KSR Postgame UK MBB at Tennessee 01/28/25

Summary

KSR Postgame: UK MBB Victory at Tennessee (01/28/25) – Detailed Summary

Episode Overview

In the January 29, 2025 episode of the KSR Postgame show, hosts Matt Jones, Ryan Lemon, and Billy Rutledge delve into the University of Kentucky (UK) Men’s Basketball team's impressive 78-73 victory over Tennessee in Knoxville. Entering the game as double-digit underdogs, Kentucky defied expectations by securing their third consecutive win in Knoxville, solidifying their strong performance despite facing significant challenges.

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1. Game Recap and Team Performance

The episode kicks off with Matt Jones celebrating UK’s remarkable triumph against Tennessee, highlighting the team’s consistent ability to overcome odds and dominate the game despite being underdogs for three straight years.

• Matt Jones [00:30]:

  "Kentucky officially takes ownership of a big share of Rocky Top with a 78-73 win in Knoxville. Three straight years, Kentucky has come in double digit underdogs... They have come out with a victory in which they led virtually the entire game."

• Ryan Lemon [02:31]:

  "Tennessee shot 45 threes. That's the most threes a team has ever taken against Kentucky in its history. Ever."

This achievement underscores Kentucky's strategic prowess and resilience, particularly in managing high-pressure situations and maintaining control throughout the game.

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2. Standout Player Performances

The hosts extensively discuss individual performances that were pivotal to Kentucky's victory, emphasizing the contributions of seven key players:

• Amari Williams [03:37]:

  "Amari was plus 20 in a game we won by five, right?"

  Amari's stellar performance included 15 rebounds in just 24 minutes, showcasing his dominance on the glass and his ability to initiate offense effectively.

• Jackson Robinson [06:41]:

  "Jackson was plus 12, hitting shots when we struggled offensively."

  Scoring 17 points, Jackson played a crucial role, especially when the team faced challenges with key players sidelined.

• Kobe Bray [03:56]:

  "He had seven threes, but he got to the basket and the line, making crucial free throws down the stretch."

  Kobe's aggressive play and ability to draw fouls significantly contributed to maintaining Kentucky's lead.

• Almanor [04:00]:

  "He hit four threes, crucial in both halves of the game."

  Almanor's perimeter shooting was instrumental in countering Tennessee's defensive strategies.

• Noah [03:37]:

  "His three-pointer was awesome and stopped Tennessee's run."

  Despite limited minutes, Noah made impactful plays that shifted the momentum in Kentucky's favor.

• Colin Chandler [07:00]:

  "Played 15 minutes and held his own defensively."

  Chandler's defensive efforts and ability to manage the game when coupled with other players stepping up were vital.

• Trent [03:11]:

  "Stepped up in the absence of starters, contributing significantly across the board."

  Trent's versatility and commitment were key, especially with teammates like Lamont Butler and Carr out of the game.

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3. Coaching Strategies and Adaptability

Matt Jones and Billy Rutledge praise Coach Mark Pope for his strategic adjustments, particularly his decision to force Tennessee into three-point shooting rather than allowing penetration into the paint.

• Matt Jones [08:22]:

  "Mark Pope clearly said, we're not going to be able to stop their penetration. Let's make them shoot threes."

• Billy Rutledge [08:38]:

  "Mark Pope is able to adapt after a loss like this, putting emphasis on things that need to be worked on."

This strategic shift proved effective, limiting Tennessee's ability to score efficiently while capitalizing on Kentucky's strengths.

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4. Critical Game Moments and Statistics

The discussion highlights key moments that defined the game, including strategic free throws and pivotal three-point shots.

• Matt Jones [09:01]:

  "Our last field goal was Kobe Bray's three after the bank with 20 seconds to go. We did not score a field goal in the last five minutes of the game."

The hosts express frustration with referee decisions and game reviews, which they felt could have altered the game's outcome had they gone differently.

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5. Fan Engagement and Caller Interactions

Throughout the episode, the hosts engage with listeners, addressing questions and comments that range from player roles to future game predictions.

• Caller Example [18:44]:

  "Do you think that after tonight we figured out, absent pressure, bringing up the ball early is a good thing?"

• Matt Jones [19:11]:

  "If there's not pressure and Amari isn't turning it over, then yes."

These interactions provide diverse perspectives, showcasing the fanbase's investment and insights into team strategies.

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6. Future Outlook and Upcoming Games

Looking ahead, the hosts express optimism for Kentucky’s prospects in the SEC and the upcoming game against Arkansas at Rupp Arena.

• Matt Jones [12:37]:

  "We're going to have more high-quality wins than any other team in the country."

• Ryan Lemon [45:30]:

  "Their game at Ole Miss will be tough, and Alabama is another formidable opponent."

The anticipation for future matchups reflects confidence in the team's trajectory and the coaching staff's ability to maintain performance levels.

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7. Final Reflections and Conclusion

In their closing remarks, the hosts reflect on the season's progress, the team's depth, and the invaluable role of supportive coaching under Mark Pope.

• Matt Jones [30:22]:

  "Tonight is a perfect example of this team being greater than the sum of its parts."

• Billy Rutledge [56:14]:

  "This was important without Lamont Butler. We really held Tennessee together."

The episode concludes with heartfelt thanks to the fans and a reaffirmation of the team's potential, setting a positive tone for the remainder of the season.

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Notable Quotes

• Matt Jones [07:05]:

  "Amari was plus 20 in a game we won by five, right?"

• Ryan Lemon [10:30]:

  "It's one second. Like, come on, that's irrelevant to worry about the clock on that level."

• Caller [25:35]:

  "Kentucky didn't have their starting point guard... but we had the Mountain Mamba hitting logo threes."

These quotes encapsulate key sentiments and highlight the passionate discourse among the hosts and their listeners.

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Conclusion

The January 29, 2025 episode of KSR Postgame offers an in-depth analysis of Kentucky’s triumphant game against Tennessee, celebrating individual brilliance, effective coaching, and a resilient team spirit. Through comprehensive discussions and engaged fan interactions, the hosts provide valuable insights into the team’s performance and future prospects, fostering a sense of community and anticipation among UK basketball enthusiasts.

Transcript

[Matt Jones]

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[Billy Rutledge]

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[Matt Jones]

Welcome everyone. It is the local Toyota dealers. KSR Postgame show the Cats win their third straight game in Knoxville where they came in as a Double digit favorite 5 out of the last 6 as Kentucky officially takes ownership of a big share of Rocky top with a 7873 win in Knoxville. Three straight years, Kentucky has come in double digit underdogs. Three straight years. Pretty much everyone has gone into the game assuming we were going to lose three straight years, Kentucky has come into the Tennessee game with major injuries and three straight years they've come out with a victory in which they led virtually the entire game. Really an amazing, amazing performance tonight by Kentucky Drew. Ryan Lemon is in studio with Billy. I'm going to do about half the show and then I still got other stuff I have to do tonight, but I'm gonna let them finish. But I, you know, Ryan, I, I went tonight to the, to the Hurricanes. They were playing in New York. So I went to the game and I was watching the Kentucky game on my phone and so it would kind of come in and out and I was like a lunatic because everyone else is watching the game in front of them and I'm cheering on a screen in my hand that nobody is paying attention to. But I loved it so much I didn't came back to the hotel and I just watched the second half again so I could see the whole thing by myself and it was an awesome performance. I mean, so many storylines. I guess maybe I'll go to both of you guys and get you each to say the thing that stuck out to you the most. The thing that stuck out to me the most is honestly, Even though we scored 78 the way Kentucky guarded Tennessee, Kentucky decided, you know what, I don't know if we can beat them down low. I don't know if we can stop their penetration. We're going to make them shoot threes. Tennessee shot 45 threes. That's the most threes a team has ever taken against Kentucky in its history. Ever.

[Ryan Lemon]

Wow.

[Matt Jones]

And they only made 11. Kentucky got Tennessee to play into their game plan and I think that to me was the difference in the game. What about you?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, just a gutty performance, man. You know, you go in there, you're limping down there with no Lamont Butler. Carr tried to play, paid like a minute and he couldn't go. Didn't play the rest of the game. And you got a couple guys out there that are playing out of position and just rising their game. I mean, why not? We'll talk about it. But Jackson, Brea, Amari, Ansley, Trent, Noah, Colin Chandler, I mean, we go. We'll go on and on and on. Each guy stepped up in the absence of Butler and of Carr. And it just was just a gut check performance. And I was really proud of him.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I think there were, Billy, seven guys on the team that really had important performances tonight. And not to take anything away from Garrison and Perry, but I think the other seven guys, the five starters, Noah and Chandler, who I wasn't sure could play here this year, I actually thought all seven of those guys were. Were crucial in the win. We'll go over them, but Billy, I think all of them actually brought something tonight.

[Billy Rutledge]

No, I'm glad you mentioned those two, especially Noah. I mean, I feel like while every. Everybody cheers when he goes into the game, he's actually having productive minutes, especially, especially defensively. And this was against the number one defense in the country. So, so really impressive for this veteran group to just move on from what has been pretty too abysmal games before it.

[Matt Jones]

78 points we scored. That's the most Tennessee's given up all year.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yep.

[Matt Jones]

And that's with basically two of our starters out. Yes. During the game. Let's. I'm going to just go over each guy real quick. What stuck out? Amari Williams, 15 rebounds in only 24 minutes. He only played 24 minutes. It felt like a lot more. But he had foul trouble in the first half, 15 rebounds in 24 minutes and had to bring. And I don't know about had to, but brought the ball up a little bit at the end of the game. I'm going to tell you, maybe I was a little nervous seeing him dribble it up every time. But you know what worked out? I don't think he had a. He had three turnovers, but I don't think it was on those possessions. I thought it was one of, if not his best games. Jackson, Robinson, was 17 points. And as has been the case in a lot of games this year, he hit shots when we, like we're struggling in offense. He keeps us going until other guys can click. I think it's the best all around offensive performance Kobe Bray has had all. All year he had three threes, but he got to the basket. He got to the line. Ryan. He had only taken 10 free throws this year coming into this game, and he had seven tonight. He had almost as many free throws tonight as he had taken all year because he was more aggressive. He was getting to the line away. Had some, you know, butterfingers a few times, but he was excellent. Hit the big free throws down the stretch. I thought he played really good defense throughout the game. Almanor, four threes, you know, he struggled rebounding, but the four threes were crucial. Hit three in the first half. The one he hit in the second half was. Was big. Noah, you know, no, only played nine minutes, but his three was awesome. But I actually think his bucket. There were two baskets that I thought were the biggest baskets of the game. One of them was Noah's. The crowd was starting to turn. Tennessee had cut it to six. There was a turnover, and he ended up with the loose ball. He might be the best dude we have on the team at getting loose balls. That's a weakness of this team. He gets it. Gets the layup, kind of stops the run. I thought the other biggest one was when Kobe Bray hit that three after the bank because, you know, when they. Right when he made the bank, I was like, all right, we're done. Here we go again. And then Kobe Bray hit a three on the very next possession that I thought was huge. Those to me, were the two biggest shots. And then Colin Chandler, you know, his stats are not going to stick out. He made a kind of a poor decision at the end, but he played 15 minutes. 15 minutes that allowed other guys to get. I actually thought he played pretty decent defense, all things considered. And if you told me we were going to get 15 minutes from Colin Chandler and there'd be no real problems and it allows guys to rest, I would take that all the time. Ryan. So all seven of the main contributors I thought were great.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. The first two guys you mentioned, Amari, he was plus 20 and Jackson was plus 12. You mentioned the two guys that had the highest.

[Matt Jones]

Think about that. Amari was plus 20.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Plus 20 in a game we won by five, right?

[Ryan Lemon]

No, it's his birthday. Maybe we can play every game on his birthday. It was his birthday.

[Matt Jones]

What Is he. Is he like, 31 at this point? I mean, he's been in college for a while, but. Go ahead.

[Ryan Lemon]

But where else can you find a guy that can dominate the glass, get 15 points, and then, oh, yeah, bring the ball up the court and act like you're. Initiate the offense as a point guard? There are very few dudes, I think, that can do that.

[Matt Jones]

I agree. And then, you know, they did everything they needed to do. I mean, Jackson Robinson was playing point guard. You had away play a little point guard, and you had Amari Williams play point guard. I mean, your two point guards were out. And you basically said to those three guys, you guys play point guard. And you know what? It worked. But I thought this was. And again, the players I just mentioned, I thought all played really well, but I. This game, to me, is once again, kind of about the coaching, Billy. I mean, you go into that game, and Mark Pope clearly said, all right, you know what? We're not going to be able to stop Chaz Lanier off the bounce. We're probably not going to be able to stop Ziggler off the bounce. Milichick is probably going to be able to score. Let's make them shoot threes. If we make them shoot threes, we got a shot. I can't imagine Mark Pope thought they would take 45. Okay. I mean, that's. That's crazy. We only took 24. They took 45. But you know what? A lot better to have them shooting 45 threes, Billy, rather than getting to the rim time after time.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. And we've talked about Pope being able to adapt after a loss like this. Put an emphasis on things that they need to work on. Jack Givens made some comments today that UK looked more comfortable against physicality than they ever have this year. So maybe starting to. It's starting to click with these guys a little bit.

[Matt Jones]

I agree. And I love that away. For instance, especially in the second half, he looked like, to me, Ryan, he was trying to draw fouls. You know, we've talked about that. I didn't feel like our guys wanted contact. And in the first half, we didn't. But in the second half, they started to draw fouls. How about this stat, Ryan? You know when our last basket was our last field goal? Do you know?

[Ryan Lemon]

No.

[Matt Jones]

That was that Kobe Braya three after the bank. It's in 20 seconds to go. That was our last field goal. We did not score a field goal in the last five minutes of the game.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I think hit like, four or five free throws. And Otega hit those three at the end.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, and then I think Robinson had one as well. At one point he got fouled. So, I mean, we had no, you know, no field goals. Now, you know, if we had lost that sequence where they got three straight offensive rebounds and one of them went off always hands and then one of them went off Bray's hands, that would have driven me crazy. The refs, the foul call, the offensive foul call in the OA is one of the worst fouls I've ever seen. I mean, he gets mugged and they call the foul on away after I. That was a home cooking call if there ever was one. The reviews. Somebody's got to do something about the reviews. No, I mean, none of that stuff should have been reviewed. Probably the only play that should have maybe been reviewed was the OA rebound where it got knocked out. And I don't even think they got it right.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, right.

[Matt Jones]

I think they, I think they reviewed it. I don't think they got it right. Like to me, when you make a call on the, on the court, if you can't tell Ryan within 20 seconds that it was wrong, you got to go with the call in the court.

[Ryan Lemon]

You got.

[Matt Jones]

They got to stop 4 minute reviews at the end of game games.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. A lot of times they were just checking to see too, but make sure they had the clock right. They would adjust. Who cares?

[Matt Jones]

It's one second.

[Ryan Lemon]

Not even a half a second with.

[Matt Jones]

A minute 20 left. It's one second. Like, come on, that's like, that's irrelevant to worry about the clock on that level. The one time the Tennessee dude just dribbled it off his foot. What was there even to look at? The Kentucky guy wasn't even next to him.

[Ryan Lemon]

That was a clock review on that one.

[Matt Jones]

There's 58 seconds left. Like I get looking at the clock if there's eight seconds left, but if there's 50, like, who cares about the clock to that level? I, that, that was, that annoys me because the last two minutes of that game, 20 minutes, I mean, it was, it was ridiculous. But regardless, this is a huge win. Big picture for the season. Tucky's now four and three in the SEC. They went from 10th in the SEC, Ryan, to. I bet they're going to end up probably being after tonight, maybe sixth or seventh in the sec. You got Arkansas now. You're coming into Arkansas with good vibes. We'll have a lot of time to talk about that this week because there's obviously going to be a lot to talk about. But you know we mentioned earlier today, you know, if you lost this game, got at Ole Miss next week, if you know, God forbid something bad happened Saturday, you could be like five losses in a row and you start thinking about making losing the tournament. They Now Ryan are 6 and 1 against the top 15 this year. 6 and 1.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I saw that stat like Duke, Florida, Tennessee, you're all in the top 10. A&M, Mississippi State, U of L are all in the top 25. And oh yeah, they also beat Gonzaga. I mean it's amazing their resume they've got.

[Matt Jones]

We are 6 and 1 against teams that were in the top 15 when we played them. We're going to have. If we, if we. I mean I am sure at this point we have more high quality wins than any other team in the country. I can't imagine there's another team that has a better set of top line wins than, than Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida A and M, Mississippi State and Tennessee. You think there's Billy, there's no team that's got seven wins better than that, right?

[Billy Rutledge]

There's none. And add in the fact you didn't have both point guards for Gonzaga and at Tennessee, Andrew Carr didn't play either. I, I mean it's incredible what they've done with.

[Matt Jones]

I am worried a little bit about Butler with what Pope said at the end. Ryan, he said if and when Lamont comes back that if is carrying a load right there. That worries me. Right. I'm not going to lie to you. I. When I. If and when is not. You know, depends on where. What you mean if and I guess if and when could be yes, he's playing. It could be no. But that, that language worried me. Ryan, not gonna lie to you.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. And we're all gonna decipher. You know, Lamont's dad retweeted a tweet that said we gotta arrest him getting ready for March. Okay. Does that mean he's gonna wait a lot of several more weeks and just.

[Matt Jones]

To make sure I'm okay with that. If you told me, if you told me he rests three or four weeks and we know we have him in March at this point I'd take that.

[Ryan Lemon]

I'd take that in a second.

[Matt Jones]

I'm worried because like you know, we can grind out win. I mean look, we've beaten Gonzaga and Tennessee without him. Without him. But now to be fair though, where we will miss him is against teams that can score a lot. Tennessee cannot. Right. So we will miss him against an Alabama or an Auburn and, you know.

[Ryan Lemon]

Because of his defense, Zakai Ziggler was. He shot 11 threes, I think was like one for 11 because he was getting open looks. Lamont Butler would not have allowed him to get off 11 threes.

[Matt Jones]

I'm glad he did because he missed them all.

[Ryan Lemon]

He can't miss.

[Matt Jones]

Do that. Didn't he do that last year or the year before against us? Didn't he have a terrible game against us one time in the last couple years?

[Ryan Lemon]

That sounds right. That sounds right. He had a bad game, man. He.

[Matt Jones]

I think he. It might have been last year. If it wasn't, it was two years ago. He's had another game against us where he just completely. I mean, he. And if you. Again, you tell me he and Chaz Lanier, Billy, before the game, are going to go 4 for 21 from 3. You take that in a heartbeat, right?

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. I'm still looking at the box where 11 of 45 from 3. When Kentucky was 12 of 24, they made more threes and took a lot.

[Matt Jones]

I thought we had to shoot, okay, So I thought we had to shoot 30. We shot 24, but we made 50%. And I am really impressed at our ability to score on twos. Especially Bray going to the basket. Oh, I mean, that was. And we. And you know, we didn't. We shot 66% from the line, but we made 16 of them. I don't know how many games this year, Ryan, how many games you think we've made 16 free throws this year? I don't think it's a lot because we get to the line a lot, right?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. Yeah. This team is not a team that gets to the line a lot. I don't shoot a lot of free throws.

[Matt Jones]

So great win, great night, big time victory. I'm going to stay on with the guys one more segment. I'll let them take the last two. We're going to take your calls. 859-280-2287. Mark Pope in his first year has beaten Duke. He's beaten Gonzaga. He's beaten Louisville, he's beaten Florida, he's beaten Tennessee. I don't know what else you can want from a guy for regular season victories in year one. We'll take a break. Be right back. This is the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Face it, my friend, my agent can win one at home, but it takes a real team to win on the road. Hey, Patino's got his team to go traveling to get together, kick a little tush and then it's Back on the bus riding along those cats got your number, Dick. We are Kentucky and those cats. Those cats will rock you. I think I got to play that, Billy. Every game. That's when we went on the road, right?

[Ryan Lemon]

I agree.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. I love that. Yeah, that was good.

[Matt Jones]

From. Had you ever heard that before?

[Billy Rutledge]

No, that was the first time.

[Matt Jones]

No, that was from ESPN did in like 19. 19. 95, maybe. 90. I think it was 95. 94, 95. One of those years they did, like, got Robert Goulet to sing songs about, like, what was it, Ryan? Four or five teams. Kentucky, Arkansas, maybe ucla, Duke and the Kentucky. That was the Kentucky one.

[Ryan Lemon]

I haven't heard that in a long time, but it's perfect to play tonight. I love it.

[Matt Jones]

The saw when I remember was like, arkansas, will you make the Final Four? It was like, to the Delta dawn or whatever.

[Billy Rutledge]

We'll have to play that Saturday, I guess.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I played it. I tweeted it out earlier this year after they lost. It was. Well, you. Anyway, we got plenty of time for Arkansas. Let's enjoy this one tonight. All right, first of all, Trent, Noah, somebody on KS board. Ryan gave him the nickname that I'm just going to tell you, I'm calling him from now on unless he says he doesn't like it. And that's Mountain Mamba. Come on. That's a great nickname. Mountain Mamba. Kobe Bryant, Mountain Mama. Like that. Come on. That's the nickname. Is that. That's his nickname. Mountain Mama, right? Is that. Can we agree?

[Ryan Lemon]

I love it. I love the nickname. And I'm glad you knew the.

[Matt Jones]

Go ahead.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, you. I'm glad you mentioned that shot he hit because that was definitely an STFU shot because they were starting to get into it. He hit the shot to kind of shut him up. And Coach Pope said he played the perfect role. I think it was Pope maybe. Maybe in Givens. One of the two guys said it tonight. He was the perfect role coming off the bench.

[Matt Jones]

Well, Ryan at 1102 getting spicy. Isn't he here for 1102 at night? Text machine. 772-774-5254. A few. Couple people said this on the text machine. I can't confirm because I didn't see it. But Billy, they say to me that Brandon Garrison went live on his Instagram from the locker room and that on it, Lamont Butler came on and said he would be back soon.

[Billy Rutledge]

I was worried when you started that sentence, but that's, that's. That's a good thing to know.

[Matt Jones]

No, I Mean, yeah, I don't. I mean, that's not official, but if Brandon Garrison goes live on his Instagram and Lamont Butler says he's going to come back, that's good, right? I will take that as a piece of positive news. News. I wasn't on it, but looks like that's what he said. All right, let's get started. Who's up?

[Billy Rutledge]

Taylor.

[Matt Jones]

Taylor. Go ahead, Taylor.

[Caller]

Hey, Matt. Huge win. Just curious, do you think that after tonight we figured out, absent pressure that for our offense to start that actually a big. Bringing it up is a good thing? Because our offense usually starts with a pass from a guard to a big. I think back to the last game. Bob Butler trying to force it in. We don't have to actually initiate that past. If we have a big. Like Amari Williams reins it up.

[Matt Jones]

I think your key phrase was at the beginning. If there's not pressure. I mean, if. If you promise me Amari's not going to turn it over, then yes. Because our offense often does initiate with him at the top. If you promise me that, then sure. I don't know. Against. Although Tennessee is one of the best pressure teams in the country, they didn't really make the adjustment. I'm kind of surprised they didn't. You know, Milichek's not quick enough to get put pressure, but I'm kind of surprised they didn't have Lanier or. Or Ziggler like get up on Amari as he was bringing it up the court. But they didn't and so it worked. And so maybe, I mean, if they don't make an adjustment. Maybe you're right.

[Caller]

Yeah. I mean, this surprised me tonight.

[Matt Jones]

They.

[Caller]

They really did not pressure our bigs and frankly, we had big guards bringing the ball to court most tonight.

[Matt Jones]

You're right. Gain. He's a good defender. Yeah. Me, Shaq and a Bendigo there. He's a good defender. So I appreciate the call. Yeah, they didn't appreciate it. They didn't. They really didn't Ryan do that? And so Pope took it to his advantage and Amari brought it up a lot there in the last few minutes.

[Ryan Lemon]

The thing that's gotten better and Amari's not trying to drive on somebody get it once he gets the ball at the top of the key trying to drive on somebody. He's, you know, initiating the offense, doing what he's supposed to do, not trying to become, you know, Kobe Bryant out there and try to make a play.

[Matt Jones]

I think, by the way, Kobe Braya this watch when I rewatched the second half a minute ago. It's the best I've seen him move without the ball at things besides just trying to get a three like he was cutting to the basket. And you know, I thought as far as an all around offensive game, obviously he hit seven threes or whatever against Florida, but as an all around offensive game, this might have been his best one tonight. He. And he, he held his own defensively. He didn't get like abused like has happened in some of the other games. So who's up next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Casey is next.

[Matt Jones]

Casey. Go ahead, Casey.

[Caller]

What's going on, mj?

[Matt Jones]

That can't become a thing, by the way. No, I can't go ahead.

[Caller]

Well, they banked in a three and we still won.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Williams had 15 boards, four assists, 10 points. I wanted to ask you, I called in a couple weeks ago and asked what our best win is. We had wins against the Zags, Florida.

[E]

Duke, Mississippi State, Louisville and A M.

[Caller]

That's the best win.

[Matt Jones]

Now, was it that, you know, if you.

[E]

How about them, Cat?

[Matt Jones]

It's a great question. I appreciate the call. I mean, when we get to selection Sunday, Ryan, I think our best win on paper is still going to be Duke.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Because I think they're going to end up probably the number two overall seeded team in the tournament, but this one's probably second by the numbers on the road at Tennessee. I, I'd have to look to see for sure, but I bet you if you're just looking at analytics, this is probably our second best win analytically.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, Duke's going to be a number one seed, so that's going to be the number one win. But you're right to win at Tennessee, a team that was number one for a long time this season, just a couple weeks ago, beat him on their home floor. I think that is the second best win.

[Matt Jones]

You know, they're going to, they are great defensive team, but I think they're going to have the problem of they just, they don't create enough offense. Right. They really only got three guys that can score. Yeah. And that makes it, I think, hard for them. They have to win games in the 60s and you know, we got to 78 and if they, if any team gets in the 70s, I think it'd be hard for Tennessee to win. Who's next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Travis.

[Matt Jones]

Travis. Go ahead, Travis.

[Ryan Lemon]

It was mj.

[Matt Jones]

Hey, man.

[Caller]

First off, Mountain Mamba and Colin Chandler.

[Ryan Lemon]

Man, played a great game today, man. They came off the bench, they played their role.

[Caller]

Almanor, man, that guy is just getting better. And better every game.

[Ryan Lemon]

He's getting more confident in his shot.

[Caller]

And the defense tonight was. It was good, man. You know, besides the late game offensive rebounds that Tennessee just happened to come.

[Matt Jones]

Up with every time.

[Caller]

You know we just, we played good ball man and we shot the ball well and I'm excited for this game on Saturday.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, well, I agree with you. I mean they. We gave up 18 offensive rebounds which is a lot but four of them were on the last. In the last minute and a half so. But they fought through it. Billy and you know 18 off his rebounds a lot. But they won. And so you just. But you can't let that be a habit.

[Billy Rutledge]

Are you starting to come around on Amari Williams a little bit or you is the jury still.

[Matt Jones]

I'm coming around on him. I think he's look, he's plus 20 like you. That's awesome. He had 15 boards. That's awesome. You know. Does he. Has he frustrated me in games? Yes. He didn't really frustrate me tonight. I didn't see, I didn't really see a play that I, I thought, I thought he was really good. I did see the one time they went to review to see if he touched the ball at going out of bounds. Ryan. I wanted to go. He doesn't raise his arms. Of course he didn't touch the wall. It's out on them. But. But he got a couple two handed rebounds that were big. I thought he. I think this was his best game of the year in my opinion. I think him, Colin Chandler obviously and I maybe even Kobe Bray. I mean I know he hit seven threes but just as overall those, those three guys, this might have been their best games of the year. All three of them.

[Billy Rutledge]

And Mario's guy, Ansley Almanor, I mean he's, he's stepping.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, he's still. I mean he hit four threes. That was huge. I think the game was at Mississippi State. I think that's his game of the year. Is it? Wasn't that the one. He hit the four threes and they were all at the end. Was that the. Yeah, I think that was the.

[Ryan Lemon]

He's 8 of 13 and he's last three 13 three point attempts.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Before he hit against Mississippi State we're like they won the game. So I'd say that's probably his best one. Who's that?

[Billy Rutledge]

Jacob.

[Matt Jones]

Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.

[Caller]

Hey, Matt Jones, ksr.

[Matt Jones]

How about this guys?

[Caller]

Kentucky didn't have their starting point guard. Kentucky didn't have their backup point guard. Kentucky didn't have their starting power forward. But you know who we had? We had the Mountain Mamba hitting logo threes. We had Mark Pope coaching his butt off. And best of all, we had go Big Blue chance erupting. That's what it's all about. Go Cats, baby.

[Matt Jones]

That was great. That was. That was it. I love that Pope said on the post game he didn't hear it. I have a hard time believing that because that was. That was loud, Ryan, that those chants in Rupp arena, that's. Or excuse me, in Thompson Bowling arena is pretty awesome.

[Ryan Lemon]

I think it was Owe who was shooting a free throw and the chance started going and you could see Jackson Robinson break into a smile behind him because they heard it on the floor. I know Coach Pope heard it on the sideline.

[Matt Jones]

By the way, I want to say about Jackson Robinson, when you have a game where, you know, you have a game where two of the four best players are out and you are in theory the best scorer on the team. I know away leads the team in points, but I still think Robinson, it's probably better score. Their defense is going to be focused on you. And you could tell Tennessee's defense was keep Robinson from beating us. He still had 17 and he did a great job of setting other guys up. I think he played excellent. And, you know, the dude I think has been good this year. I think some people have hoped he'd be a little better. But in this game and in the Gonzaga game, in games, Ryan, where we had to have him because other dudes weren't available, he has played great.

[Ryan Lemon]

I think those have been his best two games of the year, Gonzaga and tonight, just being aggressive, looking for the shot more running the offense, making good passes, playing good defense. And both, both games he goes, you know, called into play a role he wasn't used to.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Who's next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Blaine.

[Matt Jones]

Blaine. Go ahead, Blaine.

[Caller]

Hey, what's up, guys? I just wanted to say a couple things. I have probably five things, but I'll only save two for you.

[Matt Jones]

Give me your best two.

[Caller]

Yeah, I got your best, too. So the first thing I thought the positive of Car being out is Noah getting some. Really gaining some experience and really filling it up.

[Matt Jones]

So.

[Caller]

And I love the name Mountain Mamba, but. So I thought it was nice to see him come in and get some experience as a reserve. So when we need them and Car comes back, he's ready to fight.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah. The other thing I wanted to say, I don't know if you guys saw the Tennessee cheat sheet.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Jackson Robinson, weird Name and owns a Mercedes. Amari.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Listen, those are the dorkiest. Those were the dorkies. They were the dorkiest. I appreciate the call. You know, I. Listen, I disavow a lot of my Duke time, but I would see the Duke student cheat sheet every game, Billy, and it was always pretty good. Like, they did research, and this was when I was in school. They did research. They were clever. This is pre. The Internet being what it is now, so it was even harder to find it. And they still had everything on the players. Compare that to what Tennessee's was today. That was the lamest thing I've ever seen.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, that was. That was really tame compared to what you could have said or what Duke, I guess, was doing back in the day.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I mean, owns a Mercedes. Like, that's a negative. That's. That's something you mock. Come on. That was ridiculous. And, oh, his name is spelled funny. Come on, you got to do better than that. Tennessee. Don't even try.

[Billy Rutledge]

Andrew Carr. He's a graduate student, bro. Just leave college already. Trader to Wake Forest.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. What was the whole trader thing like? Half of their team is transfers to, like. I mean, is it like four of their five starters. Transfers Anyway?

[Ryan Lemon]

Lanier sure is a transfer.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I think. I think Milk. Well, I don't know. I. The only one that I think's been there from the beginning is Ziegler, because he's been there since Bernie and Ernie, so I know he's been there a while. Let's do one more, and then I'll hand it to these guys for the last two.

[Billy Rutledge]

Who's Mark?

[Matt Jones]

Mark. Go ahead, Mark.

[Caller]

Hey, Matt. How are you?

[Matt Jones]

Good. What's up?

[Caller]

First time, long time, man.

[Ryan Lemon]

Who.

[Matt Jones]

What's going on?

[Caller]

What's up, brother? I've been with you and KSR since the beginning, the podcast days. I'm 58 years old, I'm a UK fan, and I'm really impressed with Mark Pope. I just. We could talk about all the players you want to. But at the end of the day, Mark Pope is the one that is responsible. Would you not agree?

[Matt Jones]

Of course. Yeah. I mean, look, he. This is still. Tonight is a perfect example of this team is. Is the hole is greater than the sum of the parts. And tonight, two of the parts were out, and they still found a way to win a big game.

[Caller]

Wasn't it beautiful? Did you watch it?

[Matt Jones]

I did watch it. Yes, I did. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it was beautiful.

[Caller]

I know you did. I'm sorry. It. It was just so. It was Just so amazing to me.

[Matt Jones]

That.

[Caller]

This coach did that without two starters and he beat Tennessee, the number one defensive team in the country.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, it was beautiful.

[Caller]

Yeah. And he made it look easy, to be honest.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Well, I appreciate the call. Thank you for always listening and calling in. He, he was great. Awesome win this. Listen, we've had so many of these this year. I remember the post game show after the Duke game, there was such a thrill of like, okay, this Pope thing, if this may work. And then after the Gonzaga game, which was in the middle of the night and we were in that bar and it was this late as it could be and how great that was and we beat Louisville and. And you're like, okay, we still own little brother. Then you beat Florida in a game where you score 106 points and you, okay, we're going to be able to compete in this sec. Then you win at Mississippi State in a game where you show, okay, this team can do it on the road. And now tonight they do it against Tennessee. I know we. Look, I said at the beginning of the year, you look at what Pope did at byu, probably going to be what here. They win some game, they lose some games they probably shouldn't, but there's not a game you don't have a chance with him at some point. I'm going to remember that, Ryan, because we went to Clemson and lost, came right back and beat Gonzaga. We went to Georgia and lost, came right back and won at Mississippi State. We went to Vandy and lost and come right back and win at Tennessee. They have a way of bouncing back and maybe the next time this happens, we'll actually remember it. Billy, Ryan, take them through the rest of the night, the other two segments. I'll be back in the morning. Thank you all for coming in and doing this this evening and we'll. I'll talk to you later. All right.

[Ryan Lemon]

Travel's coming back. All right, we will.

[Matt Jones]

We'll take a break. We'll be right back. It's the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show.

[Ryan Lemon]

All right, welcome back. It's Ryan and Billy now for the last half hour of the local Toyota dealers KSR Postgate show as the Cats win 78, 73 over the stinking tobacco chewing Tennessee Volunteers. Billy, before we go to the phones, we got to give out some flowers.

[Billy Rutledge]

Let's do it. Yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

First flowers, I think, has to go to Drew Franklin. Drew Franklin had a little rant at the end of our pregame show where even though his, his prediction on the, on the morning show and on the graphic had Kentucky losing. Drew flipped at the end of the pre. Of the pregame show was all about Kentucky pulling this off and he nailed it. So I think we give brew some flowers tonight.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. Did a great job hosting the pregame show and then brought the energy at the end. So no doubt I told him that I thought the team was listening to that speech afterwards.

[Ryan Lemon]

Oh, I think they did. No doubt about it. I think now, I guess since we talk talked about the graphic, we got to give flowers to Mario.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemon]

Mario's the only one out of all of us that picked Kentucky to win. And he only missed the final score by two points. He missed the Kentucky score by one point. I think in the Tennessee score by one point. He almost nailed the score pick Kentucky to win when the rest of us did not believe in the blues. We got to give Mario some flowers.

[Billy Rutledge]

Listen, he knows ball, Brian, and he knows ball. I've been bad on the guesses this year. I say Kentucky's done this weird thing where they lose the games that you think they're going to win and then win these, these big games on the road.

[Ryan Lemon]

Right now, the last set of flowers we have to give. I think I got to give them to myself.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, wait, hold on a second. You keep flowers to yourself?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. How? Because the post game curse, I think, is officially over. I think. I think now it's going to exactly flip. You know, we went, we. We broke the KSR curse. We went to the witch house in Denver on our trip out to Seattle. Broke the KSR curse. I think it also broke the post game curse. I'm happy about doing this postgame show tonight. It's a good postgame. It's a winning big game Billy. I think. I think I deserve some flowers too.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, we named it the Billy our sports post game to avoid the bad juju with you hosting the show. So maybe we'll have to do that moving forward.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, here's another one. You know, think the KSR curse I think is finally turning around. When that guy banked into three, how many of us thought, okay, we're going to lose this game. How many times have we seen a bank three pointer ends up being on one of our four losses?

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, they hit the three right after the bank went in. So I think that was the sign that, that maybe this would be a different. Different game.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. 8592-8022-8785-9280. Cats, if you want to call and get on board. So let's line them up. Billy. Who we got?

[Billy Rutledge]

Joe is up.

[Ryan Lemon]

Joe. Go ahead, Joe.

[Caller]

Hey, Ryan. Thanks for taking the call, guys.

[Ryan Lemon]

Hey, I was a doubter tonight.

[Caller]

I'm going to be a man in a minute. I. I didn't think we had a snowball chance in hell to get this game pulled off, but to me, this game just kind of proves that we can go out, we can beat anybody, any night, all the way through March. As long as they play aggressive like that. We've got to do. We've got to get free throws, man. Free throws are going to cost us in March. And then grab the ball with two hands. That's all I can say.

[Ryan Lemon]

Appreciate it, Joe. Yeah. You know, at least Ortega stepped up and hit those last three in a row that were huge, you know, to kind of put the game out of reach. Brea hit what. What did Kobe end up? Five out of seven free throws. I think he was. Yeah, five out of seven free throws. Jackson hit one of two. At least they were, you know, hitting some of the free throws. But we're not a great free throw shooting team. It appears that way. The numbers may tell me something different, but Billy, it just seems like they're not the greatest free throw shooting team.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, that and, you know, the fact that Kobe Braya had as many free throws tonight almost as he's had the entire season. So maybe they're starting to take some of this coaching and the emphasis that Mark Pope has put on these guys. But Goose and Brea had a special moment post game. Jack was saying how proud he was of not just only the team, but of Kobe, of, you know, staying aggressive after a couple of bad games. And it was, it was, it was.

[Ryan Lemon]

Nice to hear that Kobe, Brad did not miss a shot. He was 5 of 5 from the field, 3 of 3, 3 point land. He missed two free throws, but he did not miss a field goal. He needs to be more aggressive and shoot more shots. The dude just if this, if Kentucky wants to go a long way, he's got to. He's got to be more aggressive offensively and be a little more selfish. I think offensively, yeah, I agree. Who's next? Billy?

[Billy Rutledge]

Bones is Bones.

[Ryan Lemon]

Go ahead, Bones.

[Caller]

Hey, what's up, guys? Thanks for taking my call. Hey, so I was gonna say so in your opinion, and I'm pretty sure stats will back it up. Jackson Robinson's two best games have been when we forced him to play point guard. He's been better offensively. He's been better defensively. Beaten saga and now we beat Tennessee. I know you can't run him and Lamont Butler together, but there's something to that. And then number two, how about Ainsley Almondor? 8 for 13 in the last three games. Like in Kobe Bryant, when he shoots it without thinking, it's money. It's when he hesitates. And tonight he didn't hesitate. And I ain't up and got let you guys listen.

[Ryan Lemon]

Good points. Bones made three great points. The thing about Jackson, Robinson, him playing point guard against Gonzaga, him forced into point guard tonight against Tennessee. He has two of his best games of the year. I agree with Bones. I don't think that's coincidence. I think Jackson is just better with the ball in his hands more. And by him playing point guard, he had the ball in his hands more. He becomes more aggressive offensively, looking for a shot more. So, Billy, I do think there's a little something to that.

[Billy Rutledge]

You know, it's funny because we heard that story of Robinson running down the court screaming at Pope, I'll never play point guard again. Back when he was at byu. And then, you know, he's just had to be thrusted into that role at Kentucky and. And you know, Bones is right. He's played well in those moments.

[Ryan Lemon]

Bones also mentioned Ansley Almanor. We Talked about his 12 points, his four three pointers. Dude played 30 minutes tonight. He was on the floor a lot and he had to since Carr was out. 30 minutes, 12 points for three pointers. As Bone said, he's eight of his last 13 from three. He in the first half helped kind of give Kentucky that cushion that they really never gave up the rest of the way.

[Billy Rutledge]

Him and Colin Chandler, I think maybe midway through the year, it was like, what kind of role do these guys are going to have? Are they going to get on the court very much at all over these in the last half of the season, and they've proven that they can step up and that's what they needed. Right? I mean, with all these guys out, somebody had to play well. And I feel like almost everybody, you know, played their role.

[Ryan Lemon]

Who we got next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Sam is next.

[Ryan Lemon]

Sam, Go ahead, Sam.

[Caller]

Hey, thanks for taking my call, guys. I'm looking at ESPN right now, and I just dated back to when Kobe Bray had this amount of free throws. He's only shot eight free throws since the Lipscomb game, and tonight he was able to shoot seven, which is pretty amazing to me. But the three started falling tonight and the boys got the W. Appreciate you taking my call.

[Ryan Lemon]

Thanks, Sam. Appreciate it. Yeah, we kind of made a topic about Kobe. Brad, not Getting to the free throw line this week on KSR on the Morning show, the fact he'd only been 10 times all season and he gets there seven tonight. Billy, once again, I think they were.

[Billy Rutledge]

Listening to the show maybe, and he was the first guy to make a shot in the game, had the first three pointer. Kentucky hit four threes in the first four minutes and then went what, the next media timeout and had only scored one point after that. So it was a hot start. And then they definitely cooled down after that.

[Ryan Lemon]

So somebody tweeted me on. On X and said that Kobe Braya may be one of those guys that needs to start because he seems to play better in the couple games that he started. I can't remember how he played in the last game that he started, but obviously tonight being in the starting line, like you said, he hit the first shot and had it going down from the minute the game started.

[Billy Rutledge]

I've been told it doesn't matter who starts, who finishes. Ryan, but.

[Ryan Lemon]

But I think some guys, it does matter. Yeah. You know, he came off the bench all year last year at Dayton. I mean, he's used. He's comfortable in that role.

[Billy Rutledge]

So is Jackson.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, that's right. If you start him, who are you going to sit?

[Billy Rutledge]

Right?

[Ryan Lemon]

Tell me who you're going to sit or take it.

[Billy Rutledge]

Lamont, maybe?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. All right, who's next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Leslie.

[Ryan Lemon]

Leslie, go ahead. Leslie.

[E]

Hey, this is Leslie from St. Louis and I will say that the banked three. When I saw that, I was like, we're going to win this game. And I just love the way Pope was so masterful at rotating the players and the way Colin Chandler was like a little bee buzzing around and he made some great passes. I was so excited to see that because I didn't know he had such great ball handling skills. And then I do. I did feel a little bad for Travis Perry. He didn't seem to really have a great game tonight. Do you. How does the plus minus thing work? Do we know what his was?

[Ryan Lemon]

Billy? Let's see if you can look that up, see what his was.

[Billy Rutledge]

I can have that. Travis Perry was minus six tonight. It was not the worst. Brandon Garrison was minus 16, but Travis Perry minus.

[E]

Okay, yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

Travis was just not a good matchup for trying to guard Ziggler. Ziggler went right past him a couple times. I think they realized, okay, we can't go do this. I agree with you, though, about Colin Chandler. That was his. That was his best game of the year. Best games is the blue white game by far.

[E]

Yeah, he seemed really relaxed and just went out there and played hard. And the way we'd cut to the basket and then make these great passes, he did a great job. I was really impressed.

[Ryan Lemon]

Now, are you the Leslie that knows Jason Tatum from growing up in St. Louis?

[E]

I am. Yes, I am. Yeah. He went to elementary school with my kids. Yeah. He was a classmate with my daughter.

[Billy Rutledge]

Good callback, Ryan.

[Ryan Lemon]

Billy. She sent me this thing that Jason. Jason Tatum wrote when he was in, what, the fourth grade? Seeing how he was going to be, it was.

[E]

Yeah, yeah. He wanted. He wanted to play for the Lakers. That was the team. And each kid did what they wanted to be with when they grew up, and he knew back then that that's what he wanted to be. And I took the picture and I sent it to my daughter, and then she put it. She sent it to Jason, and then he put it on his Instagram, and then ESPN picked it up. I was like, oh, my gosh. I just took that my kitchen. So it's kind of fun. Yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

Heck of a story. Leslie, thank you very much. Call us again.

[E]

You will do. Thank you so much.

[Ryan Lemon]

Thank you. Yeah. Her daughter grew up with Jason Tatum, and he wrote this paper in the fourth grade that he was going to be the number one pick and I guess play for the Lakers. Almost got it.

[Billy Rutledge]

Almost, almost, almost got it.

[Ryan Lemon]

I want to get one more for. Go to a break.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, that's a good call. One more and then we'll take a break.

[Ryan Lemon]

All right, who we got?

[Billy Rutledge]

Darren.

[Ryan Lemon]

Darren, Go ahead, Darren. Darren.

[Billy Rutledge]

Darren, you there?

[Ryan Lemon]

All right, you got another one.

[Billy Rutledge]

Try him later. Yeah, Lee is Lee.

[Ryan Lemon]

Go ahead, Lee.

[Caller]

Great night, Ryan and Billy. And all I can say is take the points at UT every time. This. This is one of those games that you. I was pacing the floor. I was leaving the TV room. I went outside and just screamed real loud. I was sneaking peeks in the radio. What was going to happen before they showed it on tv? Great game to watch. Before I ask you one question I want. Can I give a shout out to my grandsons?

[Ryan Lemon]

Sure. Kentucky won tonight. They beat Tennessee. You give the shout out to your grandson if you want to, Lee.

[Caller]

All right. It's. It's the Cash crew and Tootie as my grandsons. All right, here's a question I want to ask. We y'all talking about? I listened to it this morning. Everybody was predicting 9 and 9 in the SEC. Have you wavered on that a little bit? Now? I'm kind of leaning on 11 and 7 or 10 and 8 what. How do y'all feel about that?

[Ryan Lemon]

All right. Appreciate it. Lee. Yeah. In our preseason predictions, I think, Billy, you and I both said 11 and 7. Is that right?

[Billy Rutledge]

Yes, that is correct.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. I think Even Shannon said 11 and 7. I think Drew and Matt said 12 and 6. I mean, I'm. I'll be happy to if they end up 12 and 6. But it's not a reflection on Kentucky. It's reflection how good the SEC is this year. They're going to lose another game to like a Georgia or a Vanderbilt again. It's just gonna happen this year in sc. You know, they still have to go to Missouri. Everybody thinks that's gonna be a W. Missouri's really, really good. So there's still some losses out there for him, but, yeah, this team is. This team could easily win 12 or 11 SEC games.

[Billy Rutledge]

At Ole Miss is gonna be a tough one. At Alabama is another one. And at Missouri, like you said. And then you've got some home games against Auburn, against Tennessee, South Carolina, who hasn't been great, but, you know, like, you have a home game versus Vandy.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

So, I mean, it's. It's no slouch.

[Ryan Lemon]

They. They're at Ole Miss week from tonight, right? That's next Tuesday at Ole miss.

[Billy Rutledge]

That's right. February 4th.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. All right, we'll take our final break, come back. Our final segment. I Hope Cash and 2D heard their shout out. We read back Ryan and Billy and the local total dealers. KSR postgame show. Welcome back. Final segment. Local toilet. KSR post game shows. The Cats improved to 15 and 5, 4 and 3 in the SEC with a 7873 win over Tennessee. Of course, we haven't talked much about it, but next Saturday. Billy, there may be a little interest in the Kentucky game at Rupp arena on Saturday.

[Billy Rutledge]

Is that right?

[Ryan Lemon]

Maybe just a little.

[Billy Rutledge]

I've heard ticket prices have gone up. I'm just not sure why.

[Ryan Lemon]

Ticket prices are way up. Yes. So just, Just beware. But we'll be talking about that a lot this week on ksr. Somebody did send. I didn't say who sent it to me, but I thought this an interesting stat. Kentucky's last three big wins in Knoxville against Tennessee, all three wins involved a good game from a Kentucky kid. Trent Noah tonight. Reed shepherd last year, C.J. frederick two years ago. That's kind of cool, man. Because when you grow up in this state, you know, you. You just. You're just. It's just in you. You hate Louisville, you hate Tennessee, you hate Duke, you hate Indiana. And to go on the road and win in Knoxville, and each win the last three years, a Kentucky kid was a vital part of the win. I think that's kind of cool.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. No, the success of Reed last year. Now. Now Trent and. And Travis, it's. It's something special, isn't it?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, it is pretty cool. So. All right, we got six callers. We'll get on here before we get out of here. So who we got first, Billy?

[Billy Rutledge]

Big Blue Ben.

[Ryan Lemon]

Big Blue Ben. Go ahead, sir.

[Caller]

Hey, first. First time, long time.

[Ryan Lemon]

All right. Thanks for calling.

[Caller]

Yeah, you should have seen the Tennessee fans crying as they walked down the steps so early in the game.

[Ryan Lemon]

Oh, you. Were you there, Big Blue Ben?

[Caller]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemon]

So, you know, we could hear the Go, Big Blue chant a little bit through the tv. Was it really loud inside there?

[Caller]

Oh, yeah, that was us.

[Ryan Lemon]

Dude, that's awesome. I mean, because that. That's one of the bigger arenas that Kentucky will play in on the road in the SEC. It holds, like, 22,000, I think, something like that. And to hear Go, Big Blue being. That was pretty cool inside there.

[Caller]

Yeah. Yeah. We took my papa for his birthday. Big win for Gary Foley.

[Ryan Lemon]

Jerry Foley. How old is he?

[Caller]

Gary Foley?

[Ryan Lemon]

He's Gary Foley, 71. Well, there's nothing more special than a grandpa and a son and a grandson going to a Kentucky game and having those good memories. So, Big Blue Ben.

[Billy Rutledge]

I know.

[Ryan Lemon]

You might as well just skip school tomorrow. It's like a holiday. Kentucky just beat Tennessee on the road, so you don't have to go to school tomorrow.

[Caller]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. Okay. All right, bud. Appreciate the phone call, Bill. You don't want to go to school tomorrow? You just went. Went and watched the game. You saw your team win. You were celebrating. Probably had a few Jaeger bombs on the way home with Grandpa.

[Billy Rutledge]

Tell him for his birthday in enemy territory, too, you know? Proud of Big Blue Ben and Gary, who shares a birthday with Amari Williams?

[Ryan Lemon]

Man, Amari Williams on his birthday has the. Just this monster. Matt mentioned it. What do you play? He played 21 minutes, something like that.

[Billy Rutledge]

Let's see.

[Ryan Lemon]

It was 27 minutes. I don't know. It wasn't a whole lot of minutes.

[Billy Rutledge]

24 minutes.

[Ryan Lemon]

24 minutes, and he was. He was a plus 20.

[Billy Rutledge]

That's right.

[Ryan Lemon]

24 minutes. That's amazing. All right, who we got next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Thomas.

[Ryan Lemon]

Thomas. Go ahead, Thomas.

[Caller]

Dude, we won. We had two guys on the bench that were starters. Are you kidding me? Tennessee. I'm so fired up. This is a great team with Pope. Oh, My gosh. Incredible.

[Ryan Lemon]

Thomas, I could not have said it better. You said it just as good as anybody could say it. So brother, we appreciate it. Enjoy the win. Anytime you beat Tennessee, it's a good win.

[Caller]

Especially when the guys on the bench are injured. Really.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, exactly. All right, Thomas, we appreciate it. You know, I think Lee on our last segment and Thomas tonight maybe have been celebrating with Grandpa Gary with big blue Ben for his birthday tonight.

[Billy Rutledge]

Wasn't Kentucky a double digit underdog in this game?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I think it was like 11 and a half.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

But Drew pointed out two years ago Kentucky was also an 11 point Atlanta half point underdog. They didn't have Case and Wallace, they didn't have Severe Wheeler down two point guards tonight. We're down two point guards, kind of eerily similar and they both come away with wins.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. Kentucky players just miss. Hate that song Rocky Top.

[Ryan Lemon]

I hate it. I hate it.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, after you hear 12 times you're like, okay, that's.

[Ryan Lemon]

I went down to a Kentucky Tennessee football game one year, I don't know what year it was early 2000s and I'm sitting on the press box and I decided I'm going to just make a little mark on my notes every time they play Rocky Top. And I'm not kidding you, I think it was like 79 times because they, you know, not the whole song, just a little, that little blip after every first down, after every point, after every stoppage of play. It was like 79 times they played it at Neyland Stadium that day.

[Billy Rutledge]

That's amazing. I mean I think we put the over under at 12 and that was, I think it, it went way over that.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. All right, who we got next?

[Billy Rutledge]

Darren. We're gonna try Darren again.

[Ryan Lemon]

Darren, let's try Darren again. All right, go ahead.

[Caller]

This is Casey from Second Creek. Darren can't get through on his first try so I'm gonna give the phone to Darren.

[Ryan Lemon]

All right. Thank you. Casey from Casey Creek.

[Caller]

Hey, what's going boys? Hey, listen, I love, I love we got a big win to that but if we're rebounding like that, I just don't see us going far in the tournament. I'll see what your thoughts on thoughts is about it.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, I mean amari Williams got 15 rebounds tonight and I like him when he's in the game as far as doing the rebounding. And Tennessee is a really good rebounding team. They most of their offensive rebounds. I feel like. Thanks for the phone call, Billy. Were like at the end of the game like in those Last couple minutes when they kept getting rebound after rebound and shot after shot.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. And overall, the rebounding edge for Tennessee was only 41 to 38. So add that just three final three minutes and yeah, Kentucky has the edge in rebounding, so.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I. I totally agree with you. All right, who's next?

[Billy Rutledge]

I think it's Grigsby and Josh.

[Ryan Lemon]

Is this Shannon Grigsby?

[Billy Rutledge]

I didn't investigate. Hopefully they're still on the phone.

[Ryan Lemon]

Grigsby, are you there?

[Caller]

It's a grief being jealous.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay, what's up, guys?

[Caller]

Hey. First time away game. First time caller just crossed back into Kentucky. I've got two things. Pope's energy. Some have. Maybe halfway through the first half, I think it was an out of bounds play. Came close to getting a technical. His, I believe his energy got those guys going, you know, Then it died down there towards the end, and Tennessee went on that run. Second thing is they needed to grit a win out like that. You know, four or five losses, they've been right there with, you know, good teams and just couldn't seem to get over the hump. And they gritted one out tonight with two starters on the bench.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yep. Appreciate it, man. Be safe going home. But he's a Grigsby or Josh, whichever one was that we were talking to was exactly right, and especially about Pope. I just happened to catch on the radio broadcast at that moment that Josh is talking about, and I think even Tom Leach said that's about as close as you're going to see Mark Pope get to a technical that he got so upset at that moment.

[Billy Rutledge]

I can't remember what it was. There was like a no foul called or if it was a foul call. But yeah, he was. He was up and jumping.

[Ryan Lemon]

Billy. Somebody on the pregame show named Mark Pope the Johnny Rocker role player of the game because of his coaching tonight that he's got to juggle the point guard position, juggle Andrew Carr position, mix things up, try to figure out a score against Tennessee's great defense. Must have been a genius, a basketball savant, to name Mark Pope as the Johnny Rocker role player of the game.

[Billy Rutledge]

Which is strange because it's a role player and you're naming a coach.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, his role tonight was to be a good coach. You don't have to be coming off the bench to be a role player. You like Amari Williams. His role tonight was to go get all the rebounds.

[Billy Rutledge]

Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, maybe we've reversed that curse as well.

[Ryan Lemon]

I'm telling you, it all goes back to stopping at that witch house when on our trip out to Seattle. And the sage that I left in a pot of water in our Airbnb. All right, who we got? Is this the last one?

[Billy Rutledge]

We got two more.

[Ryan Lemon]

Two more. Okay, who we got?

[Billy Rutledge]

Jerry.

[Ryan Lemon]

Jerry. Go ahead, Jerry.

[Caller]

Hey, guys, I've got to say this, and I say it from heart. You guys are the most professional and friendly outfit. Drew took me around in Bowling Green when I was down there. First chance I had to meet you all. He took me around as if he was kin to me and introduced me to everybody there.

[Ryan Lemon]

And.

[Caller]

And I. I. As part of the big blue nation, I can't be any more grateful. I thought, wow, what great guys. And I think. I think I listened to the pregame show and game shows and everything, and all of you all are so professional. And as part of what. As part of. Of what I think of the team, I think defense stood out tonight. I think that was mentioned several times, but I'll just listen to see what you got to say about that.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, Jerry, first of all, Jerry, thank you very much for everything you just said. That's awesome. You know, we love hearing from people like you, Jerry, so. So thank you very much. And. And we're all in it together, man. I mean, we do a radio show, but we're fans just like everybody else. You know, we want the Cats to win just like everybody else, and we get excited when they do. So glad to do that. And Jerry's right. The team that came into the game, all headlines were about their defense. Was Tennessee yet Kentucky's defense tonight, I think was. Was the difference in the game. Yes. Hitting shots played a big factor in Kentucky winning, but also their defense, they. Without Lamont Butler, they really. I thought Billy played a good job on the defensive end.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. Obviously, it starts with Amari Williams and everything that he was able to do, but we. We highlighted Colin Chandler, who I thought gave some great defensive minutes.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, he did.

[Billy Rutledge]

And, you know, this was important without Lamont Butler, who is arguably your best defender. So for. For you to hold, you know, Tennessee is not the best scoring team, but to do what you needed to do to win the game, it was. It was impressive performance all around.

[Ryan Lemon]

All right, we got one more. Who's our last color?

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, Josh.

[Ryan Lemon]

Josh. Go ahead, Josh.

[Caller]

Josh Smith. How you doing, boys? I want to first start by saying thank you, Billy and Ryan. Y'all do a great job. Matt Jones as well, inspire. You represent the state very well, Kentucky. And I want to point out that BBN got a big win today. And celebrate that. But on Saturday, I hope that we all come together as a state and at least respect Caliperi. Give him a good cheer when he comes in because without him, we could very well be in Indiana's shoes. He saved the program in the time we needed it. I want to keep that in mind. I hope everybody does and appreciates what he did do. I'm excited for our new coach. The state of Kentucky as a whole, between Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey. Couldn't ask for more. As long as it's not in the state of North Carolina. We're winning as a whole, we're winning as a state. And as always, God bless and good luck with your show. You keep killing it.

[Ryan Lemon]

Thanks, Josh. Appreciate it. Appreciate what you said. You know, Billy, there's three more days to talk about the Arkansas game, but now that the Tennessee postgame show is about to be put to bed, I can say that when the schedule came out and we saw Arkansas at UK at Rupp arena on February 1st, this day could not get here fast enough for me and most UK fans because the man that we loved did great things here, won a national championship here, went to Final Four after Final Four, after Final Four, during that stretch, was coming back, but going to be on the opposite bench in red, not in blue. He's going to walk into that arena in red. But this, I'm trying to look at it from his perspective. You know, he, he loved it here. He loved. I really believed it. I really believe he loved living here. He's got some very dear friends here. He's. I know he's excited about seeing his friends, going to Dunkin Donuts, sitting to have a donut and some coffee, riding his Vespa around Chevy J's. He, he, he was one of us for a long time and it's hard to forget that. But on Saturday, Billy, I want him to lose and I want him to lose badly. I want him to regret leaving here and I want him to feel bad about leaving us. Although it was probably time was right, I still want him to feel it because what we felt having to say goodbye to our coach. What are your, what are your thoughts? I mean, because like I said, we'll be talking a lot about Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But what are your thoughts as you now that's the next game on the plate, someone we've been waiting for for months and months and months.

[Billy Rutledge]

Overall, he did right by Kentucky in a lot of ways. And even till the very end when he saved us millions of dollars by talking to the Chicken man. And, and eventually opening the door for somebody like Mark Pope to come in and be embraced and bring back a meaning to this fan base that it hadn't had. I'm really glad they're not coming in on a three game losing streak. I'll say that because the vibes would be very strange going into that game at Rupp arena. But for him to go to a team in the same conference, I think, you know, makes it fair for, for you to have that opinion, Ryan, that, that there will be a time where Cal is honored and this is part of it. But he is also going to be on the, on the opposing side on Saturday.

[Ryan Lemon]

You're right. You know, Rick Patino went to the Celtics first. That's okay. We hated to lose him but we still really liked him. But then he went to Louisville, went to our rival. We don't like you then we like Rick Pitino now after he left Louisville a couple years got away from it. When Tubby Smith left here there were a lot of people, a lot of fans ready to run him out of town. They wanted him to leave 10 lost hubby. But he went to Minnesota. You know.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

Caliper. He's like Patino went to Arkansas at one time in the 90s was one of our biggest rivals.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah. I think Cal wants to prove people wrong and I think he does. And he's got, you know what on Saturday. Right.

[Ryan Lemon]

That's when he's at his best.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah.

[Ryan Lemon]

It's what scares me a little bit. That's when he's at his best to try to prove people wrong. People counting him out. So I can't wait. I can't wait for it. I'm so excited. 9:00 on Saturday. So our pregame show will begin at 6:30. People are asking me what time I should get to KS Bar on Saturday. I said when do the doors open? 11. I would get there then. It's going to be crazy all day in Lexington. It's going to be a crazy weekend and I can't wait for it. Should be exciting. So that's going to do it for the local tournament. KSR postgame show. Cats a winner over Tennessee tonight at Tennessee. 78. 73 Most points Tennessee's given up all season, 78 as the Cats improved to 15 and 5, 4 and 3 in the SEC. It'll be Drew and Matt and Shannon in the morning for ksr. I'm going taking little Josiah on a college visit to Mount St. Joseph. So that's why I wanted to kind of talk right now about Caliperi because sometimes we can't talk much on the show. Have you noticed that?

[Billy Rutledge]

Sometimes.

[Ryan Lemon]

Sometime. Billy and Shannon be on the preshow at 9 o'clock. Check that out first. All Billy's got to do. Tom leach show at 8:00.

[Billy Rutledge]

Join me on the Leech Report at 8aM Tomorrow.

[Ryan Lemon]

There we go. Get up early and join Billy on the Leech Port. That'll do it for local tours, ksr post game show. Goodbye.