Lemond]

Well, we've only been up for like three hours.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah.

[Ryan Lemond]

Wednesday edition, December 3rd. As always, Tech Sports Radio sponsored by the T.J. smith Law Office. Called T.J. what does he do, Shannon?

[Shannon Dawson]

He'll make them pay.

[Ryan Lemond]

Even he'll make on a Wednesday, on any day, he'll make them pay. As always, our Clark's Puppet Shop Phone line is 859-280-2287. Aviation glass text machine. I forgot the Avision glass text machine.

[Shannon Dawson]

We're so prepared.

[Ryan Lemond]

Listen, it's been a long night. Drew and I were up doing the postgame show till 2 in the morning. Drew had to do blogging till 4 in the morning. And to start the show, I'm going to steal a line from a great philosopher.

[Drew Franklin]

Who's that?

[Ryan Lemond]

The Grinch.

[Drew Franklin]

Okay.

[Ryan Lemond]

Stink stank stunk. That's how I felt about last night's game. For those who weren't up for the postgame show last night, Kentucky loses 6764 to North Carolina. So for those who were who threw the remote control at the TV and went to bed after the game, we'll rehash what we said last night. Drew, your thoughts about what you saw last night at Rupp Arena?

[Drew Franklin]

Just so disappointed. I mean, I don't even know where to begin. It's so disappointing. Everything was disappointing. I can start by saying it was a great atmosphere and they wasted that. Yes, really great environment.

[Ryan Lemond]

Rough 9:30 at night. 30.

[Drew Franklin]

You kidding me? B.

[Ryan Lemond]

Brown, you're on fire.

[Drew Franklin]

There was a moment it was tied or maybe a one point game with just a little bit left. And I just kind of looked around and they were going crazy. And I looked down at my watch and it's midnight. And I was like, this is special. We got to finish it. But he had the Will Stein, Pop, Rondo, Tayshawn, volleyball, Scooby, the little dog. Everything was perfect to just finish the job. But that scoring drought, the second half, maybe I saw it was like the longest scoring drought, like eight years.

[Ryan Lemond]

They went 10 minutes.

[Drew Franklin]

For Pope, an offensive coach that, you know, we're supposed to be getting 90 points a game and taking 30 threes a game, that was just so disappointing. Watching them sit around and look at each other on offense, not able to.

[Ryan Lemond]

Score, that was the killer. 10 minutes without a field goal, 10 minutes without a bucket. And they finished the second half two of their last 16. Oh of 13, I think during that stretch. Awful. I can't believe they didn't get blown out. They were getting out, rebounded like crazy.

[Drew Franklin]

I'm shocked. It's a three point loss.

[Ryan Lemond]

I am too. When you look at the numbers, how do they keep it to a 3?

[Shannon Dawson]

Point game, defense. Defense kept them in the game.

[Ryan Lemond]

That was defense. You hold the team standing. You're right. To 67 points. In the. Especially in this day and age, you think you're going to win the game.

[Shannon Dawson]

Yeah, you would think so. But this team seems like they have some sort of identity crisis. You know, they only take 13 threes last night. Game before that they're taking 30. And I know you got three guys that are projected to be your starters or are your starters and are out and that, that's a big part of this too. But last night you can't go 10 minutes without scoring a field goal. You're not going to be anybody that way. And it's concerning. It is, because now you got Gonzaga coming up this Friday night. And that's not going to be pretty either if you play that way.

[Ryan Lemond]

So the big question is, you know, what, what happened, what's going on? And I'll give my. I'll just say what I said last night. The post game show, I felt like they got to a point where they had the lead, but yet they were playing like they were behind. They were coming down, jacking up shots early in the shot clock, jacking up bad shots when they had the lead. They like their, the basketball smarts left their body or something because they were playing like they were trailing the whole time.

[Drew Franklin]

The basketball smarts, they did loot. They did leave though. It's just an effort to. I mean, 20 offensive rebounds. Outrageous.

[Ryan Lemond]

That's ridiculous. And they converted most of those into second chance points.

[Drew Franklin]

22 to 5 second chance points.

[Ryan Lemond]

Well, there's, there's a huge. I think that's gonna win you a game when you do something like that.

[Drew Franklin]

And sure, they're tall. I mean, they got the big seven footer who was pretty unstoppable. Caleb Wilson can rebound, but UK wasn't even trying. I mean, they were sitting around and just watching them grab their own misses. There was a stretch there at the end where yellow bitch made a good defensive stand.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yes.

[Drew Franklin]

And they get two straight offensive rebounds and hit a go go. If you just get that ball, maybe you hang on and win the game. I think they're up 1 at that point, but it was just offensive rebound after offensive rebound after offensive rebound.

[Ryan Lemond]

That's the, that's the series, I think was the difference. Malachi had just hit two free throws and given us a one point lead.

[Drew Franklin]

Those were big, by the way. I'll be honest, when he stepped up so nervous, I'm not gonna say I didn't believe in him. But wink, wink. I might not have thought he had two in him. So that was huge that he knocked.

[Ryan Lemond]

Those down on that kid from Georgetown. Knocks them both down against North Carolina at Rush Arena. If I'm not switched, then yellow bitch makes a stop on Caleb Wilson. You get that rebound, maybe game over. And they couldn't get it twice. It's.

[Drew Franklin]

I sometimes I think they don't know that they're allowed to jump. I mean, it's like their feet are glued to the floor and those watch the ball go. I mean, yellow bitch, actually, if we can pay some compliments, played great defense, especially there. Wilson was like 5 of 18 or 5 for 19. He didn't really kill you, you know, he got a double double. But it wasn't like some, you know, huge performance. Yellow bitch defended well, but Kentucky just couldn't score. This is a mark mark Pope team. Once 33 is a game spacing, let it fly. And they went one for 13. And your one was probably the worst shot of the 13.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, Shannon, what is it? You're. You're. Oh, for your first eight in the first half, three point land and the guy who hits the first one in the second half, Brandon Garrison, one of.

[Shannon Dawson]

The last guys on the floor, I would even want taking that shot to begin with.

[Ryan Lemond]

Good point.

[Shannon Dawson]

But again, though, if that's who you are, if you are the team that's going to take 30 threes even when they're not going down, I think you still have to try it. I'd rather have a missed three than a miss two. At least you're trying to get a three. So, I mean, if that's what you are and that's what you do, you can't have a game where you're only attempting 13 threes.

[Drew Franklin]

They were getting open looks, too. There's been some games where the offense just dies and they take turns shooting over the top of somebody. This one, they were actually getting decent looks and they just couldn't shoot. I. I don't mean to call them out, but I've never seen someone airball threes as much as Denzel Aberdeen has airball threes this year. It is truly remarkable how many threes.

[Ryan Lemond]

He'S air balloon and he's supposed to be, you know, one of your leaders. With Jalen Lowe out and he just took some bad shots at some bad times and missed him badly. Yeah. And you?

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, we kind of had it going. If he did another compliment, that's the first time he's played with the energy. You want to See out of him had some tough finishes at the rim. One of them late in the second half, he turned and flexed. I kind of thought he should have gotten fouled. I think he should have too. But you know, he was. That was the old way we've kind of been wanting to see break out, but it was just completely wasted when the offense, you know, had that scoring drought and couldn't make a three pointer or get an offensive rebound or play with energy or really show up when the lights turn on.

[Ryan Lemond]

Shannon Drew's right. We saw some shades of the old Otega away last night, don't you think?

[Shannon Dawson]

Yeah, and I think that that's probably what we're going to see. At least I hope we are going to see moving forward. Otherwise we're going to have a lot of problems. But yeah, it felt like he was just pressing too much, you know, trying to do things again. That wasn't really the strength of his game, shooting too many threes. You know, his game is dribble drive. So hopefully we'll get to see more of what we saw from last year from away because especially with these injuries, they're going to have to have him have a big game every night.

[Ryan Lemond]

So the big stats we've already talked about 1 of 13 from 3. North Carolina had 20 offensive rebounds. The other stat I think is very telling for Kentucky. Eight assists, nine turnovers. Again, it goes back to not having your point guard out there. The offense just looks out of sync. You're turning the ball over. Is Jalen Lowe return the only way to save what's going on right now?

[Drew Franklin]

I mean, he would definitely help, but I can't. I'm not blaming injuries. I know it's fluky, but we've made a big deal of this roster and how it's built. You should have enough depth to be playing better than you are right now. So not get killed by Louisville and Michigan State and then just let one slip away in Lexington. I hope he comes back and he will definitely help, but the other guys still are far beneath what they should be even without him right now.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, Shannon, maybe Quentin shows up and.

[Drew Franklin]

He'S the Anthony Davis reincarnated, carnated and changes everything. But right now what's been out there has not given me much faith in anything.

[Ryan Lemond]

And Jack Givens said last night he still think quite and probably three weeks.

[Drew Franklin]

Out and even then he's slow coming back. I mean he's not just going to show up and automatically be at full speed and 100% even when he is ready to Go.

[Ryan Lemond]

So that was a big question on the post game show last night, Shannon. How do you fix it? How do you try to, you know, get the train back on the tracks a little bit? Yeah.

[Shannon Dawson]

Get healthy. And that's just a waiting game at this point. I think that's it. I mean, because if you trot this same lineup out there Friday against Gonzaga, I think they're going to get murdered. I think it's going to be ugly. So I don't know that there's a fix to it. I mean, maybe shoot more threes, but do you have any guys that can knock down threes? What happened to all these guys that we heard, you know, before the season started? We're knocking down 90 out of 100 three pointers in practice. They're great at knocking down shots, I guess, when they're in practice, but in a game situation, they're not.

[Ryan Lemond]

You're right. All summer long we heard how Trent Noah hit 100 in a row. Cam Williams hit 100 in a row. These two guys cannot miss their knockdown shooters. And yet out of the 13 three pointers you shot last night, your best three point shooter on the floor, Colin Channer, only took two. He's. He's got to take more shots.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, that finish at the end, I thought he had it.

[Ryan Lemond]

It was a good look.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, it's a tough shot. It's a little bit of a reverse, but it was right there and I thought it was going down. I mean, that was, that was bad. I thought he had it then. Not that it mattered, but with two seconds left, I mean, they just threw in the towel where they had him inbounds the ball and he just threw it to the other free throw line. I mean, sure, they probably weren't going to get a three with two seconds left, down three, but maybe try, maybe.

[Shannon Dawson]

Throw it to one of our guys and not their guys. He threw it right to a North Carolina player. That's how they get. I mean, you know, I think he.

[Drew Franklin]

Threw it to all five of them. Just standing there in a huddle.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, I called in last night, he said, well, why was he even taking the ball out to begin with? It should have been somebody else to get the ball to him so he can shoot the last three pointer of the game.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, there wasn't like enough time to get you a Bryce Drew situation there. I didn't know why he was inbounding it and just no chance. It was unlikely anyway, but they just melded in on that last try, too.

[Ryan Lemond]

So Kentucky now falls to 5 and 3. Their first three big non conference games, they're an over. You got waxed by Michigan State, you got waxed by Louisville, and you played awful last night against North Carolina at home at Rupp Arena. Dick Vital was there, for crying out loud. Tayshawn, Prince, Rondo, they were all there. And you stunk it up last night, Drew.

[Drew Franklin]

That's one of the better Rupp crowds I've seen. I go to. I rarely miss a home game. I've been to about every one of them for 16 years. And that was some of Rup's best stuff there throughout the game. I mean, they'd get disappointed at times, really disappointing the referees. I don't know if the ref you suck chants made it to tv, but that was some of their best refuse sucks chanting in a while too, but just completely blown opportunity. Kentucky led for most of the game, led for close to 30 minutes, but they just went completely cold and gave it away.

[Ryan Lemond]

Will Stein, your new football coach had a big pop at the first TV timeout. Still didn't help. He had. How can you play like that when your new football coach is sitting at courtside mid court watching the game and you stink it up like he did?

[Drew Franklin]

And your offense, of all things in your office, feed the studs. Those are studs. That was really cool when they introduced him. That was a loud pop. And then kind of like when Dirk Menifield went even higher on his dunk. When he started pumping his arms and yelling, let's go. RUP went even louder. I mean, it truly blew the roof off there, off the place when he came in early in the game. I almost wish they just bring him out over and over like, hey, can you do that again here in the second half? But that was a disappointing night. But that was a cool moment, him coming out and crowd clearly supports the football. Man.

[Ryan Lemond]

Shannon, I want to ask you to. Did you happen to catch the Dick Vital cover any of Jason Williams games when Jason Williams at Duke?

[Shannon Dawson]

Once or twice on there.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Shannon Dawson]

Yeah, I think I saw some of that.

[Ryan Lemond]

I kept thinking they might want to talk about that during the course of our game last night, but they didn't seem to come up.

[Shannon Dawson]

No, no, they. They did. They definitely did.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, I guess I missed it.

[Shannon Dawson]

I didn't know how you missed that. Yeah, there was plenty of that last night.

[Ryan Lemond]

So today's gonna be a good day for calls. I know a lot of people are frustrated. We had some great calls last night on the postgame show. We had Big Don Big called in and was Gotten tears on his ride home on Icicle.

[Shannon Dawson]

He's already back. He's ready to go again.

[Drew Franklin]

He's on.

[Ryan Lemond]

He's on. He's on hold already.

[Drew Franklin]

He kind of became a star last night. I'm glad, glad he's back on the line.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm, I'm hoping he's feeling better because he was in a rough condition last night. So as we go to a break, 859-280-2287, we do want to mention why Matt is not here. His dad, Larry had a procedure, couple procedures this week. So Matt doing the right thing, went there to be with his dad, with his mom, kind of be, just be with them during this time. Larry's fine. He's recovering. Chance of Matt said he may even get to come home today. So all good news on that front. But that's obviously why he's not here today.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, that popped up on him yesterday. Went straight down there to be with them and glad it's gone well so far. We'll be thinking about Larry as he recovers.

[Ryan Lemond]

Larry is one tough old dude, man. I mean that whole guy is as tough and as young as they come.

[Drew Franklin]

That's right. He would have wanted more from Trent Noah last night though.

[Ryan Lemond]

We got to talk about that. Something's not. There's, there's some issues with this team and there's some issues going on with some of our guys.

[Drew Franklin]

But there's not enough hours on this show to talk about the issues with this basketball team.

[Ryan Lemond]

So we'll take our break. 859-280-2287. Ryan, Drew and Shannon, we'll be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.

[Commercial Narrator]

Men today are measurably weaker than men 30 years ago. Grip strength, bone density, muscle mass, all declining. We don't move like we used to. Your grandfather lifted and carried. All day long you sit at a desk. Then try to make up for it with a 45 minute workout. But here's what military trainers have used for decades. Load bearing during normal activity. Research shows it can burn an extra 400 calories daily. The Wolf tactical weighted vest. True fit engineering means it locks to your core without flopping around and risking injury. Turn your morning walk, your chores, your entire day into functional strength training. Go to wolftactical.com to see more.

[Drew Franklin]

That's wolftactical.com One touchdown can change everything.

[Commercial Announcer]

The crowd, the momentum, the game itself.

[Drew Franklin]

It never gets old.

[Commercial Announcer]

Feel that same rush with the draft.

[Drew Franklin]

King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner.

[Commercial Announcer]

The NFL Missouri listeners.

[Drew Franklin]

Hey, show me state. Listen up Missouri DraftKings sportsbook is now live.

[Commercial Announcer]

And the best part?

[Drew Franklin]

New customers bet just $5.

[Commercial Announcer]

If your bet wins, you'll get $200.

[Drew Franklin]

In bonus bets instantly.

[Commercial Announcer]

Look up Missouri and download the DraftKings sportsbook app.

[Drew Franklin]

Use my code KSR BET5 dollars and get $200 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, it's in partnership with DraftKings. The Crown is yours.

[Commercial Announcer]

If you have a gaming problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York, call 877-8-HOPE-HOM, or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling.

[Drew Franklin]

Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play.

[Commercial Announcer]

Responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. What what Pass through of per wager tax May apply in Illinois 21 + age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario, restrictions apply.

[Drew Franklin]

Bet must win to receive bonus bets expire in seven days. Minimum wads required for additional Durhams responsible.

[Commercial Announcer]

Great gaming resources, see dkng co/audio hey mario limited time offer.

[Drew Franklin]

And Doug Here.

[Ryan Lemond]

We have the Limu Emu in its.

[Shannon Dawson]

Natural habitat helping people customize their car.

[Ryan Lemond]

Insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Shannon Dawson]

Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Caller]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Drew Franklin]

Cut the camera.

[Shannon Dawson]

They see us.

[Drew Franklin]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Fairy Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes.

[Commercial Announcer]

Massachusetts Running a business is hard enough. So why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you are drowning in software instead of growing your business. This is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that handles everything CRM, accounting, inventory, E commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business whether you are just starting out or already scaling up. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for free at odoo.com that's O-O-O.com.

[Ryan Lemond]

True words never spoken by the great philosopher the Grinch. About Kentucky's play last night, Ryan Drew and Shannon here, Kentucky Sports Radio, 859-280-2287. Phone lines are full right now, and I expect they will be the whole show, so we'll try to get to as many callers as we can. But before we go to the phone lines, one more thing I want to touch on. You know, the second half, he pretty much went with those five guys. Aberdeen, Ortega, Chandler, Yellow Vic and Marino. They pretty much played the entire second half. No Brandon Garrison, no Trent Noah, no Cam Williams. The second half. And then after the game, he was talking about how he got fatigued. Well, he substitutes a lot. Why do you think he decided just to run with those guys at that point in the game?

[Drew Franklin]

I guess it had just got so bad. A lot of those guys off the bench did not look good last night. I mean, you knew the moment they were in. All right, go sit back down. Yeah, I was pretty frustrated, though, early in the game when the first unit was working and he did his big early sub.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yep, always does.

[Drew Franklin]

Tuck. He had a big lead. Now, he did shorten the bench in the second half. I think five guys played more than 30 minutes. I don't know if Pope's teams have ever done that.

[Ryan Lemond]

Did that happen one time last year? I don't think so.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I just. I know I'm down on all things here, but I hate hearing the fatigue. I mean, played 30 minutes.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

Weren't you a Patino guy?

[Ryan Lemond]

You're 21 years old.

[Drew Franklin]

Did Pitino even know the word fatigue back in the day? We don't all know the stories. Like, I can't get behind. Oh, no, they played 30 minutes. What are we going to do? I mean, there are guys that do that nightly across the country.

[Ryan Lemond]

And Shannon, he made that quote, something about, you know, we have to learn to play for each other. Yeah. What do you think that was directed at?

[Shannon Dawson]

Well, it sounds like there was some selfish ball being played out there, but, I mean, with them, I think at some point you got to stick with your five guys, your best five that you feel like is going to give you the best chance at winning. I mean, they did play well defensively, if you're looking for a silver lining. But if you're just going out and just, you know, going deep in your bench and throwing random guys out there, random lineups, I feel like we've already gone through that. So at some point, you got to hone in on your top Five guys, your best available. They're going to give you a chance to win. And that's what he did. It just didn't work out last night.

[Drew Franklin]

Bigger picture, I. I don't think this. Everybody's going to get to play a little bit is helping in recruiting. He keeps missing on these big players. No 5 star wants to come play 24 minutes when they can go play 35 and take all the shots somewhere. That's going to catch up to him if he keep doing this. I know that's what he likes, but this is Kentucky. We like to get stars, and stars like the ball in minutes.

[Ryan Lemond]

859-280-2287. Phone lines are lit up, so let's get to him. Shannon, who we got?

[Shannon Dawson]

All right, let's go back to him. We got Big Don.

[Ryan Lemond]

Big the call of the night last night in the postgame show. Are you feeling any better, Big Don?

[Caller]

To be honest, I thought I would be feeling better after a night's sleep, but I'm not. Hey, I do want to say I'm praying for Matt and his family. Hope everything goes well.

[Commercial Narrator]

Thank you.

[Caller]

To top it off, last night, listen to this. I get off the phone, I 64. I get a DAG on ticket, another 200.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, Big Don, what a night you're having.

[Caller]

Yeah, I got home about 4am had to get back up at 6:30, go to work. And I'm still aggravated over what I went and watched. Spent. Like I said, I spent my money. I went and watch that crap. It's just. It's aggravating. That's. That's as bad as the Billy G error right there. I'm not kidding. 60 points. Mark Pope. Supposed to be this offensive mind. You can't score more than 70. 70 points. I. I don't know. I just. I don't know where he goes. I mean, I want to say we've got answers on the bench, but I don't know who. I mean. Can those guys shoot? No. I mean, low create, but heck, he can't. He ain't that good of a shooter. Moby, that looks like my grandma shooting.

[Ryan Lemond]

It's just.

[Caller]

It's aggravating and I don't know what to do. I mean, I want to go to more games, support him, but I'm sick of Mr. Nice Guy and the analytics stuff, that's way too much. I mean, I get it.

[Ryan Lemond]

It's.

[Caller]

It's how he coaches, but it's way too much. I mean, it's analytic this, analytics that. Sometimes you got to Roll the basketball out there, play your best guys and quit with the minute crap. Some. I mean, they're what, 20, 22 years old, playing 35 minutes a night. Hey, I appreciate you guys, though. I'm sorry to get work back up, but, God, what are two days?

[Ryan Lemond]

Appreciate it, Big Don.

[Drew Franklin]

Call anytime.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, if.

[Drew Franklin]

Just call me if we're not on the air. Just. We'll just talk.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm glad.

[Caller]

I'll do so. I'm gonna start calling in more.

[Ryan Lemond]

I'm glad he made it home. Glad he. Well, I'm not glad he got a ticket.

[Shannon Dawson]

Slow down out there.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, buckle up. Put your phone down.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, it's like we're going back in time. He's like, we just need to roll the ball out there. Next we'll be like, we need somebody to just yell, go.

[Shannon Dawson]

But, you know, he wanted Caliperi.

[Ryan Lemond]

Hey, that.

[Drew Franklin]

That looked like a Cal team without NBA players on it last night. That playing defense, missing threes and so out of sync.

[Ryan Lemond]

I mean, we've said it three or four times, and I think it goes back to not having Jalen Lowe out there. They just need somebody to be a strong point guard because Aberdeen's not that guy. He's not a point guard. He plays better off the ball a little bit. And he.

[Commercial Announcer]

He.

[Ryan Lemond]

He hurt you last night. There's no doubt he did.

[Drew Franklin]

I mean, Lowe's hurt. Not much you can do about it. Gonzaga's coming up. You got a deep roster. You know, the injuries stink. I'm sorry it happened, but that can't be an excuse for being 03 in these games. What are the analytics say about making the tournament if they go 04 after Friday?

[Ryan Lemond]

I mean, that's a legit concern because Gonzaga's tough.

[Drew Franklin]

That's probably the hard. Maybe not as tough at Louisville. True road atmosphere, but, I mean, you were just an 8 1/2 point favorite at home and lost to Carolina, and you're going to be an underdog to Gonzaga here in a few days. I don't know if anything I saw last night is getting fixed in just a couple of practices before they go to Nashville.

[Ryan Lemond]

See, that's the big question. How do you fix this? How do you turn it around? When I think the answers are the guy sitting on the bench hurt, they're not. If they're not ready, how do you. How do you fix it for Gonzaga on Friday? There's.

[Drew Franklin]

There's enough guys that are healthy to be better than this. I'm just terrified how this is going to look after this coming Weekend. Our pregame show listeners know that me and Jack, even you, Mario over here, we weren't the most excited about the game to begin with because we're kind of terrified of what this team might actually look like a couple weeks from now.

[Ryan Lemond]

Well, it's been a rough stretch. If you go back to the Louisville basketball game, the Vanderbilt football game, the Michigan State basketball game, the Louisville football game, now North Carolina here. All of our high profile games in the last couple weeks have been disasters.

[Drew Franklin]

That and just a roller coaster of emotions lately. We got so excited for Will Stein. For 24 hours watching the flights, just the message board, there's like old school KSR tracking everything. Everyone was so happy for a day. Then you just go lose to North Carolina at home with a great atmosphere. Everything should. It was in place for you to get a win and you just couldn't score.

[Ryan Lemond]

That's a great point, Shannon. Yesterday at this time yesterday, this. Fire alarms are going off. We're laughing, we're giddy. We got a new coach, can't wait for him to get here. Tracking his flight, calling his mom and sissy cakes. Now today we're like gloom and doom and throwing stuff.

[Shannon Dawson]

I kind of felt like though we saw this coming, right? I mean, did.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, I did. I thought they would. I thought it'd be close, but I ultimately thought being at home. Yeah. North Carolina's got a lot of new transfers that hadn't played. An environment like that. The environment showed up. I thought that would put Kentucky over the top. And we'll figure out the rest later.

[Ryan Lemond]

Let's get another phone call.

[Shannon Dawson]

We got you and big bro quite. I mean, big picture though, you know, again talking about the schedule. You still got number 22 Indiana coming in. You still got St. John's you still got Gonzaga coming up on Friday. You gotta get at least one of those. Right.

[Ryan Lemond]

Gotta build your resume somewhere.

[Shannon Dawson]

You can't go into the SEC with six losses.

[Ryan Lemond]

Agreed.

[Shannon Dawson]

Because then you are talking about the possibility of not making the tournament and.

[Drew Franklin]

There'S one team tucked into there. And I hate how we're playing all these top 300 teams. But NC Central is ranked outside of the top 350.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh yeah.

[Shannon Dawson]

And you're gonna get no credit.

[Drew Franklin]

They're not even in the top 350. That's not going to do anything.

[Shannon Dawson]

Ellerman's not probably any better.

[Drew Franklin]

I think I'm looking.

[Ryan Lemond]

They're.

[Drew Franklin]

They're 282.

[Shannon Dawson]

Okay. So you're beating up on teams that are ranked around 300 nationally. You're not getting any credit with the selection committee when it comes to Mark.

[Ryan Lemond]

No, you got to get one of these big, high profile games.

[Shannon Dawson]

Yeah. Let's go to Braden.

[Ryan Lemond]

Braden, go ahead, Braden.

[Caller]

22 million. And this is what we get. This is what we get. I tell you what, boys, I do a little bit research. The teams that we already played and will be playing, they spend about 8 and 15 million, 8 and 50 million. They're doing great. We're playing terrible. But I got. I said I gotta say something to Mark Pope.

[Ryan Lemond]

You got about 30 seconds.

[Caller]

Mark Pope. What are you doing? $22 million.

[Ryan Lemond]

I think he spent 22 million. Braden, we appreciate it. Thank you.

[Drew Franklin]

Still got 19 seconds left.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, we got to play the sad, sappy song to get us out of here.

[Drew Franklin]

It's not supposed to be like this, Ryan. This is Kentucky basketball.

[Ryan Lemond]

We're supposed to be happy today. We just hired a new coach. Will Stein was there, got the crowd pumped up.

[Drew Franklin]

We got volleyball. TJ Smith, personal injury attorney.

[Ryan Lemond]

Call tj.

[Drew Franklin]

He'll make him pay.

[Shannon Dawson]

Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio, presented by Stockton Mortg. Here's Matt Jones.

[Ryan Lemond]

Perfect song, Shannon, because they could use somebody. They could use Jalen Lowe. I think the answer is the dude sitting over there in street clothes. They need a good leader. They need a good point guard. He's the answer. If we're looking for an answer, he's the guy. Ryan Lehman. Drew Franklin. Shannon, the dude back on Kentucky Sports Radio. I know we got people on hold. We've already talked a lot of basketball. We do need to hit on football because today at 4 o', clock, our new football coach will be officially introduced. Will Stein at a press conference. Drew, you're going. Introduced him last night at Rupp Arena. Place exploded. Obviously, as unexcited as we are about basketball, we're overly excited, I think, about football.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting over there, seeing that. You know, as I mentioned, the pop was great last night. I think the fans love the hire. That was clear by the reception online and in person last night. And I'm just excited to hear from him in his first press conference. He, you know, for years we had stoops and he had one way of doing it. It was a little more quiet, a little more keep your head down, pick up your lunch pail, go to work. With the way Stein was pumping his fist and all that, we haven't really seen fire like that in a long time. Not, I'm not like, outside of a game now we see angry stoops in the game as far as like in a media and in that kind of setting, we haven't seen someone with that kind of juice to him. So I'm looking forward to hearing from him today and what else he has next as they get settled in here.

[Ryan Lemond]

And then on our basketball pre show, you broke a little news about his staff yesterday.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I was just telling everybody to watch out for a name and then the name happened to arrive on a plane.

[Ryan Lemond]

And was that name at Oregon director.

[Drew Franklin]

Of recruiting Pat Biondo. We'll see he's still building his staff. We, you know, he's got a lot going on over there, but I was just telling y' all to watch that one. And then, you know, plane door opens and he happened to step off.

[Ryan Lemond]

He's on the plane.

[Drew Franklin]

So what a coincidence.

[Ryan Lemond]

He's going to be on the staff. Then it came out last night that Justin Burke, former Lexington Catholic quarterback, former Louisville quarterback, is expected to join Will Stein staff here at Kentucky.

[Drew Franklin]

Also, we're getting a lot of Louisville influence over there.

[Ryan Lemond]

How about two former Louisville quarterbacks leading our football team next year?

[Drew Franklin]

That's fine. Matt Ryan, as I said yesterday, we don't look backwards, we look forwards and they're going to be wearing blue. He's, he's a big up and comer with a long history with Stein. But Stein's gonna be calling plays, I would suspect when this gets here. But you know, we'll trust whatever staff he wants to come in and help him. It's for him. I want to see what he does in recruiting. That's why the name I mentioned I'm keeping an eye on because we know he wants to feed the studs, but let's go get some studs. Justin Burr, Today's signing day, by the way.

[Ryan Lemond]

He's signing day.

[Drew Franklin]

Ponotoski signed.

[Ryan Lemond]

He has already signed.

[Drew Franklin]

He signed. So that was. Didn't have to wait long for him to make his decision to stick around.

[Ryan Lemond]

In the class before he Will Stein was hired, Ponotoskey had already said, I'm not going to sign.

[Drew Franklin]

He's going to wait till the spring.

[Ryan Lemond]

Wait till the spring. You know, he's a baseball guy. A lot of people think he may get drafted so high in the baseball draft he may never even be on campus here because he may go baseball, but at least he is signed. I think that's a for perception purposes. Now they can go sell him when they get with these other recruits, hey, come play with this guy, you know, come be a part of what we're rebuilding here.

[Drew Franklin]

Definitely the portal is so big now that this high school recruiting doesn't matter as much, but it is very important to have him as your centerpiece for everything else. Yeah, sure, the MLB could still take him away, but the fact that he just needed, you know, 48 hours to lock in after they went through everything and made the right hire and then now Stein can go out and sell everything around him, that was huge to lock that in.

[Ryan Lemond]

You know, Justin Burke was quarterback at Lexington Catholic. He was our Lex 18 high school sports zone player of the year his senior year.

[Drew Franklin]

I thought you're gonna say he was like an intern and you know him or something.

[Ryan Lemond]

I do know him and his dad Greg, but there was a little back and forth with him and KSR when he was at Louisville. Are there some more things we need to scrub off the Internet before he gets here?

[Drew Franklin]

I do know, and this, I don't think it was just ksr. I don't want to call the guy out. I don't think in high school he was the biggest fan of the local team here in Lexington. I think I've heard from some of his teammates, but whatever. Like I said, the. The windshield is bigger than the. Than the. What is it? The windshield's bigger than the rear. There we go. So whatever he thought back then, he'll be wearing the emblem and working for us now. So hopefully it all goes good going forward. But it's a little weird with the Louisville influence, I'll admit.

[Ryan Lemond]

So how did the basketball team play so bad right in front of our new football coach who had front court, mid court seats.

[Commercial Announcer]

I don't know.

[Drew Franklin]

It was just so disappointing. So disappointing. Yeah, so I forgot the caller or one of you talking about leadership and low would probably be that guy. But there are other people with voices that can speak up. Maybe an SEC preseason player of the year. Even Colin Chandler, who's back and starting Aberdeen has a ring on his finger. It doesn't just have to be Jalen Lowe. Someone needs to step up. I mean all good teams. We could name all the good point guards from Kentucky where you knew, you know, if something going wrong, they were going to get up in somebody, you know, you could see their leadership. I just don't know if Kentucky has anyone right now that's doing that.

[Ryan Lemond]

And we were just told that Brian Hartline took the job at South Florida, who was probably second choice for this job. I do need to mention Neil Brown, Boyle county native, UK alumnus, was just hired as the North Texas head coach and they're ranked in the top 25 right now.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I'm glad he's getting a good start. That'll be a nice spot for him in a group of five team he had done a little time at, I think he was with, with Sark at Texas and one of those roles a little bit since leaving West Virginia. So good to see he gets a reset. Hopefully he has a quick climb. I mean, that's a good spot itself, but I can climb the ranks, get back to a big time program.

[Ryan Lemond]

All right, Shannon's go back to phone lines. Who we got next?

[Shannon Dawson]

Let's go to Isaiah.

[Ryan Lemond]

Isaiah. Go ahead, Isaiah.

[Caller]

Hey, guys, I'm gonna go on a little bit of a positive rant here, so I know the UK fans might be rolling my eyes and everything and I totally get it. I'm just as frustrated as everybody else, don't get me wrong. And I think with the $22 million, everybody expected to win now, you know, but as you all said, this is a team of six men, people who have come off the bench and haven't really been asked to play that role to start and everything. So just I think with our defense, you know, we held them to 67 points. That's disappointing. We lost, don't get me wrong. But our defense is coming together, okay? We prove we can shoot, right? I mean, we went 50 against nobody. I get that. But the pieces are potentially there. So I'm just asking the UK fans just to be optimistic with this. With this team eight games in, it's only December 3rd, guys. It's like I said, I'm frustrated. I am, I am frustrated. But Mark is a smart guy and all the changes he made last year, middle of the game, halftime, everything like that. He's smart. He will figure it out. I truly believe that. I think, I think this roster is. We expected 30 threes and maybe this team isn't quite what we expected as far as that goes, but I think this team is more of a project than a final piece that we kind of expected.

[Ryan Lemond]

Okay, Appreciate it. Appreciate the phone call. Drew, what do you think about that?

[Drew Franklin]

I don't disagree, but you do have to win some games. If you keep pushing it down the road, your resume can get so bad that, I mean, you gotta remember we have national championship expectations and Owen three.

[Ryan Lemond]

In in our big games.

[Drew Franklin]

So yeah, sure, I mean, when Low comes back, that'll help quite. And hopefully too far away. But I mean, if we get to the beginning of January and you don't win some of these games, that's going to be a Huge problem. Even if you are healthy.

[Ryan Lemond]

Drew Shannon, what do you think? A guy who says we need to preach patience right now it is just December 3rd.

[Shannon Dawson]

That is true. But as I was saying on the pre show, every time you lose one of these games, it puts even more pressure on winning the next game. So when you lost the first game to Louisville, there was a little bit of added pressure to beat Michigan State. Then you lose that game, now there's more added pressure to beat, you know, so it just keeps adding on. And at some point you got to get the monkey off your back and win against the team that matters. So top 25 team. You've got some opportunities to do it, but every time you lose, it just adds more pressure to the next game.

[Ryan Lemond]

I heard you and Billy. You blamed Annabelle. You said it's still Annabelle's fault.

[Shannon Dawson]

No, no, that wasn't me. That was. That was a caller or somebody. But yeah, things haven't been right since Annabelle came to town.

[Ryan Lemond]

There's no doubt. And Matt made fun of it. Yeah, I think everything kind of. Kind of turned south end. Yep. Who's our next caller?

[Shannon Dawson]

It's her fault. Kentucky Joe.

[Ryan Lemond]

Kentucky Joe. How are you, Kentucky Joe?

[Caller]

Oh, pretty good. I'm very. I'm very excited about actually around 4 o' clock today.

[Ryan Lemond]

Now, you know you've been requested to make a new Willie Stein song. Willie Steinman. Can you redo your old classic hit and redo it?

[Caller]

I might do that. Excuse me, I'm thinking about doing something right now.

[Ryan Lemond]

Oh, roll tape. Shannon. I didn't know we were about to get a new top 10 hit.

[Drew Franklin]

Wait a minute, I'm.

[Ryan Lemond]

Wait, wait, wait. He's gotta get.

[Drew Franklin]

You need a beat.

[Caller]

Wait, wait. I'm gonna turn me up a little bit here.

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, turn me up. Shelby, find it.

[Caller]

I'm about ready to go here.

[Shannon Dawson]

Okay.

[Caller]

It goes. It's called Roar.

[Drew Franklin]

Roar.

[Caller]

Roar. Roar, Mr. Wildcat. Roar.

[Ryan Lemond]

All right.

[Caller]

Mr. Wildcat. Roarb as hard as you can go. Roar. Mr. Wildcat. Great things are comes in Lexington, you know. Roar, Mr. Wildcat. Roar like the angels on.

[Ryan Lemond]

There we go. All right, Kentucky Joe. Oh, maybe we should stuck with Willie Collie Steinman.

[Shannon Dawson]

Do you even remember Willie Collie Steinman?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah. You want me to do it now?

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah.

[Shannon Dawson]

That's kind of like what we were going for the first time.

[Caller]

Okay. Hey, hey, hey, Willie. I'll do it for you again, all right? Oh, I'm so, so real. Oh, I'm a willy tally. Well, I'm a Willie. Callie, I haven't heard that song in 10 years.

[Ryan Lemond]

There we go.

[Shannon Dawson]

Brought a tear to my eye.

[Ryan Lemond]

Classic.

[Caller]

I like that Shannon.

[Ryan Lemond]

Those are the. Those are the classic hits that Shannon plays on his Double Q show in the afternoon.

[Caller]

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, listen. Hey, Ryan. Hey. And Drew. Thank you.

[Ryan Lemond]

Dougie Joe. Hey. All right. Thank you, buddy. Have a good holiday. Have a good. Have a good holiday. Good ducky joke here playing. Reliving one of our classic hits over the years.

[Drew Franklin]

I'm worried Will Stott might be on a flight back to Eugene. If you were listening.

[Ryan Lemond]

Roar, Roar. Kentucky fan roar.

[Drew Franklin]

I do love a good Kentucky Joe. Phone call. I love. You know, I don't know that the songs as he's singing them, he was ready. I don't know if that was pre written or if that was off the fly. A little bit of freestyle.

[Ryan Lemond]

I think they're all off the fly. Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

I do enjoy it though. But I don't know if that was the one. Maybe we'll. We'll try again tomorrow if Matt's back. Matt always likes to hear from him, so we'll get back in the lab.

[Ryan Lemond]

That's true. We need him to replay that when Matt comes back tomorrow. He'd love that. All right, we'll take our break, come back, go back to the phone lines. 859-280-2287. It's 859280, Cat. It is wings day here at KS Bar and Grill. We got the folks in here already. Doors will open in about 15 minutes, so come and eat your sorrows away. Get some wings. They'll make you feel a lot better. Right here at KS Bar and Grill. Ryan, Drew and Shannon. We'll be back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.

[Commercial Narrator]

Men today are measurably weaker than men 30 years ago. Grip strength, bone density, muscle mass, all declining. We don't move like we used to. Your grandfather lifted and carried. All day long you sit at a desk, then try to make up for it with a 45 minute workout. But here's what military trainers have used for load bearing during normal activity. Research shows it can burn an extra 400 calories daily. The Wolf tactical weighted Vest. True fit engineering means it locks to your core without flopping around and risking injury. Turn your morning walk, your chores, your entire day into functional strength training. Go to wolftactical.com to see more. That's wolftactical.com.

[Ryan Lemond]

Here we have the limu.

[Shannon Dawson]

Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Caller]

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[Ryan Lemond]

Cut the camera.

[Shannon Dawson]

They see us.

[Drew Franklin]

Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and Affiliates.

[Commercial Announcer]

Excludes Massachusetts Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder? With a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other, one for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. Before you know it, you are drowning in software Instead of growing your business, this is where Odoo comes in. Odoo is the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all in one fully integrated platform that handles everything CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce, HR and more. No more app overload, no more juggling logins. Just one seamless system that makes work easier. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. It's built to grow with your business whether you are just starting or already scaling up. Plus, it's easy to use, customizable and designed to streamline every process so you can focus on what really matters running your business. Thousands of businesses have made the switch, so why not you try Odoo for [e-mail] that's o d o o.com hey.

[Drew Franklin]

It'S Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. The holiday season can be exhausting with all the parties and the end of year celebrations. But don't forget to take care of yourself by stocking up on your favorite nutritional products. Now through December 30th. Shop in store and online and save on items like Cliff Snack Bars, Luna Bars, Boost Nutritional Energy Drinks, Premier Protein Shakes, Z Bar Variety Packs, Open Nature Powder and Body Fortress Protein powder offers end December 30th.

[Ryan Lemond]

Restrictions apply.

[Drew Franklin]

Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Ryan Lemond]

Definitely had a bad day and a bad night. Well, we had a good day with the Will Stein announcement, but then had a bad night as Kentucky got beat at home by North Carolina on ESPN. 6764 Drew who's this segment sponsored by.

[Drew Franklin]

Our friends at Commonwealth causes Attention bourbon lovers. You don't want to miss their December Bourbon raffle. The next Ultimate Bourbon Collection drawing is on December 18th and features an incredible $20,000 lineup including the iconic Pappy Van Winkle Vertical. But that's not all. Other prizes include the Buffalo Trace Old fashioned copper vintage 2006 bottle, the Weller Vertical, Blanton's eight bottle letter set and more. Big Bourbon Big prizes and several Lucky Winners are heading into the holiday season. Tickets are limited, so don't wait. Secure yours [e-mail] and add a little extra cheer to your December. I need lots of extra cheer in my December.

[Ryan Lemond]

We need a lot of cheer today.

[Drew Franklin]

Maybe some bourbon.

[Ryan Lemond]

I think it's our Don Franklin tweet of the day, isn't it, Shannon? Is that who sponsors our tweet of the day?

[Drew Franklin]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemond]

We got this from Jay and Lyndon, our new cub beat reporter.

[Drew Franklin]

What a day.

[Ryan Lemond]

He had a big day yesterday. Going to Sissy's cakes. Jay and Linden. Last night was the first time in UK history that we had more wise in a game than threes made in a game.

[Drew Franklin]

Ooh, what a fun fact.

[Ryan Lemond]

Two wise one, three. And of all people, it was Brandon Garrison who hit the three.

[Drew Franklin]

I can't remember a double. Why? You've been doing this a long time. We had two. I mean we've had two people be the why. Yeah, but this was a first half why and a second half why.

[Ryan Lemond]

I don't remember it ever happening before. I'm sure they already had Tayshawn scheduled and lined up to do the wide it's regular spot in the first TV timeout. Well, you got to introduce Stein early in the game. First. First the. Why the first TV timeout of the second half. So you bring out why the first TV timeout of the first half. Just. That's the way it worked out. Got the big pop. Well, they were tied at halftime. There was no problem with the first half. Is that second half drive leading late in the game?

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, that's a horrible stat that there are more wise than three pointers made. Especially for a Mark Pope team.

[Ryan Lemond]

I gotta.

[Drew Franklin]

We almost. I don't remember what the record was but we went like 74 years without missing a three. Then it broke in the tournament a few years ago. We're about to have another game without a three. We don't.

[Ryan Lemond]

Thanks. Thanks to sharpshooter Brandon Garrison. And knock down that three.

[Drew Franklin]

The.

[Ryan Lemond]

The. No, no, no, no.

[Drew Franklin]

Yes. Shot.

[Ryan Lemond]

Here's another stat from Cody Couch we read last night. In their last eight ranked matchups, Kentucky is 1 in 7o and 3 this year and 1 in 4 their last five SEC games last year.

[Drew Franklin]

That's ugly.

[Ryan Lemond]

But 1 in 7 against ranked opponents.

[Drew Franklin]

There's another stat that I think is even worse that Corey Price put out. You shared on the post game and.

[Ryan Lemond]

What the power four games are now.

[Drew Franklin]

14 and 15 a losing record teams. He's been here.

[Ryan Lemond]

Unacceptable. It really is. It's Got to be turned around. But I don't know what the answer is until you get everybody healthy. All right, 859-280-2287. Who's next? Shannon.

[Shannon Dawson]

Let's go to DG.

[Ryan Lemond]

DG, go ahead. DG.

[Caller]

What's up guys? Two quick points. Respectfully disagree with the previous caller about optimism. You know, moving forward. I don't see how you're optimistic about this team for many reasons. When you look at this team, good teams find different ways to win. And whenever we played good teams this year we have showed we cannot shoot, we cannot out physical a team. We don't have the heart to out heart a team. So I don't even know where we begin to find a way to win. And then my second point is what has happened to home court advantage at Rupp Arena. How many blue bloods do you seek in Kansas, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston? Like they don't lose these games at home. And we played against a mediocre team in North Carolina. We the fans done their part. They showed up and showed up for a 9:30 time. I mean we done our part. We got to win these games because our quad won't wins for the rest of the season are not going to be there. They're bare minimum. So we got, we got to change something.

[Ryan Lemond]

All right, appreciate it. We do need to point out Kansas lost at home last night to of course their UConn a good Yukon team. They did lose at home. North Carolina, not any just off the bottom of the floor type of team. They're still a really good team. But yes, the caller's right. You should win your non conference games at Rupp Arena. That's a W. That's what was so bad when we lost in Evansville and North Carolina Wilmington at Rupp Arena. You just don't lose it. Rupp Arena.

[Drew Franklin]

It's really a bad night overall for the sec. It was challenge but Duke, Florida, Syracuse beat Tennessee.

[Ryan Lemond]

That surprised me that one really surprised about that.

[Drew Franklin]

Go Orange. Well, how do we say that? Go Syracuse. I love that South Carolina lost. I mean we, I think, let's see did Oklahoma A and M. We had a couple wins but it's, it was an ugly, ugly first day of the SEC ACC challenge. Not that we care about the rest of the conference but it might show you what the competition level will be like when we get to that, that part of the schedule.

[Ryan Lemond]

Shannon, who's next?

[Shannon Dawson]

Let's go to Daniel.

[Ryan Lemond]

Daniel, go ahead. Daniel.

[Drew Franklin]

No.

[Caller]

Yeah. Hi guys. I just want two comments. First I got to agree with the caller. Don, I don't know how quick I'm going to be to spend my money to keep supporting this program right now. You know, every year I spend a lot of money to go see a game in Madison Square Garden, and I just. I'm not sure I'm going to do it next year anyway. I don't doubt the coach that the guys can shoot three pointers well in practice. Heck, anyone, any Division 1 basketball player can shoot the ball well in practice. I think that's squarely on the coach, that he can't get these players to trance, to move from practice to game time to still be able to shoot the ball well. I think that is 100% responsibility of the coaches, and the coaches aren't getting the job done right now. Thank you very much, guys. Have a good day.

[Ryan Lemond]

Appreciate it.

[Drew Franklin]

Don.

[Ryan Lemond]

You know, that's what we were hearing on the football front, that fans were not going to renew their season tickets, not donate the nil. And that can get a coach fired faster than anything we're hearing. That's a second call. Like, man, I'm not going to spend my money to come into town and buy a hotel room and go to dinner and go to that game to see this kind of performance on the floor. Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

And I wonder the big spenders, who really helped Pope starting off in nil. It's no secret what we spent and how it's the most in the country. If, you know, this team doesn't have a good year and it's not fun. I mean, are the. Are the big donors gonna be like, yeah, let me just keep piling money into this? I mean, that's why this needs to work. This was a very big investment that we're watching. I know. I always play up. Not my money. I don't care. But I do want Kentucky to continue to have support moving forward. And if you're, you know, you're trotting out a team that plays like that, fans, boosters, everybody's gonna wonder how much they want to give.

[Ryan Lemond]

You know, I give Mario credit. Matt kind of gave him a hard time yesterday, but he said weeks ago, there's something wrong with this team. There just something's not right.

[Drew Franklin]

I still. I don't know. I don't have the answer. I'm just a fan wondering like everyone else, but something's off with the chemistry going. I hate to bring up, you know, the thing from weeks ago. I'm not trying to that, but something's going on. I don't know what it is. But something's going on still, not just the basketball.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah, there's issues.

[Drew Franklin]

There has to be.

[Ryan Lemond]

I don't know what it is, but there are issues. And I don't know what's going on with Diabate.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, what's his injury? I mean, I thought he just kind of rolled his ankle. He walked off the court that game and they're saying he hadn't even practiced.

[Ryan Lemond]

Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

How long is he going to be out?

[Ryan Lemond]

So the doors are open now here at KS Bar and Grill. Come on in. It's wings day. Dollar wings all day. Ryan, Drew and Shannon will be back. Hour number two on Kentucky sports Radio.

[Commercial Narrator]

Men today are measurably weaker than men 30 years ago. Grip strength, bone density, muscle mass, all declining. We don't move like we used to. Your grandfather lifted and carried. All day long you sit at a desk, then try to make up for it with a 45 minute workout. But here's what military trainers have used for load bearing during normal activity. Research shows it can burn an extra 400 calories daily. The Wolftactical Weighted Vest. Tru Fit engineering means it locks to your core without flopping around and risking injury. Turn your morning walk, your chores, your entire day into functional strength training. Go to wolftactical.com to see more. That's wolftactical.com what a matchup we got, y'. All.

[Ryan Lemond]

This is that classic HBCU vibe now. Non stop action.

[Drew Franklin]

The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat.

[Ryan Lemond]

Everybody showing that school pride. Game like this.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola.

[Ryan Lemond]

Ah.

[Drew Franklin]

Crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere, and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard.

[Commercial Narrator]

Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work.

[Ryan Lemond]

So grab a Coca Cola and keep.

[Drew Franklin]

That HBCU pride going.

[Commercial Announcer]

Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder. With a dozen apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. That's software overload. Odoo is the all in one platform that replaces them all. CRM, accounting, inventory, e commerce, hr. Fully integrated, easy to use and built to grow. With your business, thousands have already made the switch. Why not you try Odoo for free@o d o o.com. that's odoo.com make their holiday unforgettable. With a gift that says it all from Pandora Jewelry, a gift that tells.

[Drew Franklin]

A story and shows you know theirs.

[Commercial Announcer]

That doesn't just sparkle but speaks. From new festive charms to forever rings and personal engravings, this season, give a gift that's perfectly theirs. Whether you're shopping for a shiny surprise for your significant other, matching bracelets to celebrate your friendship, or a heartfelt gift for a family member, say more this holiday season with Pandora. Shop [e-mail] or visit your closest Pandora store.