KSR Postgame UK MBB vs St. John's 12/20/25

Summary

KSR Postgame Show | Kentucky vs. St. John's

Date: December 20, 2025
Host: Matt Jones (with Billy)
Podcast: KSR (iHeartPodcasts, Sports Talk 790 WKRD-AM)
Episode: KSR Postgame UK MBB vs St. John's

---

Overview

The KSR crew unpacks Kentucky’s 78-66 victory over St. John's in "Cat-lanta," focusing on a dramatic second-half turnaround, the debut of Jaden Quaintance, and Jalen Lowe's critical return from injury. The episode is fueled by hope and renewed optimism, with Matt Jones and callers breaking down the significance of this win for the Wildcats’ season outlook and player development. The emotional rollercoaster, concerns about player health and depth, and the tactical shifts under Mark Pope are front and center.

---

Key Topics & Insights

1. First Half: Frustration and Injury Scare

[02:59 – 04:30]

• The Wildcats struggled offensively, appearing flat and disjointed.
• Star point guard Jalen Lowe re-injured his shoulder and left for the locker room, prompting “season over” fears among fans.
  • Matt Jones: “A lot of people if you’re like me, you were on a text thread somewhere with your friends saying, well, I guess that’s it, because that’s what it felt like.” [03:42]
• Team looked lost without Lowe, echoing past concerns about depth at point guard.

2. Halftime Hopes: Lowe’s Return and Mood Shift

[04:40 – 06:27]

• News circulates that Lowe is warming up at halftime, providing fans a surge of hope.
  • Matt Jones: “I get a text message...Jalen Lowe’s warming up at halftime, and you think, oh, wait a minute.”
• Lowe returns early in the second half, completely altering Kentucky’s energy and offense.

3. Second Half Turnaround: Impact Players

[06:27 – 14:20]

• Jalen Lowe plays 15 minutes in the 2nd half, finishing +20 in plus/minus, orchestrating a fluid, dynamic offense.
• Jaden Quaintance (making his UK debut) dominates with athleticism and defense:
  • “At one point, he had played 12 minutes and had 10 points and 7 rebounds... There are only a handful of those in the world. Athletic, can handle the ball, great defense, can rebound, physical.” – Matt Jones [09:08]
• Otega Oweh thrives in a more natural scoring role, notching a “quiet 20 points.”
• Cam Williams hits critical threes and continues his defensive rise.

4. On the Importance of Jalen Lowe’s Health

[13:26 – 14:48]

• The hosts stress the team’s fortunes are tied to Lowe staying healthy.
  • "Our success hinges on his right shoulder.” – Matt Jones [06:22]
  • “I cannot remember a time... that one person’s health has such an impact on a team.” – Matt Jones [14:00]
• Comparisons to past UK players whose injuries radically affected team potential (Nerlens Noel, Anthony Davis).

5. Jaden Quaintance: The Real Deal

[30:09 – 33:06, 44:20 – 45:15]

• Matt and callers praise Quaintance’s defensive presence and energy.
  • “He’s a freak athlete... Kyle Mann...wrote that he thought Quaintance is the best defender at Kentucky since Anthony Davis.” – Matt Jones [31:04]
• Quaintance’s combination of athleticism and size provides a new dimension, potentially UK’s “next NBA player.”

6. Cam Williams’ Emergence and Team Chemistry

[28:01 – 29:48, 48:28 – 49:43]

• Callers note Williams’ “silent, quiet” rise as an X-factor, both in hustle and hitting open shots.
  • “He was great tonight. And when he hit shots, you know, but part of the reason he was hitting shots is they’re open, Billy. Right? Low gets him open.” – Matt Jones [29:25]
• Discussion of roles and how Lowe’s presence allows other players to shine in their strengths.

7. Mark Pope’s Adjustments & Team Direction

[21:31 – 24:22, 71:00 – 72:14]

• Debate whether Pope “figured it out” or just needed a healthy roster.
  • “This is the roster that Kentucky paid for...this is what the $22 million was for because we saw JQ rebounding, Duncan on the offensive rebounds, blocking shots, Camillians hitting shots, low, running the offense, away, doing what he does. I mean, this is what we’re talking about.” – Caller Chris [22:11]
• Pope’s willingness to adapt the playing style to personnel becomes a running theme.
  • “Rick Pitino...said the mark of a good coach is exactly what that caller said. You adjust to the roster. He said Mark recruited this team to be one way, but he’s realized that may not be the way they have to play. And he’s adjusting.” – Matt Jones [71:00]

8. Depth, Lineup Concerns, and Future Outlook

[24:50 – 27:57, 49:58 – 52:29]

• Debates over backup point guard options (Aberdeen, Jasper).
  • Aberdeen “cannot be your point guard...he holds the ball too much. He just pounds it into the ground.” – Matt Jones [27:32]
• Certain players (Garrison, Yellowvich) may have diminished roles going forward.
• Importance of maintaining health for Lowe and Quaintance; team’s ceiling is much higher if both stay fit.

9. Fan & Caller Perspectives

[27:58 – 43:03, 53:18 – 68:37]

• Numerous callers react emotionally to the highs and lows, echo changes in fan sentiment from “depression” to “excited giggling.”
• Road trip stories, crowd composition at Catlanta (estimated 70% UK fans), and live reactions to key moments.
• Repeated “keep Jalen in bubble wrap” jokes about protecting Lowe’s shoulder.

10. Defensive Identity and Final Four Ceiling?

[62:18 – 72:14]

• Discussions about how Kentucky is now defending better (e.g., excellent team defense vs St. John’s and Indiana).
• Tempering Final Four expectations but acknowledging a higher floor and ceiling if key players remain healthy.
  • “Fully healthy the rest of the year. This is an elite eight, sweet 16 team. But if we could just get a couple guys to make threes then I think the upside might be higher.” – Matt Jones [61:56]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Lowe’s Return:
  “It was a masterclass performance by him. Floaters off the backboard, hit a three, pass, calm the offense down. I just loved it. I felt like I was sitting there watching... a really good Kentucky player develop.” – Matt Jones [08:28]

• On Quaintance’s Raw Talent:
  “Sometimes you see a guy and you go, they don’t make too many of those. And that’s him.” – Matt Jones [09:08]

• On the Team’s New Outlook:
  “Now, though, it’s a different thing... The floor of this team, which looked to be really low, has... risen quite a bit, and now the ceiling will have to wait and see.” – Matt Jones [12:55]

• On Mark Pope’s Flexibility:
  “He has kind of adjusted to... what he needed to do with this group. And now let's see if he can continue it.” – Matt Jones [71:55]

• On Protecting Jalen Lowe:
  “Do they have NIL for shoulders? I'll donate.” – Matt Jones [13:31]

---

Segment Timestamps

• [02:59] – Real show/content begins after ads. Initial impressions.
• [03:42] – Emotion in the first half, Lowe’s injury scare.
• [06:28 – 10:00] – Second half transformation, breakdown of key performances.
• [14:00] – On Lowe’s outsized impact and health importance; historical UK injury comparisons.
• [18:17] – Callers start; fan analogies to past “indispensable” players.
• [21:31] – Discussion on Mark Pope’s journey to finding right lineup/rotation.
• [28:01] – The “Cam Williams X-factor” segment.
• [30:09] – Callers debate player of the game: Quaintance vs Lowe.
• [44:20] – Jaden Quaintance, “moneymaker of the game” segment.
• [52:29] – Team’s interior defense with Quaintance/Diabate vs. last season’s frontcourt struggles.
• [62:18] – Can Kentucky make a Final Four run?
• [71:00] – Rick Pitino’s comments on Mark Pope, discussion of adjusting to roster style.

---

Tone & Takeaways

The episode pulses with relief, excitement, and new expectations after a brush with disaster. Matt Jones oscillates between candid criticism—particularly about backup guards and first-half malaise—and genuine optimism about the team’s now-visible potential with Lowe and Quaintance on the court. Listener calls underscore the wild emotional swings UK fans experienced during the game. The KSR crew and fans are cautiously hopeful, clear-eyed about flaws (shooting, depth), and united in their plea: “Keep Jalen Lowe healthy at all costs!”

---

Summary by [Podcast Summarizer AI] – for those who missed the show, or want a fast, focused review.

Transcript

[Matt Jones]

What a matchup we got, y'.

[Billy]

All.

[Matt Jones]

This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat, everybody showing that school pride. Game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Mmm. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going. This is Rob Gronkowski from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. For the second season in a row, I partnered with T Mobile's Friday night 5G lights, powering up hometown football across America. This year, T mobile invested over $4 million in prizes to help schools take their Friday nights to the next level. Now it's time to crown our $1 million grand prize winner. A huge congrats to Derrick's High School in Derrick's, Arkansas, home of the outlaws and your 2020 5T mobile Friday night 5G lights champion. They scored a home field upgrade, Gronk Fitness weight room, a 2026 tailgate party, and an all expense paid trip to the SEC championship game. To every school that competed, posted and rallied your communities, thank you and a big thanks to T Mobile for making it all possible and helping communities shine under the Friday night lights. This season may be over, but the story isn't. Stay tuned for season three in 2026.

[Caller]

So you're telling me that the AI.

[Matt Jones]

That'S meant to make everyone's job easier to manage just adds more to manage on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages? Funny how that works. Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business. Let's create Smile to business IBM. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on.

[Billy]

Car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means playing in a football game.

[Matt Jones]

Boom. 42. You're going down, Doug. Oh, yeah.

[Caller]

Your price on car insurance when you customize and save is going down.

[Matt Jones]

Hey, limu.

[Billy]

What are you doing on their team? Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com. liberty.

[Caller]

Liberty. Liberty.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. I am Matt Jones. The Cats beat St. John's in a massive game with one of the more exciting second halves of a regular season game in recent memory. 7866 in Cat Lana in front of a raucous UK crowd. You can give us a shout, we'll open up the phones. This is going to be a fun afternoon. 859-280-2287. I'm not sure you're ever gonna see a basketball game or a two and a half hour period where the Kentucky fan emotions shifted more quickly than than this afternoon. In the first half, the Cats were bad against a St. John's team that was not playing particularly well itself. They were down and maybe even most importantly, Jalen Lowe looked to be not only hurt, but potentially out for the season as the shoulder he hurt earlier in the year seemed to be hurt again. And he went straight to the locker room and a lot of people if you're like me, you were on a text thread somewhere with your friends saying, well, I guess that's it, because that's what it felt like. Once again we were seeing a terrible muddled offense and really it looked like a team that just wasn't going to work. And then all of a sudden I get a text message from a number of you on the text machine saying, Jalen Lowe's warming up at halftime and you think, oh, wait a minute. And in the second half, Kentucky completely changes the season, in my opinion, certainly changes our view of what the season can be, but also for a variety of reasons, gets a win that I think will have huge impact on the year, on potential tournament seating and a lot more as Jalen Lowe comes in and is dominant place 15 minutes and is plus 20. And equally as important, Jaden Quaintance in his debut looks like a beast. We've sat there and said, when will Mark Pope have that elite recruit, elite player? Well, he's got one because we've seen a lot of great guys come through here and that dude has that talent. The combination of low acquaintance, it allows Ortega away to get back to his more natural role and by the way, finished with a quiet 20 points. I mean, all of us, and I'm sure we will today, will talk about low acquaintance, but Otega always has his best game of the year because he's able to do the things that he is best at. Cam Williams hits outside shots, continues his rise on defense, has 11, and you get a Kentucky team that is not only wins, but looks a lot of fun in that second half. And now an hour later, it's a different situation, it's a different team. So I want to go through all of it because I Think there's a lot to be excited about. Even though Quaintance is, I think, a top 10 pick and maybe the most exciting story. This game to me is about Jalen Lowe because he's the difference. I mean, in some ways, our success hinges on his right shoulder.

[Caller]

It.

[Matt Jones]

You know, when you are going home with your family for Christmas, everybody try to give each other the gift of Jalen Lowe. Shoulder health. Put him, Billy, in bubble wrap. Okay.

[Billy]

Yes.

[Matt Jones]

Do not. I'm telling you, we need to. I don't know what it is. Inject him with whatever shoulder juice you can. That's not the phrase probably to use, but nevertheless, he. He's the key. This team is completely different with him on the floor. With him on the floor, there's ball movement away moves to a secondary score. Shooters now don't have to create their own shot. He can get them the shot. Big men, their defender will have to play off to double, which allows them to get offensive rebounds. He can pass and see the open man. And the offense goes from a muddled mess to a team that looks efficient. And you can see for the first time how the people that sort of created this team in terms of building it, how they envisioned it going. You know, I still wonder if we're one shooter short, but now I at least can see how it can work. And it's all low. You know, Billy, I'm wrong a lot, but I was right about that. Going back to the summer, this team has to have him. You can make some quibbles about should we have a backup point guard, should we have recruited one? That's fair. But he's the guy and he has that it. And he can get to the rim and he can create. But most importantly, he can create his own offense, draw double teams and kick. And I thought in that second half when he checked in, which was about the 16 minute mark or 17 minute mark until the end is. It was a masterclass performance by him. Floaters off the backboard, hit a three pass, calm the offense down. I just loved it. I. I felt like I was sitting there watching. I don't know if he'll be a star star, but watching like a really good Kentucky player develop. Then parallel to that is Jaden Quaint. At one point, he had played 12 minutes and had 10 points and seven rebounds. And you know, sometimes you see a guy and you go, they don't make too many of those. And that's him that there. There are only a handful of those in the world. Athletic can handle the ball Great Defense can rebound, physical. He's a top 10 pick. That's our next NBA player right there. And watching him. No offense to Malachi, no offense to Garrison, no offense to Yellow Vich. That's a different dude. That's a completely different dude. And he hasn't even done some of the stuff like shooting, which, which I think he can do. He's a completely different guy. And the athleticism, you know, St. John's when he was in, especially with Diabate, I mean, they, they, they couldn't get anything at the rim, anything at all. The, the paint was completely shut down. And those two guys together, Low and Quaintance. It's like a different basketball team. Then throw in Cam Williams making threes. Throw in away being. This was the away we had last year, which goes to the point that I kind of made during the summer and early fall, which is always. Can be like, maybe the best second or third option in the country, but he can't be your first option. And now he gets to do that. And he had a quiet 20. And then Diabate, I thought was great, especially in the, you know, down low, doing the gritty stuff. And that lineup, which played a lot of the second half of Low away. Williams with Aberdeen kind of coming in here and there, and then Diabate and Quaintance with Moreno kind of coming in, in there, in that, you know, every few minutes. You know, that's a team that can be special. And some guys are not going to get to play. I mean, I kind of think. Billy, I don't know if we're going to see much. Trent. No, you know, I don't know if we're going to see any yellow bitch. I also think Brandon Garrison is going to be having to fight Moreno for his minutes, because I can tell you that those five guys, they're playing and everything's different now. It's completely different outlook. And you have two weeks here where you play Bellarmine on Tuesday, but then that's it for two weeks. Our next game, besides Bellarmine, that matters is two weeks from today when we go to Alabama and SEC play starts. And I want you to think about how much different this time off is going to be than it would have been if the game had ended at halftime. Literally, the game ends at halftime. We're all sitting there going, all right, well, maybe we invest in women's basketball. Season's over. The season's over. I mean, if the game ends at halftime and Jalen Lowe's out for the year, we're probably like this year's just going to be about let's enjoy the acquaintance moments. Now, though, it's a different thing. You know, I do worry about a couple things, but I. But now it's like nitpicking worries or worries about going from a good team to a potentially great team. But the floor of this team, which looked to be really low, has. As long as you keep low and quaint and selfie, the floor has risen quite a bit, and now the ceiling will have to wait and see. But the most important thing is keep those two guys healthy. And even though I think Jaden Quaints will end up being the best player from this team long term, I want him healthy. He's very important. But we have to keep low healthy. He's irreplaceable. And I don't know, Billy, I don't know how. I don't know how you help shoulders, but I'm willing to invest in shoulder help.

[Billy]

He can have my shoulder.

[Matt Jones]

Do they have. Oh, can he have yours?

[Billy]

Yes. Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Do they have nil for shoulders? I'll donate.

[Billy]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Matt Jones]

I will because I. I cannot remember a time. You probably have to go back to Nerlands to find a time that one person's health has such an impact on a team, don't you think? I mean, we've had a lot of players better than Jalen Lowe, but the teams were set up that if we lost the guy, we'd still be okay. I think Nerlens, and then, you know, Anthony Davis would have been like that, but he didn't get hurt. I don't know. I can't think of a team where the success or failure is more on one guy's health than him. Do you?

[Billy]

Well, Oscar never got hurt, so we never saw that team without him.

[Matt Jones]

Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, maybe that's right.

[Billy]

But I don't know another one besides.

[Matt Jones]

That, certainly for guards. I mean, think about if John Wall got hurt. You still had Eric Blitz, you know? Yeah, I don't know. Maybe. Maybe like de' Aaron Fox, but you still had Monk.

[Caller]

Mm.

[Matt Jones]

I don't know. I cannot think of one where there's just no other option. Because the moment. If you go watch, if you rewatch this game. And by the way, I've watched the second half now twice because I got so excited. The timeout, under eight minutes. I think Pope leaves low on the bench. I think hoping he can get a rest real quick. We come out and run two offensive possessions that are hideously dreadful. They put low right back in the game, and we're good. And it was almost like Pope was like, yeah, I can't take him out. I cannot take him out. And I'm excited having him, and I'm excited to watch Quaint. And also, I'm excited that we have no more games on cbs, so I don't have to watch this stupid robot basketball anymore.

[Billy]

What was that?

[Matt Jones]

What is this? It's on right now. Like, what is the point of this? I'm serious. Like, I'm not even being facetious. What is the point of this? Like, what. What am I learning?

[Billy]

Too much technology.

[Matt Jones]

But they just show a play, and then they show robots doing it. I can see the. Why would I want to see a robot?

[Billy]

Well, you got the POV of the player during the robots.

[Caller]

But.

[Matt Jones]

But. Well, okay, they just showed that. I mean, I. I guess that's something, but it's a robot.

[Billy]

How was Bruce Pearl?

[Matt Jones]

I'm more mad about the robot. Bruce Pearl was fine. Although I have to say, you know how we always complain on ESPN that the crowd is too low and you can't hear the crowd? I think on cbs, at least for this game, it was the opposite. I couldn't hear the announcers. Did you. Did you notice that, like, I couldn't even really hear what Bruce Pearl was saying during a lot of the game?

[Billy]

No. We had the same issue on radio, though. We had to turn down the effects feed. It was too loud.

[Matt Jones]

Do you think that's just our crowd, or do you think it's like they screwed up their effect?

[Billy]

No, it was the producers inability to turn it down.

[Matt Jones]

Aren't you the producer?

[Billy]

Yes, but, like, there's. There's levels to this, so there's. There's somebody there that turns the person there screwed it. Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

You're throwing this random person in Atlanta down again.

[Billy]

I didn't hear it, so. But yeah, the effects.

[Matt Jones]

Well, if you had the same problem on the radio, then I just. Man, maybe other people aren't like that. It just. I couldn't really. There were a lot of the game work now. I'd almost rather hear the crowd. So it didn't bother me, but I just couldn't really hear him a lot of the time. 777-277-45254 is a text machine. I am excited about this one, I have to tell you. I mean, last year, I got really excited when we beat Duke. I got really excited at that comeback with Gonzaga. Trying to think of the other games in the year where I was really excited. I was really excited after we beat Tennessee on the road, although I wasn't on that show. But this one we needed because it looked the other way. And you know, a lot of us are going to be taking time off over the next 10 days. This will be a lot happier of a time. And oh yeah, the volleyball team plays for a National Championship tomorrow. 859-280-2287. We will take a break. Looking forward to hearing your calls. This is the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR post game show. People are saying some of you guys maybe miss part of that intro monologue because of the commercial stream or something. Not firing as Billy Trash is the Atlanta producer, then the show doesn't come on.

[Billy]

Yeah, that's karma.

[Matt Jones]

That is karma. But it'll be on podcast so you can catch it. Then you got to hear me gushing about Jalen Lowe's performance. People are okay. So this is good. A lot of you on the text machine saying a player that has that kind of impact. I like the, I like the analogy to Brandon Knight. He would have been a guy that if that 2011 team had lost, they wouldn't have been good at all. So I like that one. I like that one a lot. You know, Ulis his second year maybe, but I think Murray could have played point and been all right because he kind of plays that a little bit in, in Denver. So I mean wouldn't. We wouldn't have been as good. We weren't great anyway, but we wouldn't have been as good. But I mean there's nobody here. I mean nobody. So man. And he's fun to watch. I he is so much fun to watch. And like he's playing now like he did it pit but much more under control now. Granted, we haven't seen a lot of minutes because he hasn't gotten a chance to but it pit kind of some of the his bad instincts he had to force it. He really hasn't felt like except maybe at the end of that Louisville game. That's the only time I felt like he's forced it.

[Caller]

So.

[Matt Jones]

So the good low has been much, much better than the bad that sometimes you would see last year. 859-280-2287 Billy I was asking what he was watching right now. And there's an NFL game. There is. There's a playoff game. There's a basketball game, North Carolina, Ohio State. And you're watching Montana.

[Billy]

Montana.

[Matt Jones]

Montana State.

[Billy]

Yes. This is FCS playoff football, Matt. They call it the Biggest game ever in the state of Montana. The get in price was $650.

[Matt Jones]

Wow. That's where the tickets started for the national championship. Semifinal.

[Billy]

Semifinal.

[Matt Jones]

It must not be a very big stadium. Well, Montana. Montana State. Good luck. The Grizzlies. And I'm trying to think, what is Montana State?

[Billy]

The.

[Matt Jones]

I don't know. The Somethings. The Somethings. The Grizzlies versus the Somethings. By the way, I've been practicing play by play. Yeah.

[Billy]

How's that going?

[Matt Jones]

I kind of got in my head a little bit last night. Kind of got a little nervous. Oh, it's just not. It's not natural to me. But then Myron talked me off the ledge today. I did a little bit at halftime of the a. M. I'm like. I'm just calling games in my room in my house right now. And I've learned to, like, slow down. Don't try to talk as fast as, like, this dude on ESPN Radio. Last night was pro, and I was like, I can't do that. So I feel like I have my pace a little better. We'll be ready.

[Billy]

Well, you're in a Superdome and the game's going to be quick. It might speed you up a little bit.

[Matt Jones]

I don't want to. I'm not to slow down. The key is to slow down because I. The thing is, it's the 10 or 15 seconds before they snap the ball. Like, he had all this stuff to say, and it's just not natural for me to say all that. So I'm just not going to say it, you know?

[Billy]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

I'm not gonna sit there and talk about formations because to be honest with you, I don't know them. All right, who's up first?

[Billy]

Bobcat's Bobcats.

[Matt Jones]

Go ahead.

[Billy]

No, that's just. Montana State's master Chris is up first.

[Matt Jones]

Chris, go ahead. Chris.

[Caller]

Hey, can you hear me?

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Caller]

Yeah. So, I mean, my thoughts after this game today is that Mark Pope is finally figured out with. With the injuries, how to put together this team. I think going forward, we need low. Aberdeen away MO And JQ what do you think?

[Matt Jones]

He finally figured it out or he just had the whole team healthy? I mean, I still think it's fair to say we shouldn't have been as. As bad as we were against Gonzaga and a couple of those. But, like, part of it is he just has his roster now, right?

[Caller]

He has his roster. And that's what I'm saying is that this is the roster that Kentucky paid for. And today we saw what the $22 million was for because we saw JQ rebounding, Duncan on the offensive rebounds, blocking shots, Camillions hitting shots low, running the offense away, doing what he does. I mean, this is what we're talking about.

[Matt Jones]

It is. And we haven't. And like you said, we haven't had that. I appreciate the call. I mean, two things can be true. It can be true that when this team wasn't healthy, he just wasn't able to figure out how to put forth competitive performances. But it can also be true that when they were envisioning this team, now this is what they were envisioning. So I think both those things can be true. There's never an excuse to lose by 40 to Gonzag. But there's also, like, this is what they were hoping for. And you're starting like, you'll see it now. It is very reliant on the health of one guy and maybe the health of two, depending on how you look at the quaint situation. But you can now at least see the vision. And, you know, we're still not going to be a great shooting team. I still wish we had one more guy who could knock down threes, but we're going to be really physical inside. And let me say this about tonight. Even in the first half when we were not scoring, we were really good, Billy. Defensively, they were right. Like, we were really good defensively this whole game. And we were against Indiana, too. I mean, they have now played against two pretty good teams and played excellent defense both times. Offensively in the first half it was bad, but they were still really good defensively in the first half. Who's next?

[Billy]

Press gave us some problems, though.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I put that on the offense. I. I mean, I'm not complaining because we won. I will complain, though. How did we not have a play to inbound the ball?

[Billy]

Yeah, there's some bad.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, we were doing the old, like, cow thing and just hold one arm up in the air and lob it. I mean, we turned it over, I think four times on the press. I mean, not in four times, like just getting it in bounds. So that wasn't that. I don't know if he didn't think he was going to do it or what. They were not ready for that. Who's that?

[Billy]

Dustin.

[Matt Jones]

Dustin. Go ahead, Dustin.

[Caller]

Hey, guys. How are you doing?

[Matt Jones]

Good. What's up?

[Caller]

I know there's a lot of doom and gloom right now with the lack of high school recruits we have next year and the JMI deal, but I Feel like most of the team we have on our team, like we should be able to keep most of those guys next year.

[Matt Jones]

And yeah, I mean, you'll lose. Just, just so people know, let's assume nobody transfers. You would lose away. You would lose. Quaintance will go to the draft. But yeah, you could, you could keep any of the other guys you wanted. So, so yeah, I mean you can still, you could still have quite a good roster coming next year.

[Caller]

Yeah, I think you're another probably good backup point guard and two shooters away from being a top 10 team next year.

[Matt Jones]

So I still think you need, you'll need it, you'll need a star. But you're right, but you couldn't. I mean, I think there's a different issue which, about Pope's high school recruiting and next year's roster. But, but you're right. I mean, the thing we have to remember is we're kind of used to losing all of our players every year. Next year you don't have to lose all these guys.

[Caller]

Yes, yes.

[Matt Jones]

And some of these guys, by the way, Cam Williams, Low. Trying to think, who else am I missing? Cam Williams and Low for sure. Signed essentially next year, two year deals, so. And I don't know if Moreno and Jasper did or not, but I know that, that, that, that, that Low and Cam did. So that's, it's, you know, it's a little different. But go ahead.

[Caller]

Yeah. And I guess my second thing is I feel like shooting off the dribble. I feel like Jasper Johnson might be a better fit for that. Do you think Mark Pope should be more intentional about getting him in the lineup just for that reason?

[Matt Jones]

No. No, I don't. I appreciate the call. I think Jasper. So I was sitting here thinking at halftime what I was going to say on the postgame show if we lost. And what I was going to say then is, okay, the only chance we have is we're just going to have to play Jasper because he's the only guy who can get his own shot and he's going to struggle some, but we just got to like live with it. Now. I don't think that's true because you have Low now maybe you teach Jasper to play eight to 10 minutes in a backup point guard role. But now Jasper with Low, Jasper's a luxury, not a necessity. What I know is not going to work. Billy is Aberdeen. No offense to him.

[Billy]

You out on Aberdeen now?

[Matt Jones]

Not as a point guard. Okay. I'm in on him as a, as a two or three. I'm with you, but he can't play point guard.

[Billy]

He.

[Matt Jones]

He holds the ball too much. He just pounds it into the ground. He can't beat his man off the dribble. He cannot be your point guard. So, you know, he could be part of your starting five as a two or three, but he can't be your point guard. So, I mean, Jasper might be the backup. I don't know if Chandler can do it too. I don't think they have anybody if they don't have low. I just. I don't think there's an option, really. Who's next?

[Billy]

Red.

[Matt Jones]

Red. Go ahead, red.

[Caller]

What's up, Matt? What a tale of two halves. To be honest. I mean, I'm driving home from Washington to South Carolina for the holidays, and that first half, I could not have been more depressed. In the second half, I'm just giggling to myself, listening to Tom Leach, just giggling. But one thing I wanted to say. Yeah, one thing I wanted to say that you touched on already is Cam Williams is silently, quietly becoming an X factor role. I think his hustle and his effort, there's a lot of guys on the team that don't have that quite as much as he does. So I think going forward, especially if he's hitting his shots. But I'm a big Cam Williams fan and, yeah, this is a new. A new chapter of the season, I think.

[Matt Jones]

I totally agree. Appreciate the call. You know, he had. He had been weird up until the Indiana game where he had played like, really, like he was like one of the best defenders statistically on. In the country. But then when you broke down his games, it was like that he was elite against the bad teams and he still was struggling against the good teams. Well, then against Indiana and now tonight he brought what he was doing in the other games to this, and he was great tonight. He was great. And when he hit shots, you know, but part of the reason he was hitting shots is they're open, Billy. Right? Low gets him open. I think it's just all these guys without low are having to do things that is not their skill set. And I think Mark is like this, you know, analytic master, and he creates this vision of a team. But then when you take away the central piece, I think he wasn't doing a great job of figuring out what else to do. Well, now he doesn't have to do that if. If low place. Who's next?

[Billy]

Todd.

[Matt Jones]

Todd. All right, I'm supposed here came and Jalen. Billy, just to be clear.

[Billy]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Not two years deals not to be clear. So I don't want to get. I don't want to get that started. Net be wrong. I thought that was true, but thank you to for the correction. Who's next?

[Billy]

Todd is next.

[Matt Jones]

Todd, go ahead, toddlers.

[Caller]

Hello, Matt. Bill, hello. I just wanted to say that in my opinion, Acquaintance was the player of the game. Now, I know Cam did well and so did Jalen Lowe, but I thought Acquaintance was the best player on the floor, showed the most energy. And I tell you what, if all of our team played with his energy, I believe we'd be unstoppable.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I think there were other guys who play with energy. He played with energy. And he's a freak athlete. You know what I mean? Like an insane athlete, that guy.

[Caller]

Well, he's got. He's got a nose for the ball.

[Matt Jones]

He does. But he's also a freak athlete. Kyle, man.

[Caller]

He goes to it.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Again, when you're 73 and athletic, you can. But Kyle Mann, who's NBA guy for the ringer, and he's also a Kentucky fan, he wrote. And this is a strong comment coming from him, he wrote that he thought Quaintance is the best defender at Kentucky since Anthony Davis. That's a pretty strong comment, you know.

[Caller]

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I appreciate the call. Good to hear from you. By the way, you know, if you go back to the start of the Cal era, I think the two best, certainly big men, defenders we've had. Well, the three best were Anthony Davis, Nerlens Noel and Willie Collie Stein. Billy, do you think he joins that group if he stays healthy?

[Billy]

If he stays healthy, yes. This is. But this is one game, so.

[Matt Jones]

No, I know, but we have to, like, we only can talk about what we've seen, right. If he stays healthy, he has that level. Of those three guys of defense now, offensively, Anthony Davis was special, but like. And Anthony Davis, also special defensively, but like, he's got that athleticism. He's. I don't. He's not going to hit Anthony. I don't even know if he'll hit Nerland's level. But, like, he's pretty good. He's pretty. I mean, he's. And he's big, too. Who's next?

[Billy]

But it won't matter if Jalen Lowe doesn't stay healthy. Right.

[Matt Jones]

I don't think. Listen, without Jalen Lowe, we beat. I mean, am I wrong? Do you disagree? We're not beating anybody without him.

[Billy]

I don't disagree, but I'm just. It's hard to. For Me to think it's that simple. Like, it still should be there. Is there still?

[Matt Jones]

You have an example of us playing well without Jalen. No, I don't.

[Billy]

Not at all. I mean, just.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, even tonight, I feel like tonight was the example. You didn't play with him in the first half, and then you did play with him in the second.

[Billy]

Would you start him?

[Matt Jones]

Well, I don't. I mean, I don't know. Like, why wouldn't you start him?

[Billy]

Yeah, throw him in there. I mean.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, if he's going, like, if you want to hold him to 20 minutes or 25 minutes, okay, but why not have him at the. Be like, we. We didn't start low. Or Williams. Now, Quaintance. I know he was just getting going, but if it were me for that Alabama game, aren't you starting low? Williams and Quentin?

[Billy]

Yes. I mean, you got to.

[Matt Jones]

It's.

[Billy]

You got.

[Matt Jones]

I don't know why you wouldn't. I mean, I think you would start low. Williams, Quaintance away, and Diabate. Those are your five best players right now. Wouldn't you start them? Like, what's the point of starting? No offense, but Chandler and Garrison, just to take them out.

[Billy]

Oh, what was the point of starting? D.J. wagner.

[Matt Jones]

Had a different philosophy. I mean, Pope has always been free to, like, Popal changes starting lineup. So hopefully I say you just start your best players, but we'll see who's next.

[Billy]

Andrew.

[Matt Jones]

Andrew. Go ahead, Andrew.

[Caller]

And that. I was. I was at the game today, first.

[Matt Jones]

Of all, by the way, what was the crowd like on tv? It came across like it was awesome. Was it awesome?

[Caller]

Second. Second half. It was awesome first half. Not so much, for obvious reasons. I mean, it was so hard to get into that first half, but there was just walking in, there was so much blue, you know, vast majority of the attendance there was Kentucky fans.

[Matt Jones]

What percentage of the crowd? By the end of the game, when the North Carolina and Ohio State fans had got in, what percentage of the crowd do you think was Kentucky fans?

[Caller]

I had to guess. It felt like 70 to me. I mean, there's nobody from Ohio State there. St. John's had a small contingent, and there were a few UNC fans spread throughout. But even the ones behind us acknowledge they don't travel like we do.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Yeah. Great crowd. I mean, second half, we were. We were all fired up and into it, watching when Jalen Lowe came and checked by. And remember, we were all in the dark. You know, outside of those of us who were trying to Google what was going on I mean, we, we thought we were sitting here wondering how to put the pieces of our season back together, thinking Low was out for the year. I don't know what the rest of the world was thinking, but we thought he, no way he'd come back in. All of a sudden he gets up, checked in, and the, the air changed.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And the second he and Quaintness are on the floor at the same time, I mean, just two, two different teams. You saw the game, but, you know, two different teams and like two different game time experiences. And I, I really called to say I, I'm just, I'm so impressed with Jalen Lowe's character because after we saw what, what happened to his, and I didn't see exactly what happened, but I, we were talking at halftime and we were like, you know, I wouldn't even blame him.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I just assumed. I actually texted, I actually tweeted something. I ended up deleting it because he, I found out a minute later he was coming back, but I tweeted like, now he needs to be selfish and not play. Right. Like, that's kind of how I felt. So, you know, I, I'm with you. I give him a ton of credit. Lamont Butler did the same thing last year. Neither one of those guys could have been blamed if they didn't play. And them coming back, I think actually.

[Caller]

That is really good character and it speaks to. And you know, because there's a lot of talk nowadays how players, you know, play for themselves, not for the school. And there's a lot of that. And I'm not, not sure how that is with any specific players on the team, but I can say with certainty after today, Jalen Lowe wants to play for this university. He wants to play for this team. And you even see as a teammate, even when he was still out injured on the bench, he's the first guy off the bench. He's smiling, he's excited. And I'll say the same for Quaint, too. I mean, I mean, we all know he could have stopped the year and chosen to, you know, go be a.

[Matt Jones]

No, you're right. And I'll say the same thing about the guys that got benched in the second half. I appreciate the call. I mean, if you look over at the bench when we're making the run, nobody's pouting, like, they're all up and they're all cheering and. But yeah, I mean, did anyone think Low was going to come back? Billy. Did you? I mean, I can't imagine anybody really even suspected he Might. Who.

[Billy]

Who are we talking about?

[Matt Jones]

Who do you think we're talking about? Jalen Love.

[Billy]

Oh, yeah. Well, I was on the phone. No, I didn't think he was coming back.

[Matt Jones]

And for him, seven answer, by the way, who are we talking about?

[Billy]

Seven seconds off the bench and he's gone.

[Matt Jones]

Seven seconds. I gave a half a patino joke and starting to think there's a group. There's like an age of people who don't get those jokes.

[Billy]

Oh, man, we got to educate these.

[Matt Jones]

I mean. Yeah, but think about that. Like, we're. I'm getting so old that, like, I'm making patino jokes and there's a group of people that don't know them.

[Billy]

Now I'm starting to feel old.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. All right, we'll do one more and we'll take a break.

[Billy]

Who's Donnie?

[Matt Jones]

Donnie. Go ahead, Donnie.

[Caller]

Hey, guys, thanks for taking my call. Matt, you're right on. On this shoulder. Make no mistake about it. We've got one point guard and he's injured. JQ and Low, they had their signature all over this win. Matt, if. If Low doesn't play in the second half, I don't know if we win this.

[Matt Jones]

No, we don't win. We don't win or if we win. It's like 57, 56 or something, you know?

[Caller]

Yeah. With Low out there, this team takes on a different personality. And throw in jq, this could be something special if. But it depends on your point guard, the other caller. I don't think it's about the coach figuring this out. He's been without two and a half players. And I say the half because of course, Low and then jq, the half I throw in there because of away.

[Matt Jones]

I agree. I agree with you. That's a really good. That's who I thought you were going to say. I agree with that.

[Caller]

Yeah. But Olay is free now. It showed today. But thanks for taking my time.

[Matt Jones]

I totally agree with that. That's a great analysis. That's. Appreciate the call. That's a great analysis. I think two and a half is the way to say it, because you were not getting the full away. Not because I think he, like, I mean, I do think he. He. He was pouting a little bit one or two of those games, but I also think, like, he is your second option. He is a great second option. He's your second option that might even lead your team in scoring, but he's the second option and now he gets to be that. And you saw what happened. He was unleashed. But Also give him credit. He did kind of keep the team in the game in the first half because without him I'm not sure if they would have scored in the first first. So I do give him credit for that. But like now he can be what he is and he did a great job to today. 859-280-2287. Text machine is 772-774-5254. We'll take a break. Be right back. It's a local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. Local toy dealers KSR post game show. Shout out. By the way, they did the big blue deli commercial with the Darius Miller shout out to them. I ate there again this week. They have really good sandwiches. They also have a picture hanging in there, Billy, that I'm really curious as to the origin of.

[Billy]

Okay.

[Matt Jones]

Seen the picture of the saucy woman painting in UK gear? Have you seen that?

[Billy]

No, I've been a couple times.

[Matt Jones]

It looks to be an officially licensed UK picture from either the late. I'm going to say like late 70s or early 80s. And the woman has on UK. Like I don't even really know if I can describe it as my mom is listening, but it looks to have been licensed by uk. I'm fascinated by the picture. I don't know where. I just wonder like, I can't see UK allowing it. I mean, not allowing it, like, but it looks like they. They use the logo and stuff anyway. Just if you're ever in there, you'll see what I'm saying.

[Billy]

There's been some saucy UK hockey posters in the past.

[Matt Jones]

Well, that's true. Back. That's true. They did do those. So maybe it was just pre Barnhart era. I guess that was just a different way to do it. One person writes, Matt, what did you think about diabate getting kicked out? Ridiculous. First of all, I don't understand when it became a crime to score at the end of the game. All right, that didn't used to be like that, Billy.

[Billy]

That's like it, though.

[Matt Jones]

That's like in the last 15 years. This idea. You cannot. You have to just dribble at the end of the game. Why?

[Billy]

Sportsmanship.

[Matt Jones]

Why? Like in baseball, do they tell you to strike out in the ninth inning? No, thank you.

[Billy]

No, they don't.

[Matt Jones]

So why can't you? In hockey, they keep trying to score. Why did we decide in football and basketball you have to stop scoring?

[Billy]

Maybe because it prolongs the game so much by how long it prolonged a.

[Matt Jones]

Lot more by them John about it.

[Billy]

Yeah, it's just, it's.

[Matt Jones]

And the other thing is I don't like this. This happened twice in this game. I don't like when refs wimp out and call the double technical. Just because two people arguing does not mean that they both did something wrong. The first person, if someone starts a fight and then the other person responds, why do they both get the same punishment?

[Billy]

Well, you have to show restraint. You can't do. Can't stoop down to their level and fight back.

[Matt Jones]

I don't know. I'm just doing. In the first half he fouled. That was a dirty foul on, on away. They ended up calling it a flagrant. So the foul is dirty. Why is it a double technical for going, hey dude, the foul was dirty. Yeah, I don't, that's. I mean Diabate ended up getting like kicked out for that. I didn't like that. I just don't like, like that call. One person writes Matt, every time they say Cam Williams, I think it's Cat Williams and it makes me enjoy it even more. I agree with. I like that, you know, I, I like Cat Williams at least since he did that one Shannon Sharp interview. Yeah, I never really had listened to him. Drew's always loved the guy but, but I do as well. One person says, Matt, would you sit low out against Bellarmine? Maybe. Maybe. Just depends. I don't know. You know they know his injury. By the way, my co MVP of the game along with quite low the training staff for uk. Yeah getting low back out there and the rehab for acquaintance. They deserve a lot of shout outs. All right, who's next?

[Billy]

Well, it's time for our Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game. Matt, a perfect segue here. Injured get small town compassion with big city results when you call the rocker at 270-321-4429 and tonight we're picking Jane Quatance. 10 points, 17 minutes plus plus 18 in the plus minus. Two big blocks in the game that really energized not only the crowd but the team and also eight rebounds. He is our money, money, money, money.

[Matt Jones]

Don't sing please. Money maker of the game, Jaden Quaintance and Raftery. I did hear point this out and so did Pearl. He can guard those dudes in the post one on one in the first half they were having some success especially on Moreno of like isolating them one on one and they would just beat him. Just better footwork. Can't do that against Quaint. He's bigger He's a better defender and if you beat him, he can still block your shot from behind. He makes a huge difference. Who's next?

[Billy]

Brock.

[Matt Jones]

Brock. Go ahead, Brock.

[Caller]

I'm at. Yeah. JQ isn't just absolute monster. It's really insane the amount of impact he had on the game in such a short time, but really just the team as a whole. To go from 25 points in the second half to putting up 50 or in the first half to putting up 53 in the second half. It really just shows what happens when your team sticks together like peanut butter and jelly.

[Matt Jones]

Yep. I appreciate the call. That's exactly right. You know, tell your friends about Jaden Quaintance. He has been able to do it. That's another thing about the play by play, Billy, is me trying to figure out. I don't naturally, you know how Tom Leach can just have the excitement in his voice. I don't. I don't really do that.

[Billy]

You don't get excited.

[Matt Jones]

And then the other thing is there's no, no one's going to be at this game. So will it be weird if I'm yelling about a play and there's no sound in the background?

[Billy]

No. You got to bring the energy. If their energy.

[Matt Jones]

Even if no one's at the game.

[Billy]

Yeah. Like, you know we talked on the NFL show about that guy that brought the energy. His name's escaping me.

[Matt Jones]

He does, but he has people at the game.

[Billy]

He does, but he doesn't let that dictate if he's going to bring the excitement or not. You need to bring it back.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. It's just not my natural.

[Billy]

Myron on track.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, that's not my. He may need to keep me on track. I'm. It's gonna be a different experience. Who's next?

[Billy]

Andrew.

[Matt Jones]

By the way, I'm sitting and reading the like the Southern Miss game notes.

[Billy]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Not the most exciting Friday night in the world.

[Billy]

Go ahead, Andrew.

[Matt Jones]

Andrew.

[Caller]

Yay. Hey, Matt. I called you. I'm Florida fan. That follows uk.

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Caller]

I just want to tell you guys, you do things first class up there. And Jack Evans. Excuse me for not remembering the announcers.

[Matt Jones]

Tom Leach, every.

[Caller]

Everything you do in covering your basketball team is polished and top rate. And I just wanted to say kudos to you as a fellow SEC member. Looks like you guys are overcoming some of the things that were messing you up there in the beginning. But St. John's missed her first 13 of their first 15 shots.

[Matt Jones]

Yes, they did.

[Caller]

Yet they built that. That 16 full run. You know that's where I think you need to zero in on those turnovers.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, we did have a lot of turnovers, especially early. We did. Nice to hear from you. I appreciate the call. We did have. We had 11 turnovers in the first half, but I think a big part of that, it's. We're. We're being repetitive is Jalen Lowe. When we don't have a point guard, We. We ended up throwing a lot of soft lobs trying to generate offense, you know, because guys couldn't beat each other off the dribble. We're trying to lob entry passes and lob the ball inbounds, and Jalen Blow takes all that off the table. And you don't have to do that. Who's next?

[Billy]

Mike.

[Matt Jones]

Mike. Go ahead, Mike.

[Caller]

Hey, what's up, Matt?

[Matt Jones]

What's going on?

[Caller]

Hey, man. First off, I got a Gabe Pendleton from Glasgow told me you work on your golf game.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I need to. He saw me the last time I played, and I nearly retired after it. So I need to. I gotta. I gotta get better.

[Caller]

That's funny. I'm from down that way, so I've known that forever. But first, I appreciate the. Let me call. And just to harp on. I thought Cam Williams was amazing, but I think with Low coming back, hopefully he can stay healthy. His guys kind of understood the role a bit better. You know, space in the floor, where they should be. I thought Marino played really well, especially at the beginning. He kind of held us together with oa. And then, you know, jq, I texted, he's a man child. He reminds me, tell me you're different. Kenneth Farid, Morehead State. The guy is a freak.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, but he's taller. I mean, Kenneth Farid was like. I mean, I don't know what. Quaint sentiment. Yeah, you see different. You see different heights listed with him. He's got long arms. I appreciate the call. So, no, however tall he is, he plays taller because of his arms. And yeah, I mean, Freed was a beast, but he wasn't as tall. I mean, this dude.

[Billy]

Six, eight.

[Matt Jones]

Six, eight. So what do they have? Quaint. Quaint is listed as 6, 9, 6, 10. He feels taller than 6, 9 to me. 6. Are you just saying he's listed 610 or he's listed as 6 10?

[Billy]

I said 6, 9 because that's the first Google result. And then 610 under the wildcat blue.com nation.

[Matt Jones]

Once you look, you know, there's a website called UK Athletics where they have the official one, which is sometimes they're exaggerated.

[Billy]

Six. Yeah, exactly. 610 on the UK.

[Matt Jones]

610. Okay. Well, I think I read somewhere he has the wingspan of somebody 7:3, but I don't know. I don't remember where I heard that. But either way, he's just an athletic freak. Who's next?

[Billy]

Chip.

[Matt Jones]

Chip. Go ahead, Chip.

[Caller]

Hello.

[Matt Jones]

Yes, go ahead.

[Caller]

Hey. I just wanted to say that it was great seeing JQ out there. He is him. And watching him take that dude off the dribble was so exciting.

[Matt Jones]

That was. That was. I'm glad you mentioned that. That was the best play of the night to me, because that was, you know, that was an NBA move. You know, we've seen a lot of NBA guys here, and you see players sometimes and they have these moments where you go, okay, now I know why he is what he's considered for the NBA wall. Had that crossover against Carolina and UConn. You know, Anthony Davis had various blocks. I can. I could give you some moments. That was one of those moments for me. That was a lot that. And one was like, oh, okay, there it is.

[Caller]

And then. And then getting the offensive rebounds. It was so refreshing to see that. I wanted to get your thoughts, though, on possibly playing him with another big. I know in the past, we haven't really been, you know, fans of two bigs, but, you know, maybe having.

[Matt Jones]

I think that's got to be, though. I think that's got to be the. I don't like playing two bigs, but I think with this team, I think that's got to be the identity because we don't have enough shooters. So, like, I think you want. I want to play a lot of. I want to play three guards, but you got to have three guards who can make a three. And right now, I mean, we don't have anybody that we know can make a three. Right? We. So I think you. I think you just have. You have to play him with diabate. Those are two of your four best players, so you got to play them. And then with low, you can probably still generate enough offense for it to work.

[Caller]

I just noticed that when he was in with bg, it was just like, you know, we see more physical than any team down low that I've seen all year, you know, and they're a.

[Matt Jones]

Physical team that we play offensive rebounds. You know that St. John's is physical. So, I mean, that's a good sign. I appreciate the call. One of the good things about having him quaintance is in is he'll be. He will be great for what we struggle with last year, if you remember, we struggled last year with teams in the SEC's bigs that just. We just couldn't guard, especially if Amare wasn't in the game. Quaintance gives us a guy along with the abate. We got two options for that and Garrison when he's. When he's playing. Playing well, let's do one more. We'll take a break. Who's next?

[Billy]

Jay Witt.

[Matt Jones]

Jay Witt, go ahead.

[Caller]

Yeah, Matt, JQ and Low are the truth, baby. Can I get a big chant about a C, A T S? Cat, Cat, Cat. I'm fired up. So everybody down here in Muhlenberg county, we're fired up, baby. Let's go, Cats, baby.

[Matt Jones]

All right. Muhlenberg County's fired up. Appreciate the call. I'm fired up. By the way, about tomorrow, 3:30, Kentucky volleyball, going for the national championship against Texas A and M. We'll have a watch party at the bar, get there early, get your seat. Harmonica guy is going to be there, Billy. Oh, he was good, I see. He hasn't told me that, but he has to be there, Drew. Unfortunately, I'm gonna be on a plane. I'm able to see most of it. I'm literally not going to know while I'm in the air what happens. My plane takes off at 4:45. So you have that. WI fi never works, especially on regional planes. They don't. They don't ever fix those. 859-280-2287. We will take a break. Ole Miss leads to lane 17 to three at halftime. Going to go back and watch Carolina. We'll take a break and be right back. It's a local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local Toyota Toyota Dealers KSR Postgame Show. 859-280-2287. One person writes Matt Quaintance paid 17 minutes today. Is that too many minutes to give credit to the guy who said 10 to 12? Remember, I was going to give him credit, Billy, for 9 to 13. Right, right. So this was more. But I, I tell you what I'm going to do, though. I'm going to be generous and give him credit for the scoop because I think he played that much because he had to. You know what I mean? Like, I bet the plan was not to play him 17 minutes, but I think we felt like we had to because of the scenario of the game. So he said that. I think back on Monday and it wasn't common knowledge yet. I mean, there was some Speculation. So, Billy, I tend to give him credit for the scoop. Do you?

[Billy]

I don't. That is. That's very generous of you. I mean, we all predicted him coming back around this time, but I mean, minutes. That was the funny part about it, and he was wrong.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I want to give him credit. I'm not. I'm not as much of a Scrooge as you are here at Christmas time. I'm going to give him some credit. Are my Bears going to win tonight against the Packers?

[Billy]

I hope so. I'm rooting for them.

[Matt Jones]

Is there a football game going on right now?

[Billy]

Yeah. Eagles fumbled the opening kickoff against the Commanders.

[Matt Jones]

Probably is. Someone who's going to do a podcast about the NFL should have some notion happening. My mind's on a lot of things right now. All right, we'll do six and call it a day. Who's next?

[Billy]

Rob.

[Matt Jones]

Rob. Go ahead, Rob.

[Caller]

A couple of questions, Jelovich. I may have missed this. I'm wondering why he's not playing. Secondly, I would like to see Jasper Johnson play Summit to two. And the third thing, as a physician, I think he. I think Lowe is dislocating his shoulder. Once you start to dislocate your shoulder over time, you just pop it back in and the pain's gone. And so you're saying to me that.

[Matt Jones]

Like, if he's dislocated, if he dislocates it, is there any, like, let's say he just keeps doing it. Does it have a like effect on him long term? Or does he just like, is it okay to wait till the end of the year and then have surgery?

[Caller]

I mean, it's gonna. He's gonna continue to do the rest of his life once he has surgery. A lot of people don't. I guess theoretically you could develop some arthritis because you're popping it in and out of the journey joint. But once he has surgery, it's going to really limit his range of motion in that. In that right arm. So that'll be his decision. And I doubt. I mean, assuming he's not going to play pro ball, I don't think he will.

[Matt Jones]

Then he'll play pro ball somewhere. I mean, for him, he may or may not play in the NBA, but I wouldn't say it's impossible. But he'll play pro, but he's going to play. Ansley Almanor is playing pro basketball. Like these. All these guys are going to play pro basketball somewhere.

[Caller]

So he shoots with his left arm. So although we're limited range of motion on his right, it probably wouldn't matter as much, but I would. I mean, wait and have surgery at the end of the year for sure. You know, I don't think it's going to have any lasting damage between now and then if he just keeps playing, assuming that's what he's doing.

[Matt Jones]

All right, I appreciate the call. I hope, I hope you're right about that. I would. Yeah. You know, I don't, I'm not sure he's. I don't know if he's an NBA player, but like, I don't think it's impossible because he can get to the rim. He's certainly not a first round pick, but I don't, I don't think it's impossible that he would play. He's. He'll play. Did you see ANSLEY Almanar had 40 in his, his program? I don't know what the league is, but HENSLEY Almanor dropping 40, I think last night. As far as your other two questions, yellow bitch. He's not playing because there's a lot of big guys and he's right now playing probably the worst, or at least they think gives them the least amount. I think the Gonzaga game hurt him quite a bit. I didn't. I remember I. That was a game I wasn't able to see except a few minutes. I don't know how he did, but nobody did well. And then Jasper Johnson, I think he could get a chance for some minutes at the 2. I think that's plausible. But right now my guess is they're going to roll with what they have right now, which is low with the one and then kind of Aberdeen away and Chandler rotating at the 2 and 3 and see how that goes. Who's next?

[Billy]

Cooper.

[Matt Jones]

Cooper. Go ahead, Cooper. Hey, Matt.

[Caller]

First time, long time.

[Matt Jones]

Hua.

[Caller]

So shout out JQ. Shout out JLo. Rightfully so. They played great. But also shout out OA. He was great. He worked his tail off too, and he put up 20 and 5. My question is, with this team fully healthy, how high do you think it raises their ceiling? Are they still a second weekend team? Do you think they can make a Final Four? I know, I think the size is small, but what do you think?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, so I don't want to do what I did after the Purdue game, right. And go on one game and say we're the, we're the best team in the world. Here's what I would say. I think, you know, you play at Alabama, you could have a national championship team. And winning at Alabama is going to be hard. Right? So But I do want to see how we play in that game. Whether we win or not. Then I think the games that will tell it for me is then you have two games against teams that you should beat. I think it's like Missouri and lsu. Read me. I appreciate the call. Read me. Billy, can you pull up the first six SEC games?

[Billy]

Yeah, yeah, I got it right here actually.

[Matt Jones]

Okay, what are the first six SEC games?

[Billy]

At Alabama.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Billy]

Versus Missouri, versus Mississippi State.

[Matt Jones]

Mississippi State.

[Billy]

Okay. At lsu at Tennessee versus Texas.

[Matt Jones]

Okay, so. So talk to me after that. At Tennessee and at. What's the next one?

[Billy]

Lsu at lsu, at Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi.

[Matt Jones]

State you should beat at home. So then you go to. At Tennessee, at LSU to me or at lsu at Tennessee to me. That will tell you where you are. Because if you're a team that can contend for the final four, you need to win at LSU and you probably need to win one of. At Tennessee, at Alabama. You. Now you. I mean you could lose both those, but I want to see how they do in that. Then Texas at home, Mississippi State. Again we've talked about this with the schedule. It's weird. This year we play the good teams on the road and the bad teams at home. The good part of that is you shouldn't lose very many home games. Maybe no home games, but you're going to have to play Alabama, Arkansas on the road. Auburn, we play here. Am I correct about that?

[Billy]

Auburn is February 21st. That is at Auburn.

[Matt Jones]

Okay, so we play Arkansas, Auburn, Tennessee and Florida. And Arkansas, Auburn, Alabama. We play the five hardest teams in the league, all on the road. Now we do play Tennessee back here. Do we play Florida at home?

[Billy]

No, just the one matchup I believe.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. So think about that.

[Billy]

I'm sorry, the last game of the season is.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, that's right because we talked about that could be the. So my point of all that is just to say we don't have a lot of test at home, but we have a lot of tests on the road. We can't afford to lose games like at lsu. So that's how I'll decide if you made me bet right now. Fully healthy the rest of the year. This is an elite eight, sweets at sweet 16 team. But if we could just get a couple guys to make threes then I think the upside might be higher. Who's next day or more? Dane. Go ahead, Dane.

[Caller]

Hey, this is Dane. I have a, an opinion about the three point shot.

[Matt Jones]

Okay.

[Caller]

Okay. So I believe that Colin will be at 45 this year. I believe that will be about 38, 39%.

[Matt Jones]

What are these guys right now, though? I mean, neither one of them shooting that right now.

[Caller]

That's true, but we're talking about low getting open shots for people.

[Matt Jones]

That's true. No, that'll help Chandler in theory. Yeah.

[Caller]

And away is already at near 40% easy.

[Matt Jones]

Really?

[Caller]

And then low himself. I know he shot like, what, 27 at Pitt last year, but I think. I think he can get that up to around 35% from 3.

[Matt Jones]

Well, in theory, he should shoot to have better shot selection this year. I appreciate the call. I mean, I don't think it's crazy to say that these guys should get more open looks with a healthy low and that their percentage should go up. You know, I. Chandler's going to have to. I think long term, if you want to beat Alabama, you want to beat Tennessee, you want to beat Arkansas, you want to beat those teams. We're going to need Chandler or Aberdeen to pretty consistently knock threes down. And right now that's not happening, but hopefully for one of them, it does.

[Billy]

I have a list here if you want to hear these percentages.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, what are they?

[Billy]

Trent Noah leads the team. He's 12.28.429. Next is Colin Chandler at 0.404. Okay, then you have OA, Jasper, and then Aberdeen. Aberdeen 14 of 43.326.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, he needs to get that up. Now. Chandler, I feel like a lot of those were early in the year and it gets bad.

[Billy]

And he's got the most on from the team this year, 23 of 57.

[Matt Jones]

I'd be interested to see how many of those have been against the good teams, though, because I feel like there haven't been a lot. Who's next?

[Billy]

Matt.

[Matt Jones]

Matt, three more. Go ahead, Matt.

[Caller]

Hey, Matt, I was watching Tennessee and Louisville the other night. Tennessee is a force to be reckoned with inside. Do you think that Pope might try and go. Damage control acquaintance. And then you've got Garrison and Marino inside just as sort of a.

[Matt Jones]

No, you can't play all three of them. That would be.

[Caller]

Well, I figured. But, you know, it's physical as Tennessee is.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, they don't play. I don't think they play three bigs. I think they play two. And I listen, I feel a lot better about playing physical teams with Jaden Quaint than I did before. I think with Quaintance, Diabate and Garrison, you have three guys who are not scared to be physical at all.

[Caller]

Yeah, I mean, Garrison, I don't know what the deal with Garrison Is Pope didn't claim a ton. Granted, acquaintance was back today.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

Do you think that Garrison gets discouraged with.

[Matt Jones]

You know, he might, but you know what I would say play better. You know what I mean? If he gets discouraged, play better. No, but I'm saying. But he wasn't an impact player tonight. Now he was an impact player against Indiana, so I mean, he's got it in him but you know, rising tide raises all ships. My hope is, and I appreciate the call, Quaintance plane forces Garrison and Moreno to play better because if they don't, they will not play. I mean, Diabate's playing, Quaintance is playing. So if I am Moreno and I'm Garrison and I am Yellow bitch. They are playing for minutes. Those three guys are competing for minutes. And if they're competitors like I think they are, then we'll may the best man win two more. Who's next?

[Billy]

Moreno was good to start the game.

[Matt Jones]

It was good in the first half, but then in the second half kind of got beat defensively and then didn't really play a lot towards the end. He was, he was good scoring in the first half, but he, he struggled defensively tonight and I think that's one of the reasons he didn't play a lot in the second half.

[Billy]

Po is next.

[Matt Jones]

Po. Go ahead, Po.

[Caller]

Hey, happy holidays. Billy too and Matt Styles make fights, right?

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Caller]

Low. He was great tonight and or today and. But he's a liability on defense, Matt. And they don't have a, they didn't have a point guard or some good guards to sort of. There's going to be some teams that's going to be able to shut down low a little bit more and.

[Matt Jones]

Well, first of all, he is a liability on defense. I agree with you on that. But at the same time you can make up for it with good offense off it. Good offense beats defense most of the time.

[Caller]

But I think we got a defensive team.

[Matt Jones]

I agree. So if we have one guy who's not a great defender, that's okay because we have a really good defensive team other than him. But I much. But we, I mean, we know for a fact we can't score without him. We're just gonna have to live with his problems on defense. That's just the way it goes. And we're gonna have games. We're gonna have games, Po. Where he shoots poorly and makes stupid plays. I've watched him a lot. We're going to. We just have to live with it because without that, without him, we stink. Yes.

[Caller]

I'm Just being so impressed with.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller]

And. And diabolic and Low. I'm glad we got them back. Now we got these other guys that's got experience, and we can plug them in here and there and fix, you know, the. The dam a little bit, whatever. You know, we got a lot of options and things are looking up. Our ceilings a lot higher.

[Matt Jones]

I totally agree with you. I think our floor is higher, too. I think our ceiling and our floor is hot. Our floor was.

[Caller]

Oh, absolutely.

[Matt Jones]

Our floor was bad. Yeah. I appreciate the call. I mean, halftime. I legitimately, Billy was thinking there's a good chance we don't make the tournament.

[Billy]

I was in that group chat that you alluded to.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, I did. I. That wasn't me just being negative. I genuinely thought there's a world where we don't make the tournament. Mario was the worst, but even he wasn't wrong, though. I mean, like, you know, but I don't feel that way now. And listen, I'm telling you, Lowe's going to have some games where he drives us crazy, and he does struggle defensively. That caller's right. But we just have to live with it because we've got to have it one more, and then we'll call it a night. Who's next? Luke. Luke. Oh, my goodness. Carolina. What are you doing? Oh, my goodness. See, we need Carolina to win this game because they beat us. Go ahead, Luke.

[Caller]

Yeah, I just saw that on my tv, too. I was just as stunned as you were. I want to say great win, obviously, by Kentucky. And I think that one thing we have to. That we. As a fan base, I think we saw last year's team and just said, oh, this is the style that Pope wants to play. Well, you coach your roster. This team is a defensive first team. So this is going to be like. I'm trying to think of a guy that's a coach that has teams like this. And I would say that Kelvin Sampson has teams like this, really athletic. They struggle at times on offense, but they usually have a guard kind of like Low, that's a coiled spring that can eat that, that can go one way or the other. And they do sometimes do things that make you want to rip your hair out. But I think, like you said, you got to live with it. And you saw the difference that low made today and acquaintance. We haven't had a guy like that, and, oh, my gosh, we haven't had a guy like him in a long time. He is very, very gifted.

[Matt Jones]

But I don't know who is the last Guy like that, he wasn't as tall, but Bam was a little bit like that. He wasn't as tall. But Willie.

[Caller]

Holly Stein, defensively, yeah, Willie collected.

[Matt Jones]

I think Quaint will be a best, better offensive player than Willie. Willie was a great defender, though. I mean, I like his timing and stuff, but he was. But I think he might be a better offensive player.

[Caller]

Oh, he's much better offensively. He's much better offensively than Willie ever was. Willie and Colleen Simon's never a good offensive player, but I was talking about defensively. I have one other thing to say. Matt the bear still stuck. Go Pack. Go, baby.

[Matt Jones]

We'll see. I appreciate the call. I do like your analysis, though, comparing it to the Houston team, because I think that's a good call. I think that this team at its best, this team would look a little bit like Samson's teams. I also will know. Rick Patino had an interesting thing to say in the post game press conference. He said the mark of a good coach is exactly what that caller said. You adjust to the roster. He said Mark recruited this team to be one way, but he's realized that may not be the way they have to play. And he's adjusting. I think he's right. And that's kind of after the Gonzaga game. You remember a lot of folks, us included, were kind of saying he's going to have to do that. I think if you look at the Indiana game and you look at this game, he's done that. He has kind of adjusted to. To what he needed to do with this group. And now let's see if he can. If he can continue it. But either way, this will help with the. Oh, now Ohio State. Billy doing something dumb. She's doing that turnover.

[Billy]

No, I'm at halftime of Montana. Montana State here.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, you need to watch it. Carolina's got the ball.

[Billy]

Say one thing about Pope, though, because after the Indiana game, he was like, this is not how we want to play.

[Matt Jones]

Well, he needs to get over that. This is how we're playing. Yeah, but I, but I will say with low, it won't be as ugly as it was in the first half, but this is just going to be a team. They're going to be gritty, they got to beat you with defense. And it may not be how he wants to play, but I think it's how. How we're going to. Going to have to play. This will be the last postgame show I'm on until the new year. I will not be on the Bellarmine One. Because I'll be getting ready for the New Orleans Bowl. I will be on the show on Monday. Monday will be my last show until the new year because then I'm off that next week. So I hope I will see everybody on Monday and tomorrow. Come out, support the volleyball team. Let's get this national championship, watch it at home, pull form, chance to hang a banner. And Billy, I guess since this is our last Postgame show of 2025, I will see you in 2026.

[Billy]

Oh, I'll see you next year, Matt.

[Matt Jones]

That's exactly right. Thank you guys very much. Great win today. Enjoy your evening. This has been the local toy dealers KSR post game show. What a matchup we got, y'.

[Billy]

All.

[Matt Jones]

This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody. Showing that school pride. A game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Passionate fans, school colors everywhere. And in ice cold Coca Cola, that's a winning combo. No matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going. Your ticket to big savings is that big blue envelope in your mailbox. Valpak. It's brimming with deals from big name brands and your favorite local spots. Dining services, stuff you're already buying. All for less. And you can. You could score $100 or other instant prizes just for opening it. Or save even faster with mobile coupons you can use right [e-mail] Valpak there's definitely something in it for you. The world's best ski and snowboard athletes are chasing medals. Now you can follow their every move. Join Insider, the official US Ski and snowboard fan loyalty program, and get premium viewing at World cup ski events, exclusive athlete meetups, discounts from brands you love, and a custom welcome gift mailed direct to your doorstep this winter. Show your support as they race for the podium. Head to insider usskiandsnowboard.org and join today. Bring incredible sound into every corner of.

[Billy]

Your home this holiday with the new Whimsound Smart speaker. Get high resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen.

[Matt Jones]

Smart.

[Billy]

Smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $2.99. From quiet mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Whim sound makes every moment sound better. And feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself? Whim sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search whimsound. That's W I I m s o u n d.