Matt Jones (8:02)

Costa said gay lot happened in those final.

Caller (8:05)

Well, I mean what he did at the end of the game to fears if it was in regulation, like if the clock hadn't gone off, that would have been a technical and it would have been like infuriating if they called it at the end of the game. But they might have. But luckily it happened after the clock. And then, you know, they almost get in a fight in the layup line. Somebody threw a beer at him. Yeah. After it was over. That's not good. You're going to have to find Oklahoma. You can't have people throwing beer. We were joking about $1 beer night. Well, that's what happens when you have $1 beer now you get guys throwing, throwing beers at the players. But just an awesome victory. You know, I think the. I think always the star Garrison played really well. You do also want to go back to the first half where I think some guys really gave them good minutes when the starters, you know, were out. Kobe Braya, I think kind of kept us in it in the first half. Not just threes, but getting to the basket. Mari had some good minutes, Andrew Carr made some plays. But at a time where we were in severe foul trouble where, I mean, just think about the end of the game. Once again, at the end of the game we did not have Butler, Robinson or Carr because I guess he didn't want to play car. So we were out there with Travis Perry, Kobe, Bra, Ortega away, Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison. We took that lineup and we won the game on the road. And this is a massive, massive game for Kentucky. When it comes to seating, I think it makes it to where so long as we beat LSU on Tuesday of next week, we'll be a top four seed, maybe a three seed. Even if we lost to Auburn and Missouri, I still think we'd be that. I think it makes it to where again if we beat lsu, we almost certainly will get a first day bye in the SEC tournament. Now because of some other records, we might even get out of the eight seed and be in the six or seven. At which point we could avoid Auburn in the quarterfinals, play the games at night instead of in the afternoon. Like a lot of things are now possible because of that win. And if you could somehow in that last game of the year, beat Missouri or beat Auburn on, on Saturday, it's not crazy. I mean, look, Billy, I Don't think we're going to win out, but if we won out, we might get a double buy now.

Matt Jones (10:27)

Wow, that's something.

Caller (10:29)

If you look at the records and who plays who, it's plausible. I don't expect that to happen. So I don't want to get overly excited about it, but I do think this was a huge win. This is one you had to have. Now Auburn is kind of like Alabama was Saturday. Just go have fun. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson Robinson does not play against Auburn because why worry? Why, why risk it? You had to have this one and they did. Now, of course we have to see what happens with Jackson Robinson. That's. That is a worry for me. You know, he started the second half and then immediately went out. He had the ice on his wrist. I think that's just going to be something that is going to be a game by game thing. Looks like Butler is, if not 100% close enough that he can play. So, you know, if Jackson Robinson can get to where he can get on the court, he may. He made some, he made some shots so, you know, or at least made one. Three. I think he made two shots, didn't he? And how many points do you have, Billy? Who?

Matt Jones (11:30)

Robinson.

Caller (11:31)

Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Jones (11:32)

He had seven points.

Caller (11:33)

Seven.

Matt Jones (11:33)

Three of seven from the field.

Caller (11:35)

Yeah, three of seven. And only played 12 minutes. So if we can get him to at least that plays 24 minutes, gets 14 or 15 points, I think you'd be thrilled. But huge win and one of those like this is. It's 12:48 at night and we just won a game on the road in maybe the new worst place in the SEC outside of Starkville. At least when it comes to the arena.

Matt Jones (11:59)

You think.

Caller (12:00)

Well, I mean I think from a. I've never been to Norman so I can't say what the town is like, but is that the worst environment in the SEC could be.

Matt Jones (12:11)

I think it might be over.

Caller (12:13)

I mean, I think it might be, you know, I mean I've seen great. But if Oklahoma can't get a crowd with free tacos and dollar beer playing Kentucky, then they ain't going to get a crowd anytime. Right? So that might be the new worst environment in the sec. But we want it. And a massive win and couple quick shouts out. First of all, big shout out to Mark Pope for the play. Called down one running. That play leads to away with an open layup. Brilliant play call. Great decision by Mari on making the pass. Mari had a couple of really wonderful passes and you know What? We didn't play well defensively, but really nice final play. Three different guys block Jeremiah Fear's final shot and end up getting the victory. Cats win 83, 82. Look forward to talking to you. 859-280-2287. I think as long as we beat LSU at home on senior night, Kentucky has, I think, wrapped up a top four seed in the NCAA tournament. I think they've wrapped up at least a first round bye in the SEC tournament, assuming we beat LSU and just overall a great night. We'll take a break. Be right back. This is the local Toyota Dealers KSR postgame show. 82, 81. Comes into O way. He gives it back to Perry. 15 seconds as Perry comes across the line, calls for Oway to come out. He takes the handoff. Always got it. Goes to his left, down the lane, angles right, flips it up, goes in with six seconds to play. Here comes Oklahoma. Sears drives into the lane, goes for the rim. It's blocked by Garrison, picked up by Brea. Oh, my.0's on the clock. And the Cats get out of Oklahoma with a win. What a win. Ortega always saves the day against his former school. How good is Tom in those moments? Like, come on. I mean, there's nobody better at getting the excitement out of the moment than he does. You know, Jack sounds like everybody's uncle cheering him on. I love it. And let me also say to the. The, the SEC network announcers, what was that? Roy Philpott and I don't even know who the other guy was. Who was the other guy? They were good, though. I thought they did a really good job. I don't know what the other guy's name is. Do you know what's. Did Billy, do you remember who that was?

Matt Jones (14:39)

No, but I got nothing but complaints for the SEC Network, Matt.

Caller (14:43)

Well, yeah, I mean, we'll talk about that probably some more tomorrow because. Because for you all. So I was watching it on the app at the beginning. They didn't really go to the game until like 8 minutes left in the first half.

Matt Jones (14:53)

44 left in the first half.

Caller (14:55)

That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah, I mean, so a lot of the stuff that frustrated me, I'll probably see a lot of people. So we should have been up more early. That was that. I mean, we really should have probably been up 12 to 15 early and it just didn't happen. But they still got the win. One person writes, matt, I'm getting old. I'm 47. First of all, you're not old It's a little older than me. Stop. I have a soft spot in my heart for 9pm ESPN games. It makes me think of my dad. Every game like this, he would make a pot of coffee, stay up and watch it with me, go to bed at midnight, and be at work at 6am at the sawmill. He was true 606, badass. And that's what the state is about. I have those, like, I have that same, like, I hate these late games, sort of. But there also is, like. It does kind of remind me of my youth, you know, for a long, long time. We were the Tuesday or Wednesday night game and they always had a Big Ten game at seven and we were the game at nine. And so we've played in a ton of these games over the years. And yeah, I do. They're not fun to get ready for. But, like, when you win one of these, there's something about it being late at night and all that that I do think is, you know, is really cool. One person writes, matt, I'm glad we won a game where we only had seven threes. I didn't think we'd win one of those all year. I didn't really either, to be honest. And two of the seven were Garrison. I think he's the only person only.

Matt Jones (16:22)

Got more than one.

Caller (16:24)

Yeah, that's crazy. But, you know, listen, you just win at this time of year, you just win. There are a lot of things about this game that were frustrating to me, but ultimately, we're in that time of year where it's the result because it's win or go home here starting in. In two weeks. Who's next or first?

Matt Jones (16:48)

We'll start with Michael.

Caller (16:50)

Michael. Go ahead, Michael.

Billy Rutledge (16:52)

Hey, what's up, man? How y'all doing tonight, bro?

Caller (16:55)

Doing good.

Billy Rutledge (16:56)

Hey, I was just gonna say game was fantastic tonight. I was a little irritated with the way the SEC network started that out. I was watching it on my phone as well, just like you said. I don't know how in the world we could go almost a whole half and not be able to see anything while a minute and 47 seconds, I think, was in the Vanity game.

Caller (17:18)

Yeah. And it just. That Last minute and 47 seconds apparently took 28 minutes of real time.

Billy Rutledge (17:25)

Yeah. But I just wanted to say I still don't understand these substitution lines up with what Pope does. I know you mentioned statistics and analytics. I work in health care and I mean, they talk about healthcare. You don't have a pandemic. But every hundred years due to statistics and analytics, that's what they say. However, we've had five in 50 years.

Caller (17:45)

So I mean folks could, you know.

Billy Rutledge (17:48)

Have a little grace. Let these guys just run when they're going. Let go with the run. Just let them ride that wave. That's what me and my buddy Brock was talking about tonight. Ride the wave, let them cook, let them do the thing.

Caller (18:00)

I kind of agree with you. I mean that is a, that is a frustration to me is that we get a five or seven point lead, call timeout and then it's back to Todd again because we switch our lineup. I will say this though, he went at the end with that too big lineup. And with like six minutes to go, I noticed that it was Williams and Garrison in together. And I thought to myself, oh boy, I don't know if I like that. And you know what, it worked. So you know, I, I'm, I, I'm with you on the, he didn't do line changes as much tonight. He still would do it. But like I, I'm with you. At the same time though, I do have to give him credit because I didn't think the two big lineup would work at the end and it did.

Matt Jones (18:41)

Caller's gone.

Caller (18:42)

Yeah, 859-280-2280. You also know it's a late night game when I'm doing the post game show and I have San Francisco, Oregon State on my table.

Matt Jones (18:52)

Oh, there you go.

Caller (18:54)

Do you know their conference teams they play? They're in the same conference, you know that.

Matt Jones (18:58)

No, but I don't know any teams in the.

Caller (19:00)

Oregon State used to be in the PAC 12. San Francisco I think was in the West Coast. I think they're both now. Oregon State's in the West coast for one year. I think they, the new PAC 12 starts next year. Who's next?

Matt Jones (19:10)

Greg.

Caller (19:11)

Greg. Go ahead, Greg.

Billy Rutledge (19:14)

Hey, how's it going, man? How you doing?

Caller (19:16)

Doing good.

Billy Rutledge (19:18)

Hey, I just, I just want to say, man, what a fun game, you know, what a, what a great night and you know, I'm blessed. Fortunately, I don't, I don't have to work tomorrow thankfully. But you know, I do have two, I do have two young boys and, and they've got school tomorrow and my 8 year old around the 7 minute mark there in the second half, you know, responsibly put him to bed, you know, after, you know, around, you know, shot tip off him.

Caller (19:48)

Did you make him to go to bed or did you, did you make him go to bed?

Billy Rutledge (19:51)

Well, you know, but that's the thing.

Caller (19:53)

You can't do that. I'm trying. You can't do that in 1994. Wait a minute. In 1994, my parents put me to bed.

Billy Rutledge (20:01)

I have a redemption moment here, man.

Caller (20:02)

Hang on. I'm gonna finish my story and then you can talk. 1994, the Kentucky, LSU game. My parents made me go to bed and I missed the 31 point comeback. I didn't know about it until the next morning. Next morning, I walk upstairs and Larry goes, oh, by the way, we won. I went, what do you mean, by the way, we won? It wasn't like now. You couldn't go back and watch it. I didn't see it for years. So I hope you let him get up and watch the end of it.

Billy Rutledge (20:30)

Yeah. So, okay, I was down in the basement and around the 7, 8 minute mark, right around that time where Owe scored all the points, right. He came downstairs and he just very politely said to me, he's eight years old. He goes, dad, I. I know it's a Kentucky game, so you're allowed to say bad words, but you woke me up and I think you should let me watch a game with you. And if you do, we're going to win by one point. And he called it. So this one's for Car.

Caller (21:02)

Love it. Carter. All right, first of all, I like Carter's reasoning skills. He can be an attorney with logic like that. He put your fault and then made it for his success. I like it. So congrats to you and Carter. Appreciate the call, man. Thanks for. I still, Yeah, I still. After that LSU game, then I, I stayed up for every other game, but I still, I still remember Billy matter of factly. Larry just was like, oh, yeah, we won last night.

Matt Jones (21:29)

Oh, yeah, by the way, we're down 30.

Caller (21:32)

When I went to bed in the second half. Oh, yeah, by the way, we won.

Matt Jones (21:36)

Yeah. I can't help but be with Greg on that one. It felt like that game was slipping away a little bit, didn't it?

Caller (21:43)

Oh, for sure. When I turned it off, I thought we were. We'd lost. Yeah, it was when it was 60, I think it was 6560 or 68 60. Maybe 68, 63. I was like, we've lost. But we didn't. Who's next?

Matt Jones (21:54)

Thomas.

Caller (21:55)

Thomas. Go ahead, Thomas. Hey, what about Almanor?

Billy Rutledge (21:59)

That's kind of surprising tonight. Four minutes. What's going on there? Scuttle.

Caller (22:03)

But I think part of it was because what was the guy's name that. That always John with. Was it Moore? Is that was his name? The. The who Was therefore man. Their four man was very athletic. And I got the sense that Pope did not believe either Car or Almanor could really stay with him. Which is why I think he went with the two, two bigs at the end. But Almanor, I mean Carr is not a great defender but I think Almanar is actually worse. And so it just probably just wasn't a good game for him. But I don't read anything into it. I don't read anything into it more than just matchups.

Billy Rutledge (22:41)

Well, incredible that Garrison stepped up. 28 points from Ortega, 12 from Garrison. An incredible way to win.

Caller (22:49)

Love that. That's exactly right. Appreciate it. Who would have thought. I mean there were. We had that period for a little while that when guys returned to their home, you remember we just had a period where they just didn't play well. I can't remember who all it was but Drew used to always comment on it. Well, you talk about tonight, I mean away against his former school. They were booing him every time he got the ball. You know, Garrison played at Oklahoma State. So not just playing in his former state, but playing against the rival of Oklahoma State to have those games, that's got to be just awesome.

Matt Jones (23:22)

So does this change how you look at Garrison for the rest of the year? Because we've been pretty critical of him.

Caller (23:28)

Well, no, I mean like, you know, it's. He played, I thought well in the non conference. I think he has struck. I mean I think he struggled the first half tonight, but that second half was great. Now if he, if he plays like he did in the second half now you got something. But I mean, listen, I'll take it. I'm just glad we didn't have an Isaac Humphreys moment there. Yeah, it was close, but. But no, he was great. And what made him great, what's odd is I thought he played really poorly in the first half and still hit two threes. So you could sit there and go, well, he scored six points but I still thought he was not good in the first half. In the second half, you know, I think he had what, four points, but I thought he played a lot better. No, he had six in the second half too. I thought he was great in the second half. So, you know, you can't always just look at the box score. But I thought he was excellent tonight in the second half. Who's next?

Matt Jones (24:21)

Michael. Number two, Michael.

Caller (24:23)

Go ahead, Michael.

Billy Rutledge (24:25)

Hey, what's up, Matt? What do you think about that win? Man, I'm all worked up. Let's go baby. In.

Caller (24:31)

All right. Well, it's 1:00 in the morning. You should be worked up if you're calling a radio show.

Billy Rutledge (24:35)

Hey, man, hey, I got to work tomorrow, but I'll. I'll get there when I get there. But a shadow or T o a man that. That last drive there, like, I swear it was like a Final Four moment right there. But he. He cared us there the last.

Caller (24:54)

Oh, for sure.

Billy Rutledge (24:55)

1715.

Caller (24:56)

I think he took. Not only. Not only did he score all the field goals in the last 13 minutes, there was a period that I counted where he took eight of the nine shots like he was. I mean, he was during that run.

Billy Rutledge (25:10)

Oh, yeah. Hey, I got a question for you. What would you have done if they would have called a technical on Garrison?

Caller (25:18)

It's a great question.

Billy Rutledge (25:21)

I would have threw my bourbon glass across my.

Caller (25:23)

It's a great question. I would have felt the same way, and I appreciate the call. I would have felt the same way. I felt with the Isaac Humphreys play, which was technically, by rule, it would be right. But you can't call it. I still think the Isaac Humphreys play was a complete. There was just no reason to call it. And I would have felt the same way. But by rule, what he did is a technical if it's during the game. So, like. But if they had called that with half a second left, Billy, my head would have exploded. My head would have exploded. And you know, the other thing is it would have been like a PTI story tomorrow, right? Yeah, no, it would have. Like, they would have been debating it like on around the Horde and PTI first take. Like, should they have ended this game this way? Thankfully, that didn't happen. But I would have felt the same way. I did with Isaac Humphreys. Like, okay, yeah, you could call that. But why in the world would you call that?

Billy Rutledge (26:21)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (26:21)

And we won't talk about the officials tonight, but there was a flop that injured Amari Williams ankle in the first half.

Caller (26:27)

Well, most people didn't see that because the game was on the tv. I think that. Actually, when I rewatched it, I think he did foul him, but they didn't call it when he fouled him. So he fouled him and then the guy hit the ground. They didn't call it. Then the guy pulled him down with his leg and that's when they called the flop. That was crazy to me. Like, if you go back and listen to that whistle, it was a full second after he hit him. It was just a bizarre string. Yeah, it was weird. But I will say Billy, we got some breaks on the officials. Brandon Garrison crushed that guy, and they called it a jump ball. You remember that play? And they flipped the Amari foul to Butler. I didn't even know you could do that. Did you know you could do that? Like five minutes. That was huge.

Matt Jones (27:17)

I mean, he was third in the first half with still nine minutes left.

Caller (27:21)

I didn't know you could do that. So that was. That was a good. That was a little good piece. That happened to us, too. Who's next?

Matt Jones (27:28)

Jacob.

Caller (27:28)

Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.

Billy Rutledge (27:32)

Hey, Matt. Just wanted to say I was impressed with Ortega tonight. Wanted to ask if you thought that he could be that person for us down the stretch to, you know, have the ball in his hand and make things happen in other games. I know that this was.

Caller (27:53)

Well, I don't know.

Billy Rutledge (27:53)

I mean, he could be that person.

Caller (27:56)

I mean, there was a part of me going down the stretch going, man, I don't know if he's gonna be able to keep doing this the whole game. But then he did. So I don't want to say no, because he did it right. So I don't want to say no. He can't do it again. I think when you have Butler and when you have Robinson and away can be one of three options, and then Brea can be a fourth floating around, then I think you become really, really dangerous.

Billy Rutledge (28:21)

Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think he definitely showed a different aspect of his game tonight, and I was impressed with that. And then also, I was a little taken aback by. By Garrison's outburst there at the end. I thought he showed that he just needs to mature a little bit. I know he's young and whatnot, but he just needs to grow up, you know, go and celebrate with your team, but don't. Don't almost cost your team the game with that, you know, because we got Doug Schalls on the officiating. You know, I could have easily seen him call that technical.

Caller (28:57)

He could have. I mean, he definitely could have. Like, that. That was a. It was there for the. For the calling if they wanted to. So thank goodness they. They did not. 859-28-02287. Let's do one more, and then we'll take a break. Who's next?

Matt Jones (29:13)

Tim.

Caller (29:14)

Tim. Go ahead, Tim.

Billy Rutledge (29:17)

Hey, what's up? Matt Jones. Thanks for Letting me on, Mr. Billy. How y'all doing tonight?

Caller (29:22)

Doing good.

Billy Rutledge (29:24)

I was gonna ask. I had a. First off. Thank you. I. I have a whole. You know, normally I'm not. I'm kind of bummed out I'm a huge Kentucky fan, and, you know, but I. I had some stuff, and I don't really want to go into that, because I do want to say. Shout out. Double O. Double O way. Come on. I mean, that was awesome.

Caller (29:39)

Wait a minute. Why are you bummed out?

Billy Rutledge (29:43)

I'm bummed out. Well, see, I was trying to get away from that. Matt. I was gonna say I'm bummed out just because, like, man, like, if you. If you watch the second half of that game, I mean, it's just. It's. It. It's like, we're Vanderbilt now. Like, we're all just, like, excited.

Caller (30:02)

We won. We won. All right. First. Okay, you're right. And that's why. Well, but I mean, like, that. I don't even think you should have that opinion because we won and we want. I mean, look, SEC road games. I think you should go back and look outside of Auburn and Alabama, who I think are. Well, even Alabama's gotten beaten bad on the road. Outside of Auburn, who's one of the two best teams in the country, everyone has lost road games to the middle to lower of the pack, right? So, I mean, Florida was down 26 to Georgia last night. Now, they came back and only lost by a couple. They were down 26. Florida could win the national title, right? You know, Georgia. Excuse me, Oklahoma, they're not good, but they have a lottery pick on their team, and he got really hot in that second half, so. And remember, we spent the last seven minutes without our two best players, and with the third on the bench and Andrew Carr, So I would have been really frustrated if we lost. But also, when we win, like, in the SEC on the road, unless you're elite, which we're not elite this year. Unless you're elite, you just gotta win. Period. Now, if we. If we were, like, if we played this game, one point in rup, I would agree with you, but I'm not gonna feel that way on the road.

Billy Rutledge (31:27)

Okay. You make some great points, and that's why, you know, you actually just made me feel better. Thank you. But I. I just want to say, you know, like, because I've been critical in the past, too, of this exact. For a lot of these same things. And I. I want to say, first and foremost, like, I'm on Team Pope. Like, I. I think he's great. I'm so happy he's here. And also. But I've always just been a guy that's, like, I. I see what we can be. And I'm. I don't I wish I wasn't this way, but like, I'm like, I know how good we can be and it just, it really hurts me. Kind of like watching tonight because, like, it's not that we won or not on, it's not even how we played. It's just if you watch the second half with the audio off and you tell me that there's four players other than Ortega away out there that actually looks like they're trying hard, like that they even care.

Caller (32:16)

I don't believe it. Yeah, that is what hurt me. Yeah, I don't believe it. I mean, I, I, I appreciate the call, but I, I don't buy that. I, I don't buy. Who on that team tonight do you think didn't care? You think Brandon Garrison, who almost got in five fights, didn't care? I mean, Amari Williams, you know, he sometimes has the, doesn't put his hands up, but like he cares. Travis Perry's playing as hard as he can. So is, so is Colin Chandler and, and Noah Brea can't guard Billy, but he's like giving it his all. He's just not.

Matt Jones (32:52)

He was Jack Givens defensive player of the game. No, he, he was.

Caller (32:57)

Really?

Matt Jones (32:57)

Yes.

Caller (32:58)

Kobe Bryant.

Matt Jones (32:59)

Yeah.

Caller (33:00)

All right, well, I mean, his man kind of lit him up. Okay, fine. I mean, listen, I'll take Jack's knowledge.

Matt Jones (33:07)

Don't question Jack.

Caller (33:07)

But my point is, I don't think these guys aren't trying. I do think there are times that their energy level can look low. But I also don't know. I mean, we have to get used to a Mark Pope team. Our brains for 15 years have been judging teams based on a Cal philosophy and we have a coach that plays a completely different philosophy and we just have to orient ourselves to that. And that includes me. And so, yeah, I wouldn't say they didn't try. They do frustrate me, don't get me wrong. But I'm not going to be frustrated about an SEC road win against the team that could maybe will make the NCAA tournament. 859-280-2287 let's take a break. Be right backs. KSR. Welcome back. It is the local Toy Dealers KSR post game show. Billy and I during the break are trying to. Billy, I'm trying to figure out I messed with the knobs, the sound settings on my thing and I still feel like I haven't gotten it exactly right. So it sounds a little tinny in my ear, which I think probably comes over the radio a little bit, but I think this is better. Does it sound better?

Matt Jones (34:23)

I think it sounds about the same, but, you know, I don't want it.

Caller (34:26)

To sound the same. I want it to sound better.

Matt Jones (34:28)

No better time to figure this out than one on the air. On the air after a big win. Yeah.

Caller (34:33)

I don't really know why. Why it does that. I think it's like my voice coming through my headphones back through the mic, and I'm doing my best. All right, well, either way. 8, 5, 9. That's too loud. 8, 5, 9, 2, 8, 0. 22, 87. One person says, what do you think about Mark Pope cussing?

Matt Jones (34:52)

Oh, yeah.

Caller (34:54)

So he. He cussed about the Lamont Butler thing. Right. He said that he thought it was bleeping, bleep, bleep. Right. The. The final call. You think that was a turning point in the game? You think that mattered?

Matt Jones (35:12)

Yeah, I mean, I thought Kentucky was going to lose at that point. Butler going out, Robinson, I think it.

Caller (35:18)

Was 71, 69 when that happened and we lost Butler. That was a tough call. Butler. I don't know what it was. It could have gone either way. With four fouls, Butler probably shouldn't have put himself in a position to where the ref got to make that call. Yeah, it was tough, but. But if I was Pope, I'd be very frustrated to lose my point guard on that play. That was one of those. I wonder if the ref should just eat his whistle since it's the fourth foul. But. But they didn't and we still won, so that's okay. Who's up next? Will. Will. Go ahead, Will. Richard Hendricks, by the way, who? Richard Hendricks was the guy who is the announcer. I just want to give him a shout out because I thought he did a really good job. Go ahead.

Billy Rutledge (36:09)

So I lived in Lexington, but I so happened to be in Norman for work today. So I. I made my way to the game. You're not wrong in saying the Lloyd Noble center might be the worst rim sec. It felt like. I don't know if you ever been to a game at the old Frankfurt Civic center for. It tore it down. It was like a scaled up version of that.

Caller (36:28)

Oh, really?

Billy Rutledge (36:28)

The fans were. Were. The fans were feisty, probably because of the $2 beers. I don't know if they're like that every night, but I was right next to. When they threw the beer can at the players. They were exiting the arena. They were not very happy.

Caller (36:45)

So could you tell that they were. That he had thrown a beer can in the moment?

Billy Rutledge (36:50)

Oh, yeah. It was very clear they were throwing some at it. Travis Perry about went. He's from the 270, but he about went full six. Oh, six. He looked like he wanted to climb up the rail and try to fight the guy through it, to be honest.

Caller (37:01)

Oh, I love it. That's good. You know what? He's got a little 606 in him, even if he's from Western Kentucky.

Billy Rutledge (37:08)

Yep, yep. So I appreciate you taking my call.

Caller (37:11)

Thank you.

Billy Rutledge (37:12)

But just wanted to back you up on me.

Caller (37:14)

I don't understand. I appreciate the call. I don't really understand why they don't have a crowd. They've got an NBA lottery pick on their team. This was a huge game for them. I mean, I think if they had won, they would be in the tournament almost for certain. And people still didn't come. So it makes you wonder, like, when are they going to come? Maybe they're never going to come. Right.

Matt Jones (37:37)

You know, you didn't get them for dollar beers and free tacos. I don't know if you'll ever get them.

Caller (37:42)

Yeah. When are you going to get them? I don't. I don't understand. Who's next?

Matt Jones (37:45)

Aaron.

Caller (37:46)

Aaron. Go ahead, Aaron.

Billy Rutledge (37:49)

So I went to the game as well tonight following up with another person. I guess the one that was just before me and definitely felt like being in Whitehall. If you've been in that facility at UK's campus. It definitely felt like that as a basketball gym.

Caller (38:04)

Really?

Billy Rutledge (38:06)

Yes. Definitely not my favorite place to be. I've been in maybe five other SEC away games and this was by far the worst. I don't necessarily want to like, just crap on OU and all that, but it wasn't the best environment, that's for sure. And I don't know if you guys could see that. The student section was being lined with security guards like they were about to storm the court. But they were prepping for that. About seven minutes. Seven minutes until the end of the game. They're getting ready for it.

Caller (38:36)

That's an interesting thing if you're. If you're a school, because you have to be prepared for it, but it also has to probably pump up the other team if they see you doing it. So that is interesting. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, again, this was our first taste of it, I feel like. And I appreciate the call. I feel like I've watched old Big 12 games with Oklahoma that had good atmospheres. So I don't really know why it was so bad. I mean, it's a. It's a. I don't know, that was a. Just really disappointing. Reminds me of, like, I think when Georgia's bad, they have bad atmospheres, too. But that was. I mean, that was a terrible atmosphere for an SEC game for what ended up being absolutely great game. Who's next?

Matt Jones (39:23)

Mike is next.

Caller (39:24)

Mike. Go ahead, Mike. 859-280-2287. Go ahead.

Billy Rutledge (39:31)

What up, babe?

Caller (39:33)

What's up, Mike?

Billy Rutledge (39:36)

Yeah. Oh, yeah. So we want to know. I just have. Want to know what your input is about.

Caller (39:42)

Wait a minute. Was that. Was that someone else? Was that someone else that just went.

Billy Rutledge (39:46)

Yeah, I did a bait and switch.

Caller (39:51)

Okay, well, why. Why would we not have wanted to talk to you originally?

Billy Rutledge (39:56)

Because I accidentally cussed on the last time I came home.

Caller (39:59)

Oh. We don't have that level of. We don't have that level of analysis to remember who's cussing, but go ahead.

Billy Rutledge (40:06)

Okay. Right on. I just want to know, like, what your thoughts are on Butler being taken out of the game, because I didn't think that that foul was.

Caller (40:17)

Well, I mean, you know, like I said, I. I don't know that I would make that somebody's fifth foul. I think it was a tough situation. You know, he. I appreciate the call. Both players made it to where contact happened. So, like, if I'm Butler there, I cannot get my fifth foul that way. So I probably don't. I probably avoid that contact because, see, because they both kind of ran into each other and the refs got to call something. And I think if you wanted to see a charge, you could have seen it. And if you wanted to see a block, you could have seen it. And so, you know, back in the day, Billy, they would call that a blarge, and they'd call it both, which I always thought was ridiculous. How could we have found both people? But it almost kind of was, if you go back and look at it, because he extended, like, Butler kinds of throws himself into him, but then he extends his own arm. So in some ways, Billy, it was almost a foul on both of them, but.

Matt Jones (41:14)

Well, you can tell how much that guy means to this team. Lamont, when he's out there, it just makes everybody better.

Caller (41:20)

It does. But then to always credit, he was able to. To. To drag him through. Let's do one more, and we'll take a break. Who's next? Dwayne, why do you sound so perturbed when you say all these people's names? I'm not sure, like, like, you said that, like, Wayne.

Matt Jones (41:37)

Oh, no, I'm a good.

Caller (41:38)

Like, you know, you don't mind Dwayne, do you?

Matt Jones (41:40)

No, we're just picking who's next and.

Caller (41:41)

Okay. All right, Go ahead, Dwayne. I like you, Dwayne. I'm glad you called.

Matt Jones (41:45)

I like Dwayne.

Billy Rutledge (41:47)

I don't know. Someone did. I didn't mean. I didn't mean no harm.

Caller (41:50)

Billy just seemed very, very judgmental there on that one. But go ahead.

Billy Rutledge (41:58)

Oh, we played like a beast tonight in the second half. I like. He was driven. He pulled this team through, and everybody wants to give his team a name. And after all these games, when I go to my cardiologist next, I'll ask him what we should call him because this team's gonna give me a heart attack before the season's over. My blood pressure.

Caller (42:20)

Well, they are. Me too. I. I appreciate the call. I was going crazy during that game, so. So, yeah, by the way, Rick Patino, that's on Scott Van Pelt right now. He's gonna be the first. First coach in the history of D1 basketball to win the regular season conference title at five different schools. I mean, it's kind of a unique stat because how many coaches even coach at five different schools? Most of them that are as successful as Rick end up at one school for a long time. And Rick's sort of off the court decisions led to him leaving Kentucky, led to him losing the job at Louisville, led to him having to take a job at a place like Iona, but nevertheless, still pretty amazing that he's gonna do that. 859-280-2287. We will take a break, come back, celebrate the final segment. Cats beat Oklahoma in Norman. This is the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. All right, so I'm looking at the SEC standings right now. We are in eighth place in the sec. We are a game ahead of Mississippi State, that's in ninth place. But we also own the tiebreaker against them. So we're really two games ahead of them. So that's why I said I think if we beat lsu, if we beat lsu, we're probably in pretty good shape to get a buy. Now, I will say Vandy is also there, but they have. They got some losable games. So. So we're in eighth place. We are tied with Ole Miss, who has the same record as us, but Ole Miss also has the tiebreaker on us. Ole Miss's last three games are home to Oklahoma, home to Tennessee, and then at Florida. So they are probably, you would think, going to Lose two of those games, I'd say they lose to Tennessee, lose to Florida. If they were to do that, if we could beat. If we could beat LSU and Missouri or LSU and Auburn, we could pass them and get all the way up to seventh. Another one to watch, though, is Texas A and M, who's only one game ahead of us. Here's their schedule. Billy at Florida, host Auburn at lsu.

Matt Jones (44:35)

Ouch.

Caller (44:36)

So if we can end up tied with them, we have the tiebreaker on them. So there's a world where if we could beat Missouri, if we could beat LSU in Missouri, we could get all the way up to the sixth seed. I think that's genuinely very possible. So, you know, I don't. To me, we can win at Missouri. I mean, I think if we were healthy, I'd give us a shot Saturday. I just. I kind of. I don't think. I still don't think we're healthy yet, but I think we can win that last game of the year at Missouri. We'll see. All right, so we probably got five people on. Let's just go through them and that'll be the show. Who's next?

Matt Jones (45:14)

Darlene.

Caller (45:15)

Darlene, how are you? Darlene.

Billy Rutledge (45:18)

Hey, Matt. It's a pleasure to speak to you. I just wanted to kind of connect with you guys tonight because I'm like, a huge UK fan. It goes back to 1978, when Jack Givens was a part of the UK Championship. And I ended up working in Harlan County, Kentucky, where Trent Noah's from, for 21 years in coal mining. It all flatlined, and I ended up coming in to Tennessee, coming across that line and getting a job at University of Tennessee campus. So I'm kind of inside with all of the enemies, and I love my job. I help feed the kids and the kids love me. They do not know that I'm a UK fan, but I just listen to their stories and go on with it. But I am, like, number one fan in uk.

Caller (46:13)

Darlene, I love you. I could already tell you're awesome, so. Oh.

Billy Rutledge (46:18)

Oh, man. I have raised four sons. I am like the mama on campus. I am ruling the day, baby. But I am number one uk. I like the balls, but they will never be over my uk. I've been there eight years.

Caller (46:38)

All right. I love it. Thank you, Darlene. Now I just want you to think about Big Blue Nation. It's 1:30 in the morning. Darlene is calling in the post game show. She feeds the Tennessee students but still bleeds blue. Billy, how can you not love that Harley. Where? Come on.

Matt Jones (46:56)

I love it. And with Kentucky sweeping Tennessee this year, she's got to be the, you know, big mom on campus. It sounds like it.

Caller (47:02)

Sounds like it. I love it. Who's up next?

Matt Jones (47:04)

We'll just keep it rolling with Heather next.

Caller (47:06)

Heather. Go ahead, Heather. All kinds of eastern Kentucky.

Billy Rutledge (47:11)

Well, I was calling to give a shout out to my nanny. Today was her 95th birthday and away has been her favorite player since the first game this season. But this may be my last time calling the post game because, Billy, I'm sorry, but you can only hurt my feelings there. You, you told me when you answered this was my third post game show and you was gonna give me a break after this.

Caller (47:45)

All right, now wait a minute. Hang on just a second.

Billy Rutledge (47:47)

I, I, just hang on a second.

Matt Jones (47:49)

Heather, I cannot believe you just aired out our laundry on the air.

Billy Rutledge (47:53)

First of all, you hurt my feelings really bad.

Caller (47:56)

First of all, Heather, I'm vetoing Billy's decision, okay? Billy does a good job of sometimes making sure we get diversity of callers, but that doesn't apply to Heather, okay? Heather gets a pass. So, Heather, first of all, you can't use Billy's, Billy's sometimes snottiness against the show. So it's not going to be your last time calling. And so you, you don't worry about that. Okay?

Billy Rutledge (48:22)

Well, I just didn't understand because, you know, shoot at Bob and Jamestown, I mean, there's several different people that call five days a week. I don't even call the morning show. I only call the post game shows. The first, the first one out of these three was just to update right after the flood.

Caller (48:40)

Exactly. Heather, I'm on your side. All right? We're good. Like, we're not gonna worry. We're not gonna worry about it, right, Heather? We're good.

Billy Rutledge (48:49)

Yeah.

Caller (48:49)

Okay. So, yeah, I will hear from you anyway.

Billy Rutledge (48:52)

Shout out to my.

Caller (48:53)

Hang on just a second.

Billy Rutledge (48:54)

95Th birthday.

Caller (48:55)

Hang on a second. We're going, you're going to call back, though, right?

Billy Rutledge (49:02)

I, I, I, it might be a.

Caller (49:05)

While, but, Heather, come on now, you can't do that to me. Don't let Billy, don't let Billy make you upset. Heather, you're going to call back, am I right?

Billy Rutledge (49:15)

We'll see.

Caller (49:17)

All right. I appreciate the call, Heather. Thank you very much. Billy. Yes, Billy.

Matt Jones (49:28)

I mean, I feel bad I made her cry, but, you know, I had to do that every now and then for Heather.

Caller (49:34)

Heather's wonderful. We have callers that you have to kind of pace out, but it's nothing against them either. But Heather, people love her voice from Pikeville.

Matt Jones (49:43)

A lot of people want to be on the post game show. I like to spread the love. Sometimes children have to be spaced out.

Caller (49:50)

Has to be spaced out. Wow. Unbelievable.

Matt Jones (49:53)

I didn't say she could never, never.

Caller (49:54)

Be on the show again.

Matt Jones (49:55)

I just need a break.

Caller (49:57)

I want you to call. All right, who's up next?

Matt Jones (50:00)

Unbelievable.

Caller (50:02)

Who's next?

Matt Jones (50:03)

Hunter.

Caller (50:04)

Hunter, go ahead.

Billy Rutledge (50:06)

Yeah, I don't know how to top Heather. Heather's always a. A gem to listen in the postgame show, so I can't. I can't complain. Keeper, please.

Caller (50:16)

I agree, and I think everybody agrees.

Billy Rutledge (50:20)

Yeah. So you were talking about how Larry would tell you in the mornings if Kentucky won or not. I actually have a funny story. So the title game Hap. The 2012 title game happened too late at night. That when I was younger, I was in sixth grade, I had to sleep. I had to go to bed before the game started on. My dad works multiple days in a week, so I don't see him till the weekend. I didn't learn that we won the. That we won the championship until I saw a picture of the. Of the team on Time magazine. So there was a good.

Caller (50:52)

Hang on just a second. You didn't find out we won a championship until what?

Billy Rutledge (50:58)

Until I saw in the school library the Time magazine had a picture of the cat.

Caller (51:04)

You're just making stuff. No, I'm being.

Billy Rutledge (51:06)

I'm being serious.

Caller (51:07)

Time magazine, huh? All right. I appreciate the call. I feel like. I feel like the show. This is what happens at 1:36 in the morning, by the way, is that you just end up this segment. Billy, two more. Who's next?

Matt Jones (51:22)

I didn't mean to make her cry. We just try to put on a good show here.

Caller (51:26)

She's not. She's just good. Heather, you're gonna call back and if you don't. If you don't call back, I. I'm gonna be.

Matt Jones (51:34)

And you're getting Bob and Jamestown every postgame show from now on. Brendan. No, this is. No, that's it.

Caller (51:40)

No, he's different.

Matt Jones (51:41)

Go ahead. We'll do it.

Billy Rutledge (51:45)

Matt, I'm calling from Buckner, Kentucky. What county am I in?

Caller (51:51)

Buckner. I do not know where Buckner is.

Billy Rutledge (51:56)

Buckner is in Oldham County, Kentucky.

Caller (51:59)

Okay?

Matt Jones (52:00)

That's where I'm from.

Caller (52:01)

Did you know that, Billy?

Matt Jones (52:02)

Yeah. Yeah.

Caller (52:03)

You should have said it. Okay, go ahead.

Billy Rutledge (52:06)

I have a connection to Billy that I won't share publicly. I just wanted to share. Tonight was the first time this season that there's a point in the game. I feel like we're going to lose this game and then we won it. And I think in an unsymmetrical way or unsustainable way, that's a positive because all of our losses. There's been a point in time where I said we're going to lose this game and we lost it. And tonight I said we're going to lose this game and we want it.

Caller (52:39)

Well, that sounds perfect. I love it. Well, I appreciate it. You were wrong. So was I. I kind of thought when we got down five, we were going to lose to. But they ended up winning. Let's do one more here. Late night with the local Toyota dealers. KSR post game show. Who's next? You're getting absolutely. Whatever you're getting absolutely roasted on the text.

Matt Jones (53:02)

All right, well, then you'll hear the same callers every show.

Caller (53:05)

No, we're not gonna do the same.

Matt Jones (53:06)

People call all the time.

Caller (53:08)

No, they don't.

Matt Jones (53:09)

Well, it takes a great producer to space.

Caller (53:11)

It does take a great producer. I get. I agree.

Matt Jones (53:13)

I didn't know Heather was gonna air out all the dirty laundry.

Caller (53:19)

Last one.

Matt Jones (53:20)

Who's Chris?

Caller (53:23)

Chris, go ahead. Hey, Matt. First time, long time. Who calling from Burlington, Kentucky? Boone County. I do know Burlington. I could have gotten that one. Right? There you go. There you go. So, hey, first of all, happy with the cast win. Huge win, right? Really needed that win before the Auburn game coming up. But I have a couple of questions and I'm curious to see what your. Your take is on offense and defense for the Cats. So on offense, right. We have a lot of really good shooters. We need to put up threes in a game. Do you think there should be more dedicated screens instead of dribble handoff on offense and on defense? Well, he does do dedicated screens. He doesn't do them maybe as much as I would. Again, like I would know anything. But off the. Like to create threes, he does do them for backdoor cuts quite a bit. I actually like his handoffs to the right guys. I love his handoffs to away. I think when. When. When it works well with Kobe Bray, it works. I think the person that's done the best with it are Robinson and Butler and we just haven't had them the last few games. Right. So I think we're. You may be used to like seeing those handoffs with Perry and with Bray and not always working quite as much. But when they were with Robinson and Butler, that was how our offense initiated most of the Time. So I do think that in general that's a good way to go. Yeah. And I mostly agree, but I just feel like with teams pressuring them so.

Billy Rutledge (54:54)

Much on the three point line, they're.

Caller (54:56)

Really trying to blow up that dribble handoff. So I feel like there's maybe an.

Billy Rutledge (54:59)

Opportunity to do some dedicated more screens.

Caller (55:01)

But like I said, I'm not a coach.

Billy Rutledge (55:02)

You're not a coach, but we'll see.

Caller (55:04)

But I hear what you're saying on the defensive side. Do you think that it's a lack of fundamentals, toughness or a combination of both? Because I feel like there's a lot of opportunity where just like basic stuff that we just miss out on. So I'm curious to get your take on that. Say that again. We're missing out on what? Basic.

Billy Rutledge (55:25)

Yeah.

Caller (55:26)

So there's basic fundamentals of defense, right? No, we do. We're not good defensively. Yeah. And what frustrates me me the most with our defense is not our guys are not good. Like they don't have good lateral quickness. I don't think there's going to be anything that Kobe Bra and Ansley Almanor and Andrew Carr, I don't know that there's anything they can do to get better lateral quickness. Now I think always decent at it. I think Garrison can be decent at it. Williams, Robinson, Butler, there. Butler's actually pretty good. But the others can be decent. But what does bother me is what you're saying about like weak side defense and like not Ro not rotating over. That was my frustration with Garrison the first half. He never rotated over and so that stuff can, yeah, it's frustrating but you know what? This team is going to give up 83 points a game or 82 or 80. And so we just have to say where are our 85 coming from? Because that's really what it is, to be honest with you. And then when we play Alabama and those teams 85 is not enough, we gotta figure out how to get to 100 because that's probably what it's going to take to beat those teams. No, I hear you. You know, just what I was taught is see, see your man and the ball at the same time, help rotate on defense and sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. But I think it takes a lot of effort. Right. You got to work hard on defense and you have to work harder than your opponent consistently. Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don't. But when we do, I agree with that. You see good results. I Think that's. I think that's totally fair. And the defense has been very inconsistent. I think, again, this will be something we'll have to see during the Pope era. Is this like, like Cal's teams all play defense a certain way, right? Pope's, Pope's teams might not play defense like this when he's got better athletes. I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. You know what I mean? Like this group, you know, this group. I appreciate the call. He threw them together. They're older, they're not. You know, there's. There may be no NBA players on this team. Like, it's just a different. It's a different group that we'll probably see in a lot of his, his tenure. Big win. Cats are 19 and 9. Three more games left, folks. We'll focus on this tomorrow. But the number one team in America is coming in here. The number one team in America is coming in here on Saturday for an afternoon game on abc. Billy, I can't remember the last time we played a basketball game. Not in the SEC tournament on ABC. I mean, it's probably been 20 years.

Matt Jones (57:55)

Big game, game days.

Caller (57:56)

We played a basketball game on ABC that wasn't the SEC tournament, but we will on Saturday. Bruce Pearl. That crowd's going to be wild and we're going to be a big underdog. But you know what? We can win that game in Rupp arena and I'm looking forward to it. But this one was a biggie. Massive win in Norman. Thank you all very much for staying up. Heather, if I don't hear from you before the SEC tournament, I'm going to cry. Billy, you're doing your job, so I still love you too. But everybody, thank you all very much. This has been the local Toyota dealers, ksr, post game show airport vibes got you stressing. Step out of the lines and into relaxation with the platinum card. Swap the noisy crowdy gate for cozy chairs in that wait, am I famous?

Billy Rutledge (58:43)

Kind of treatment.

Caller (58:44)

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