10 29 2021 Kentucky vs Kentucky Wesleyan

the eight-time national champion kentucky wildcats open up the regular season in 10 days against duke tonight inside rough arena the first of the cats two exhibition tune-ups these wildcats they're not the only eight-time national champion so was their opponent the kentucky wesleyan panthers boast eight division two national championships of their own commonwealth clash tonight in lexington and we're glad you're with us on a friday night with jimmy dykes kevin fitzgerald with you the last time these kentucky wildcats face an opponent other than themselves it was seven months ago fast forward to today this roster and starting lineup total facelift since last year yeah when dante allen pulled up and missed a three in front of the mississippi state bench uh in the sec tournament the changes began and uh john calipari has retooled his roster i think he's kind of revamped his offense a little bit he's thought about his entire program he made changes with his staff as well and this is a kentucky program that expects sec championships and national championship runs and you look at what they lost last year but what they brought in especially down there at the bottom kevin those transfers frederick grady sheebway wheeler a lot of experience a lot of productivity nine upperclassmen on the roster the motion john calipari's here at kentucky and that's uh that's good news i think for kentucky in terms of getting back to the standard that they set themselves that's a lot of experience a lot of basketball iq and yes the standard going into this season projected to win the sec you see them ringing in as the number 10 team in that preseason ap poll here's the starting five and it's very different compared to last year's nine and six yeah absolutely it is look at the experience first of all you got wheeler transfer gradient transfer sheet way all high productive players at their previous schools ty ty washington won the top freshman in college basketball this year keon brooks one of the talented returnees that cal has to work with that experience the shooting that washington and kellen grady bring completely changes this kentucky team yeah brooks the only member of last year's roster in that starting fight by the way i see four preseason all-conference selections in that starting five kentucky is back to yes a level where folks not just in lexington but around college basketball expect them uk of course in the white kentucky wesleyan is division two national power it has the reputation of in the purple and here we go first of two exhibition games for the wildcats before that heavyweight battle against duke on november 9th look alive it's around the corner here's the aforementioned oscar sheboy faces the double quick and back out to wheeler brooks nails the three really good defense by kentucky wesleyan really good offense by kentucky they got a couple of ball reversals they handled the double team of the post really well it's always a great experience for these teams that come in they play the exhibition games kentucky wesleyan division two squad from owensboro a little less than three hours out in western kentucky away from rupp kevin you're talking about a division two powerhouse we can't do that in this building tonight if you're kentucky wesleyan battle threw it away and brooks oh the attack of the rim [Applause] like keon brooks the junior from fort wayne and in a lot of ways he may be poised for a breakout year expected to be one of the leaders captains of this year's team if you're kentucky wesley in the hanging this ball game you cannot turn it over and you have to make your first shot because you will not get a lot of second opportunities that was jordan roland we talked to drew cooper their head coach he expects him to be quite a scorer for this team wheeler gives it away and roland coming back the other way pulls up left it short man-to-man defense by kentucky wesleyan is going to be all night long making kentucky work drive the catch move the ball space the floor knocked down threes brooks again from that corner hit the previous one this time left it short [Music] when we say experience we really need it [Music] so much division just college basketball experience on the roster this year for kentucky up ahead to tie tai washington that one was nearly 94 feet the connected transition and the five-star freshman has his first bucket kevin if you're not going to get offensive rebounds tonight talking about kentucky wesleyan you have to sprint to the defensive end maybe with all five guys [Music] they the team in purple they run good stuff flex action pin down flare screens they move you well off the pass that's why at battle who just turns and fires it hits battle former all-state high school quarterback and basketball player from the state of kentucky he's the senior expected to be the top option this year thomas was looking for him streaking in transition and washington slapped it down wheeler leaves it short oscar sheboy playing with a little bit of an injured hip tonight i expect him to play in three or four minute stretches at a time bryce hopkins and damian collins fixing to check in and shibuy may be the first guy to go out he's got another rebound yeah number 34 in the white transferred midway through last year from west virginia to kentucky brooks now has two triples in the early minutes eight quick points for him and how much will that do for kentucky's offense this year if they get a legitimate three-point shooter at that four position completely opens up the floor which is the goal of every offense nice take to the bucket antonio thomas he got hammered and finished through the contact really well brooks again nearly his third that time it's and over the back on shebway and that foul takes us to our first timeout commonwealth clash but you can't turn it over if you're kentucky wesley in this ball game you're going to be sure with your passes kentucky getting out extending their defense early off to a good start 10-5 cats sec network basketball is brought to you by beef it's what's for dinner [Music] kentucky wesleyan back in this building for the first time in almost two decades there's the fourth year head coach drew cooper he coached in this arena four years ago and he was the head man of division three thomas more so he is no stranger to taking his team to rupp to play an exhibition game and he took pride that night forcing kentucky to call a time-out after back-to-back threes and yeah he's a really really good coach i watched him today for about an hour and a half you're there with me and when they run good stuff they know exactly what they want to do and he's taken over a kentucky wesleyan program that has as much pride in their program at the d2 level as we have in college basketball across the country it's a fantastic division two job well what did he say the community is always out there to support the owensboro sports center where they played their games for decades it's packed forever regardless of where that program is what i knew about owensboro prior to this weekend primarily was the home of rex chapman who i coached here when i was at kentucky and his dad wayne won a couple of titles there back in 1987 and 1990 but really good basketball community whoa my goodness damian collins did he hit the 42 inch vertical there bryce hopkins who also just checked in follows for two whoa nathan boyle will get that shot off anytime he wants at the d2 level damian collins came from about 10 or 12 feet away unreal has incredible hops incredible leaping ability there's battle with the fade away that's what turning score from last year battle is going to do that he's going to battle you for 40 minutes it's a hard-nosed tough kid competitive the kind of kid that could coach the team if the coaching staff wasn't here number two of the purple senior from pikeville kentucky hopkins offline cheap way with one of what could be many offensive rebounds he was a menace on the offensive glass two years ago at west virginia fouled by the russian what's the recovery length and speed by collins to come flying out and get that right hand up on the shot side of the shooter some of those things that you don't coach you recruit here's the deadly combination it's not just the 42 inch vertical leaf but the seven five wingspan helps as well and and the quickness for a kid that long to have that quick of a first step you don't get to a shot like that from that distance if you don't have a quick first step and that three-quarter sprint pretty good time but the all kinds of potential in damien collins still real thin at just over 200 pounds after the sheba free throws kentucky double enough kentucky wesleyan all right so let's go back to pro day earlier this month collins is in essence out leaping [Music] he did she wait came out he got so cal got five and a half minutes out of him like you said he's nursing a little bit of a some hip tenderness so sheboy will be hit or miss today remember two players that you're not going to see tonight that will be such key contributors to the rotation when the season gets underway cj frederick jacob toppin they're both out i think that just speaks to the dip even without them this team and rotation looks pretty deep lance ware blocks that shot now kentucky running into the game for the first time pull up three and the rebound is suhana well you see the green light though for kentucky even in transition mints very confident very comfortable pulling up from distance washington up ahead to where [Applause] kentucky has really emphasized throwing ahead in transition oh beautiful feed washington to where and you know what lance ware deserved to score in that possession because of his effort to run the floor to trigger the break to start with and that was the five-star freshman ty ty washington who his teammates and john calipari both have been so complementary of the way he plays the game just does it naturally let's everything come to him like that sequence a moment ago wilson drive and kick the crowded corner out of balance yep that's the first one of the year that i'll call that making a play out of the crowded corner there's lance where just really good job of sprinting out of a roll action got his eyes on the ball quickly and they need lance where kentucky does it'd be a good solid backup to sheblin kick washing really good sticks yeah really really good offense kevin to get the ball reversed one time get a hard strong gap attack drive the ball through the elbow make the defense respond and then the spotted up shooter waiting on it well you got kentucky's nail three triples like like just how much more is this offense going to be improved compared to a year ago well first of all kentucky has taken ten threes in the ball game only four twos i'm not sure that's the balance of cal once going forward but he does want his shooters to shoot with confidence and he's got a load of them this year there's jamil wilson another louisville native mints no that's a foul on kentucky ball going back to the panthers [Music] there's the hall of famer he's got such a uniquely constructed team this year we reference the first year transfers by the way there's six transfers on the roster that's the most not just to the john calipari era but in kentucky basketball history yeah that's the way we're going the most experienced kentucky team in the history of kentucky basketball in terms of returning college minute right think about that so now what does that do there's accountability within this program for every minute that you're on the floor that was not the case last year because the depth wouldn't allow loose ball foul on kentucky wesley and so wildcats basketball in a moment all right doubleheader of the sec network tomorrow starts with mizzou vandy at three and then yes these wildcats back of the gridiron to take on mississippi state at seven on the sec network or on the app as well big game for the wildcats of the gridiron let me ask you this the best fan base right now in college athletics when you combine what their football team is doing and their basketball expectations kentucky michigan and alabama that's where this kentucky program is right now with their two sports yeah it's a great perspective to look at it through it's a good role in this fight strong two-hand rebound by bryce hopkins oh and then to bring it and there's the effort again by lance ware that's exactly what ware has to bring to this team if he doesn't secure the rebound he has to win the foot race nine times out of ten getting rim to run grace hopkins is gonna want to see that assist on the during the film session later today kentucky hopkins is a dude man i'm telling you the guy guarding the ball right now 6-3 220 can defend a couple of different positions look at wheeler just charged that one away from roland tonight and the yeah i say nice because he did a nice job at getting the transition defender on his backside for the easy layup kentucky defense causing all kinds of problems there's bryce hopkins the push the effort by lance ware 55 in white gets an easy one cats rolling early in rough well there they are the wildcats projected once again to win the sec how about this look at all of those rankings the top five teams projected to finish at the top of the scc also in the ap preseason top 25 but i ask you this jimmy dice of those teams who is ranked too high in your estimation and who is under ranked right now what do you think well those top five i think you could put in any order and make a strong case for it i've got my eye on florida mississippi state i i think they are two really good teams really talented teams like kentucky did a fantastic job in the transfer portal mississippi state talked with ben holland this week he's trying to get to lew smith back full speed rocket watch when they're at full strength that is going to be a loaded mississippi state squad i see florida early in the year the florida state florida game you forget colin castleton how good he was last year mike white brought in older experienced guards as well the sec to me looks like it could be an eight or nine bid league this year it's pretty incredible to think about how colin castle at castleton park elevated his game look at what he played a few minutes the prior year per game at michigan and weinzip included one of the best shot blockers in the sec a year ago look out for florida mississippi state look it's a deep league this year the point being i've seen ole miss i watched them practice this year they're better than last year good older guards jar kell joiners a 18-point guy probably this year tate allen into the game for the first time fish fires in the corner lance ware going to work early on the boards kentucky with two bigs now lance where i'm calling damian collins a big because he can play the four the five either one but i think you're gonna see a heavy dose of kentucky's offense this year kevin more of a four out one in playing around that one post player spacing the floor with shooters it's kind of the tendency that all got that that all the ball is going towards and that was the undoing in a sense of last year's team just limitations on the offensive end this year you've got some playmakers to say the least evian mints lost it that might have tipped off a panther no panther basketball cal goes with his circle action floppy action for mints off the out of bounds play good strong drive just the ball exploded nice when you can have a six-year senior coming off the bench and davion vince you know what's cool about davion mintz you know he was a starter band i like to hit his headband his look his game his shoes but more importantly got it started all of last year and cal circled him up today at practice and said here's my starting five tonight doesn't affect davion mitch one bit he's the kind of guy in calisthenic you could coach a dave young mintz for 10 years and always want him on your team on the other end that was a nice find jamelle boyd the junior was able to convert at the rim make the defense respond get an open throat again hey talk about doing it again drew cooper enforces a timeout john calipari is going to take one really good job by a kentucky wesleyan in transition they came with a very aggressive fast push off the bounce they drove the ball right through the elbow to the logo without any resistance kentucky had to respond to that action has spotted up three on the weak side here it is i believe one of them's gonna be but it's a really good rim run that time a little bit of a rim roll by jamelle boyd and then there's that last basket boyd spots up on the weak side anytime the ball gets reversed from one side of floor to the other in transition good things are gonna happen all right so where where is kentucky wesley we mentioned before owensboro kentucky enrollment like right around 800. what was their sad mentioning to us earlier it's the second smallest smallest third smallest yeah but what what a run they had in terms of i believe they went to sixth straight ncaa division two title games back in late 90s to early 2000s right and uh you know that every every smaller community in the state of kentucky is crazy about basketball they're crazy about kentucky and they're crazy about their own local team whether it's high school or college makes the state very very unique it's a foul to drive into the paint yes mitchell gets whistled well and particularly special for a number of the kentucky natives on this kentucky wesleyan roster there's a handful of them playing inside of rump arena thousands of fans in attendance for this one special opportunity for the players fan base community as well drew cooper was echoing to us earlier wheeler flops crowded yeah she boy almost got up ended but he's still able to track it down and count the bucket it's a good job by kentucky wesleyan to rotate over and and tag sheebway as he was rolling to the rim lucky he didn't get undercut an or an over the back call but well a lot of sprint up ball screens for kentucky early offensively now john calipari said this after the blue white scrimmage last week and i think we just saw an illustration of it right there oscar sheblay the congolese forward very nimble very agile around the rim if you're gonna make a run to the final four this year kevin in college ball you're gonna have to have a legitimate post player that can bang and handle the best ones out there you think of drew timmy at gonzaga kofi coburn in illinois paulo bancaro at duke trayvon williams of purdue hunter dickinson of michigan those teams are going to be in the hunt for a national championship if you don't have a post player that can hold up against those names i just talked about it could be a long night for you kentucky has one i think in keyboard are you saying is this the year of the big band and college you have a lot of things in college basketball but the big man is very prevalent this year especially at those top 10 teams that are going to beat legitimate title contenders let's see if wesleyan can slice back into the deficit boy they got a close range look that time from ben sisson see how they run they run good stuff yeah i'm talking about kentucky wesley they move the ball they move it with a purpose they get good hard cuts off for their action they've just struggled finishing three or four times right now because of the of the length that they're not going to see after they leave rough arena tonight they're four of 13 for the field kentucky meanwhile 50 from the field ability to make plays off the elbow the elbow drives good example of it says eddie jones jr the freshman and way off that time he had that long stretched out arm of sheboy right in his face kentucky up by two touchdowns will they be at my two touchdowns tomorrow night at a safety we gotta ask the guys in the studio dari chizz cd i will ask them this i don't know if they're listening or not dary might be if kentucky wins tomorrow night in football they're gonna go 11-1 in the regular season i think that's their most dangerous game left on their sketch you're on the record there's alec [Music] [Applause] kentucky 32 kentucky wesley and 14. a couple of touchdowns between these two late in the first you knew where to start every saturday sec networking all the coverage leading up to that afternoon's sec football action begins with marty and mcgee at nine then you've got sec nation at 10. where is the gang this week you know where it is they're in jacksville georgia florida the world's largest party featuring cocktails that's what they're there for did i say did i get that right no that was outstanding outstanding kentucky three-point shooting all of a sudden three out of 11 27 [Music] they've taken 11 threes and only seven twos i'd like to know what cal is saying in those timeouts because you got to have the ability to drive the ball throw the ball inside score inside if they're going to be what kentucky needs to be this year i like the freedom they're shooting the ball with but that 3 for 11 number that's not typical of kentucky washington can shoot it grady can shoot it frederick can shoot it not concerned about kentucky's shooting from distance this year yeah number 31 kellen grady the davidson transfer more than 2 000 points in his career you talked to him earlier what do you make of his game this year well he was the first to admit that the first couple of weeks running kentucky's offense was brand new to him because of how quickly cal wants to run the offense in terms of catching the ball and going catch it and drive it catch it and shoot it catching it pass it and he comes out of a little bit slower system at davidson a terrific system but it took him a little bit time in terms of how fast kyle wants to play but i tell you what kellen grady can shoot the ball coming off screens as well as anybody in college ball there he is he finds brooks in the corner dials it up and that's good really good throwback by grady you have to run and chase grady as a result he has some uh attractiveness about him in terms of where the eyes go to when he has the ball brook just spots up off of it you know last year he was slowed by that calf injury he missed most of the pre-season the first nine games but he is looks ready to go in his first exhibition tudor this is now a 12-0 kentucky run battle can't put a stop to it but a second chance for the panthers now roland good shooter nice yeah but probably their best shooter kid that had scored a lot of points at his previous school notre dame college averaged 18 points a game kentucky much better tonight on their defensive closeouts than they were in the blue white game and you you had the call and i went back and watched it they gave up a lot of driving opportunities that they have not given up tonight much better defensive discipline by kentucky meanwhile offensive foul on shebway was just swinging that left arm yeah anytime you get that arm extended as an offensive post player right there shielding the guy off that's an automatic call you win the battle as a post player from the waist down not from the waist up she boy sits down wheeler sits down mid-square back in yeah pull up two that one's good for boys boyd's a good division two player did a good job at taking up the slack defensively didn't settle for a three when he could take a pretty good two-point shot really well done a good read by 21 in purple it would be no surprise if this kentucky wesleyan team finds themselves at the top of their conference again here they went 10-6 last year during that pandemic affected season and drew cooper has this program rolling again it wasn't long ago they were a top five team in the country just four seasons ago falling on some losing years but elevating back to where their fan base expects them good action here bounce pass to where his pocket pick that's rolling really good double team of the post as soon as we're put the ball in the deck just ate him up quiet battle nice ball fake boyd has brooks flying and no second chance that time for the panthers oh brooks just dribbled it looked like off his leg and the famous quote from any coach in the country cal just had it what are you doing that that is said more than anything else over the next four months from the head coach infamous what are you doing sometimes there's some descriptive words in there too but what are you doing i just hope i don't hear that from you like during our next media time you know i'm just making sure good strong rebound by where oh where's look good 55 in white he's run the floor well washington whistle for the offensive foul really good defensive play there by antonio thomas because ty ty washington's a pretty explosive guard and kentucky is doing a good job tonight kevin driving the catch no hesitation get the feet set boom that's a legal defensive play by five in purple you officiate the defense keep your eyes on the defense if you're the official who initiated the contact it was tie-tai washington thomas trying to float it up off the rim hopkins in a hurry another offensive foul kentucky wesley is sacrificing the bodies there nathan boyle stepped in to take the charge really good job by nathan boyle to sprint ahead of the ball and then turn around the last second that's a proper call his feet are set i believe before hopkins left the floor really fundamentally sound well-coached team from owensboro six 220 pounds coming down on you wyatt battle second head fig back to boyd utilizing the head fake with purpose and boyd has one more coming good description by you by the way ball fake head fake two or three times kentucky kept taking it there's one there's two there's another one there's three boom there's four and the ball gets right in front of the rim and jamelle boyd making his presence felt in rupp arena tonight he was almost artistic there for a second seems like he has more than six is this monitor correct no we're looking at a monitor that says it's 23 to 10. all right you can yell what are you doing in the right thing did you punch in the right code he sees this monitor i knew something i knew i was going to get he now has 10 points add one more four of six from the field here's wheeler everything but go down and she way just the tallest man in the middle yeah there's really nothing that kentucky wesley can do about that just shebway making a play over the top roland left it short oh wow by davion mitzi erase that one he's in a rush wow to collins [Applause] the defense to offense that time with the offensive board he wants a three that might be a foul on allen yep davion mintz oh my goodness the defense the block and then look what he does the back to back plays the block by mints and then the bring they mean colin's there to finish it off cal asked earlier what are we doing well they can say right now coach we're duncan in transition [Music] jimmy i know you were working tirelessly this week you counted up every single one of those minutes no i can't do that to eric lindsey okay this is this is what the all-star sid has for us this week so look at the total minutes of college basketball locked on this roster of this 12-man roster or excuse me i should say 15 man roster 13 385 not just the most in the coach cal era how about in kentucky history yeah at the bottom there well we set the top of the show that after last season kyle said i've got to make some changes and he understands experience i think he understands how to handle that transfer portal he did it really well as did arkansas in this league auburn in this league mississippi state in the sec but he went and said these are my needs and i'm going to go get him the need for a point guard check that with savior wheeler and ty ty washington the need for shooters check that with grady and frederick's the need for experience he did that in the transfer portal all those guys that he brought in they produced at a high level at their previous school in the power five and that completely separates this year's kentucky team from last year's kentucky team you know what's neat though about the practices and coach cal has detailed it a lot of the folks that cover this team have detailed the practices because of them because of all that experience they're very competitive there's a lot of accountability that comes with that experience as well it's creating a nice formula for success this year kevin it's the only way you get better within the season and that's another reason why kentucky struggled last year watching kentucky defensively they've had some breakdowns in this first half they're better than they were the last time they're on this floor in their blue white scrimmage i do know this if you can't guard your spot against duke in 11 days cal can't put you in the game he's going to have another film tonight to watch that's davion mintz who buries his first triple shebway has handled that double team pretty well so far and expect that to continue jamil wilson on the pull-up now wheeler just got beat just one-on-one isolated on the weak side his guy took one bounce baseline rose in fire offensive yeah he's either a walker an offensive hook one or the other will howard right on top of it [Music] yeah well he walked and he hooked because the pivot foot slit as well now colin is one of the three freshmen in this 21 class five-star mcdonald's all-american he and washington both they really elevated their statuses during their last year in high school collins in atlanta texas and washington out in phoenix new savior wheeler got him again another offensive foul they are just flat out running kentucky right now in transition defense and beating kentucky down the floor to get set and that's that's all effort i told you the last break the team in purple i know they're behind they are not being out fought they are a very competitive team at that d2 level what'd you say i think it was in the first few minutes of the game you said they've got to get back and they certainly have and have this thing back within a 16 16 point deficit you know what good teams do regardless of any level they fix the problem within the game and that's what kentucky wesley has done with the transition defense in this first half 90 seconds till half first of two exhibition games for kentucky before that duke game that you referenced it's just picked battles pocket he's got options he's got brooks [Applause] 15 for brooks in the first half he has exploded from beyond the arc and from close range as well good buck at that time from wilson do you know how hard well i know you don't do you know how hard it is to be going full speed with a ball in your hands like that and make that type of a precision pass in transition yeah very very difficult to throw it to the right spot you know i don't know because i caught a glimpse of a couple of the shots i put up at the tail end of today's shoot around yeah hey back to a 16-point game here jordan roland just has a knack to get the ball in the basket and wilson slows oh kentucky wesleyan a lot of transfers as well wilson from arkansas pine bluff expected to be part of that backcourt rotation about a nine second differential between shot and game clock oh saw it coming didn't you [Applause] brooks he got blocked by the rim brady is there to clean it up i don't think brooks ever had a clean handle no eight seconds to work with right now stays here 3.9 till half kentucky did a good job in the previous possession defensively not letting kentucky wesleyan just run a simple ball screen to close out the half they rotate it up doubled up chewed it up got two points because of it three seconds battle has to hoist pretty competitive first half kentucky ahead by 18 as expected 48-30. if you're kentucky and kentucky wesleyan what you want out of this ball game can you make the other team work kentucky wesleyan has made kentucky work in this first 20 minutes [Music] keon brooks leading the way 15 points five boards and the wildcats have the 18 point cushion we'll be back for the second half let's go to dari though and yes dory jimmy had a question for you 11 in one season for kentucky if they win tomorrow night dory that's it [Music] jimmy you might be onto something there that's kind of a popular take i think here as well we can get into that sure why not guys jimmy knows some football too of course you know where jimmy was what three three weeks ago norman oklahoma watching his first sooner football game out there his daughter's a big-time gymnast wants to go to oklahoma who will be in the sec by the time she's there perfect there you go jimmy knows his stuff no doubt uh 18-point lead for big blue all right let's let's get into uh dario door and chiswick let's get into the saturday football slate because as jimmy's alluding to 11-1 look you got to go down to starkville mississippi and win if you are kentucky just four games on the dock in florida georgia ole miss auburn uh and of course this one here and when you look at this lead there are four sec coaches on the bear bryant coach of the year award list interestingly enough there's no lane kipping which i think is is odd but certainly mark stoops is on that list and potentially the lead guy for that list where would you put him among that group of four he's definitely somewhere near the top because think about what he's potentially going to do this year right again it hinges on what happens tomorrow night right but a guy at kentucky going 11-1 and the only loss you have is against the number one team in the country now it hadn't happened yet but he's setting himself up for that potentially to be the case right who would have thought four years ago three years ago that this kentucky football team you would ever have the conversation of 11 wins and kentucky football in the same conversation but now that doesn't shock anybody kentucky doesn't keep catch anybody off guard anymore cd the way they play the game and they're built to last too that's what's impressive to me this isn't a one-hit wonder he's built this thing from the foundation up with the lines of scrimmage so yeah for hims name to be uh mentioned in a coach of the year uh manner uh doesn't shock me and well deserved and and look let me tell you the fact that they kept him there and i've said this many times about mitch barnhart when he didn't start well in his first three years and they kept him there i think they had three sec wins or less around that number in his first three years and what do they do these days they fire you yeah the mitch didn't do that and that's why kentucky's sitting where they are right and of course we we all remember kentucky did win this game against mississippi state last season they did they did who doesn't remember i don't know who does remember that 24-2 was the score there but they have he has not won a game in starkville how does that happen well it starts with their defense and this is a team that's built on defense last year they did it as you mentioned four six turnovers in that game you know how they did it they played soft they played vision coverage as you talk a lot about chiz watching the football come out of the quarterback's hand and then rallying to the football making a solid tackle this air raid offense is predicated on guys taking short catches and turning them into long gains after the catch so what does kentucky do really well they tackle the football they're second in the conference and tackling efficiency behind georgia's defense and they do it at a really high rate so i think this is a perfect game for them to go out there and place off keep everything underneath you and force mississippi state to drive the length of the field where they inevitably most likely will make a mistake yeah when i watch kentucky play defense i i see technique i you know it's kind of a lost art nowadays you know when you talk about tackling you talk about blocking those are still the fundamentals of football and you talk about a team that does them as good as anybody they're not six in one by accident it's because they do the little things well you talk about yards after the catch and how vulnerable teams have been to mississippi state this is a great opportunity for brad white to bring all the different blitzes he does a great job of bringing guys from everywhere but still playing vision zone coverage behind it and you don't know where they're coming from so again building walls making sure guys see where the ball is released tackling well in open space if they can limit that they're going to have a chance to win and also we haven't talked about the importance of kentucky keeping the ball running the football even though mississippi state's defense is really good against a run yeah that's going to be two forces that collide they're going to have to run the football and try to keep the possession of the ball nobody runs more plays than mississippi nobody has a higher time of possession than mississippi state this year uh to be six and one with a minus eight turnover ratio you better be doing everything else yeah right which which they certainly are all right 48.30 is our score at the break kentucky you like the high percentage shots that's how you shoot 59 and a half [Music] little commonwealth clash kentucky and kentucky wesley are the first of the wildcats to exhibition tune-ups to that regular season opener against duke [Music] nice little battle of that first out he's jimmy dex i'm kevin fitzgerald so here you go it's kentucky first time against an opponent live action since last season kian brooks he played a nice first half now he got a lot of productivity in the 10 minutes that he played and every minute is valuable right now for kyle to look at keon brooks was terrific knocking down threes i think he played as hard as any other wild cat that cal put on the floor he got off to a good start knocking down those corner threes but he's also got five different defensive rebounds so keon brooks six out of nine from the field he's three out of five from the three-point line leads kentucky with five uh five defensive boards here's a concern for kentucky though in the first 20 minutes did you see brooks finish it off with a slam cal played 10 guys in the first half adam had a turnover at least one kentucky with more turnovers than kentucky wesleyan in the first 20 minutes yeah and you see yes they shot 59 from the field but at the bottom there the nine turnovers so it almost uh the the other caveat of all ten scoring it's not great when everyone else is turning it over as well but hey kentucky wesley in this division two power that we've documented to this point you know a couple times they put the pressure on the wildcats and yeah drew cooper said it this week he was talking to the great jerry tipton he talked to us and said we'll we'll give you a fight now we play fundamental basketball we're not going to throw zone at you and we're both going to help each other leading up to our seasons and he's stayed true to his promise i mean his kids are locked in they're fighting their tails off they have out battled kentucky a couple of times in a loose ball situation and they continue kentucky wesleyan to run good stuff and make kentucky guard their top scorers number 21 in the purple that's shabeel boyd and roland with a attack of the rim couldn't get it to fall kevin that's a layup though against a division two team and made layup by kentucky wesleyan they just can't finish against the recovery length and recovery speed that kentucky's throwing at him around the rim so jump ball so possession arrow favors the wildcats you know i watch ty ty washington when he takes it out the play is probably coming to him there he is off the curl cut he's still got a sweet looking jumper he could score all three levels he's a very humble kid i mean he was almost surprised if you see him shoot the passing down he could score like that too yeah but he was he was almost surprised when cal first called him in the spring he took a screenshot so he could show his buddies i'm just he's i'm serious coach calipari from kentucky is calling me now to recruit me so very humble kid with it with a terrific future in front of him yeah kyle tucker he writes for the athletic you wrote a great story about washington of course decommitting from creighton and then about a month later deciding kentucky is the place hopkins wants three cheap way plus one too much sheboy so what what makes him good shebway is an offensive rebounder because he's a good jumper he's not a great jumper he's not even in the top five for kentucky in terms of vertical jump when they measure it but i think he has great eyes he follows the ball really well he reads angles and he absolutely wears people out from the waist down with his footwork getting underneath the basketball as an offensive rebounder that's why he is so good he's got this excellent work ethic off the court effervescent personality as well always smiling grateful thankful is what he is yeah that's kind of how he lives his life [Music] kentucky just switching that flex action that kwu's trying to run thomas with three to shoot into the painting yes really good offense you know kentucky wesleyan has a little bit of villanova flavor about them in terms of how they want to play they drive the ball they make plays off of two feet and they have weak side cutters cutting off of those drives on the baseline off the brooks shoot kentucky up that time with good ball movement good eyes wasn't it by roland to kind of look off the defense and find where the ball needed to go [Music] hopkins way too strong that time that's back-to-back misses and here come the panthers and these division two kentucky wesleyan panthers look at the way they move the ball well there's i think it's the third time the ball got reversed within that possession and then the interior passing instead of trying to go over the top of kentucky's length on the inside they use the bounce pass they use it well and sometimes these games these scores can get crooked and it's worth acknowledging in that case just the fight as you've referenced from this team they're no stranger to this type of game they've played louisville in recent years xavier western kentucky and these exhibition games leading up to their season as well heck they beat evansville in 2009 in an exhibition game as well so taking down a division one opponent circumstance is a little different here good throw ahead what here's grady my wheeler and the step through finishes with that right-hand scoop the guy scored over 2 000 points at davidson with his legit program he's more than a jump shooter he's a beautiful jump shooter off the screen but the guy knows how to play the game of basketball on both ends knows how to win yeah he's trying to reach the ncaa tournament matter of fact the last ncaa tournament game grady played in against these kentucky wildcats that was a few years ago offense and foul washington steps in yeah good job by washington to you know see the play just a fundamental defensive play see the ball see your man react to the action look at those numbers at the bottom there it's uneven kentucky wesleyan drew all those charges in the first half 20-point lead though that's what he does right there he missed that shot but he is so good coming to his left shoulder or his right shoulder into his shot off those pin downs battle off one foot sheblay wisely tips it to wheeler on the move and it's blocking foul wheeler the transfer from georgia that's the play-making ability that he brings to the table as you can get into the paint he can drive and kick kentucky up 20. big blue nation showing up in full force for the first of two exhibition games not just tonight next friday against miles college all part of this tune up to the regular season opener 10 days in 10 days we get this thing rolling the champions classic duke and kentucky from madison square car it's look we're going to say this a lot but it's nice to see the fans back in here they were electric a couple of weeks ago for big blue madness we've got the students the fans back in full force just a completely different feel isn't it and it just makes you appreciate when you're able to get 20 000 back in the building and the energy every fan base last year was not as impactful for obvious reasons but for kentucky's they were certainly missed you know what if you're ever going to have a a year where you can't have fans maybe last year was the year i'm saying 9 16 probably good we didn't get to go anyway sure not the case this year that floppy action get off the baseline for washington makes them play this time kevin different guys can beat the out of bounds under guy for kentucky and come off of that pin down action on either side they call it circle floppy action whatever you want to call it it's a shooter getting pinned down curling into a jump shot at the elbow grady poke that free stays with kentucky i'm a big fan of kellen grady i don't know well shooting ability what else his shooting ability his size he's all of six five six five and a half he defends his position well he's a high iq guy and he can flat out shoot the basketball and make guarded shots which you're going to have to do in the sec this year defenses are too good now jamil wilson nearly did there vince was looking for grady poke to sheave way back out to mid step ball came off his hand wrong because it had a sideways spin and rotation from mips uncommon you watch the ball when it shot kevin well it's not supposed to go that way right he's not supposed to go that's the way he did no that's a goaltender oh count that got that bucket she weigh a little over aggressive that time five minutes in second half they're gonna play off the high post touch of shebwave now there's more of a five out look for kentucky but there's the washington again coming off of a just kind of a pinned down screen away action on the ball side washington it quickly picking up the reputation of someone who always makes the right decisions he saw his folks of course in town tyrone and felicia we saw they were over at practice earlier today he's got that poise that he had he attributes to his parents that's just the way he was kind of brought up the poise and command and decision making right here grady can't hit the three take that every single time this year though if you're kellen grady washington made the defense contract grady spotted it from behind yeah the only mistake that ty ty washington's parents made was the name that they give him i told him that today you should have named him win-win yeah because that's what he's all about we're going to discover that at some point this year drills it win-win oh bang bang on that three right there doesn't just doesn't change his facial expression you don't know if he's having a good night or a bad night some of the some of the things that really really good players do he has there's that fight both both teams have fought i know i bragged on kentucky wesleyan in the first half i think kentucky has fought just as hard [Applause] [Music] [Applause] boyle tried to call the timeout instead it's really jump ball and the last several minutes have been a little bit of a takeover by ty ty washington can i i hope i say this the right way to big blue nation there have been some years when i've come to election and i've sensed a little bit of arrogance or coolness a little bit of coolness about some of the players i haven't seen that one time this year i think you have a lot of guys that are mature it's an older team they have some dog in them i have not seen any form of silliness or uh immaturity that i have seen at times over the last eight or nine years in this program and that's a compliment to this team issue they're assisted for two business-like very big almost business-like in the pursuit yeah for success this year you know what else makes you business-like knowing you got somebody breathing down your backside if you don't get it done as a player that's called depth that'll knock the silliness out of everybody that falls on rolling you know and john kelly berry has mentioned it you know if you play 25 minutes a game this year that's that's going to be a lot consider considering the depth there's 200 minutes available in a basketball game and every single minute man there's accountability with every minute that you play washington has the hot hand bounce pass to where brady spot up three no not that time it's cooled off a little bit in the second half [Music] three-point shooting now down to 6 out of 20. not not not a winning number here's boyd head fake and bucket he's a good player man i'm telling you i don't know if he's all confident at the left at their level or what but he's got a lot of game about him for a 6-6 kid that's now 16 for boyd 6 out of 10 from the field five rebounds as well here's where good job by brooks to space off that just a little bit of a baseline drive by where brooks didn't come to the ball he got away from the ball just a experienced play by an experienced player kentucky by 22 62-40 over kentucky wesleyan [Music] sec women's soccer tournament gets started sunday double header in the afternoon on the sec network vandy florida georgia lsu 10 team single elimination tournament returns to orange beach alabama and every every match through the finals on the sec network and the espn app who do you like in there were you what was gonna say were you like oscar sheebway did you play soccer as well growing up no no never played soccer no i'm telling you who's gonna win that tournament arkansas yeah oh okay yeah good year great year [Music] did we get the answer at halftime if kentucky wins tomorrow night at mississippi state they're going to go 11-1 they're going to be in a big time bowl game yeah i'll be all eyes on that game tomorrow night if does dari support your theory or not we're still waiting i couldn't hear him at halftime i wish darry would text me and let me know maybe it's a sign that he doesn't agree with you kentucky's gonna full court press some this year they've done it a handful of times in this game just straight man-to-man making you work getting the ball up you got the depth to do it you might as well extend your defense there's wilson attacks the basket brooks down with the board and kentucky in a rush get it to the other side gives the freshman instead drives back out collins size advantage washington no hesitation [Music] the ball does not surprise ty ty washington a lot of true freshmen they're surprised by the ball at this level not him his hands are ready his mind is ready his feet are always ready to make the right play that's a great way to put it 17 points thank you he really see i i i do say some kind things from time to time don't believe everything you hear about me please he really could be one of the best guards in college basketball this year i i think not even just the sec whoa wilson nails it just before the buzzer i i think ty ty has a lot of dog in him in the right way like i think he's a competitive son of a gun that's just gonna grow into that alpha dog roll for kentucky as the season goes on he realizes brooks is wide open and that's that's recognition by washington to understand who's got the hot hand tonight from three it's keon brooks he turns the corner gets his feet stopped like a villanova drill finds a shooter spotted up from behind well washington and brooks have now just can back to back triple so between them that duo with seven from downtown seven of kentucky's eight threes and kentucky's best three-point shooters in my opinion kellen grady and frederick's not playing tonight not a factor in the three-point line here's jamelle boy the junior from anderson indiana transfer from montana state northern and he's having a fine nice score in the basketball 18 points via brooks both with a game-high 18. i don't know anything about montana state more than other than they probably have cold winters that was it in the blue ribbon yearbook it was not but he has had a game has he not he led his league last year in field goal percentage at montana state northern you can see why he takes good shots tough around the rim he's got a good good length about him in his arms 21 in purples and that guy's a ball player these games again with with kind of a dual perfect purpose it's twofold both of these teams get something out of this kentucky of course preparing for its annually difficult non-conference schedule that gets started with duke in 10 days there's wheeler for three you know wheeler's got to be able to make one maybe two per game at most that that's not what he's on the floor for but if the defense completely backs off he's got to have the ability to make open threes brad calipari actually has worked a lot on his shot if i'm gonna listen to anybody in the gym on shooting i might listen to brad calipari because that's the one thing that that kid has always been able to do now a graduate assistant on his dad's staff and he's gotten wheeler's shot where he doesn't bring his elbow back quite as far he's got his elbow under the ball a little quicker it's just a revamped back court for kentucky added wheeler at in washington grady of course mints a returning player from last year who provides great depth as good as you are on the call of the play-by-play guy tonight hey thanks for returning the favor you might be the second best play-by-play guy in the building and i know you're going to agree with me right because of what's on the radio for the visitors from western kentucky i mean for kentucky wesleyan joel utley i think we might as well start talking about him now he set the record tonight joe lutley did starting his 61st year as a play-by-play guy on the radio passing the great legend max falkenstein at kansas and what a you talk about a treasure in college basketball there he is man i enjoyed my 20-minute conversation with him last night and uh starting his 61st year as the play-by-play boys voice for kentucky wesleyan what a career huh you could be so lucky that means he's called a lot of national championships he's been a matter of fact eight of them yeah not not to mention the the ones that they got there and didn't win you know i'm saying the national title games this is his 1704th game as the play-by-play radio guy on wboi 94.7 fm owensboro 82 years old grew up in madisonville [Applause] he's sitting next to the sid emeritus who's also an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to kentucky wesley and that's roy petrov there's collins down the basket add one more it's hard to defend long fast strides like collins hats you can defend long strides you can defend fast strides very difficult to defend the combination he's got it i believe we're going to get to hear joel utley on the call right that's what i was told in the production meeting that lasted three hours i missed that one stick around you may hear just a piece of joel utley's call up to bryce hopkins a bevy of lobs and alley-oops tonight for the wildcats they're running again [Applause] wheeler takes it this time he's at the line for two when we return jimmy i thought you've been doing this for a long time i have joel lutley he's running circles around you well listen to the iconic play-by-play man in his 61st year as the voice of the panthers next this will be great [Music] joel utley is the legendary radio voice of kentucky wesleyan athletics this is now his 61st season as the voice of the panthers that that first photo that was him interviewing adolf ruff himself this is going to be broadcast number 1704 tonight for joel utley he's part of the university's hall of fame his first call was back in december of 1961. a kentucky native who actually finished up his his school and got his degree from kentucky wesleyan has been on the mic for a very very long time and you said it partner we're going to listen in in just a moment to his call we're going to let him illustrate and paint the picture of tonight's and it will be the best three minutes of the night i think so broadcast wise in 1961 is when he started at kentucky wesleyan that's put in perspective the same year that dean smith coached his first game at north carolina that's how long he's been doing this job all right well let's let's shut up here let's let's get to the let's get to the beginning yeah right listen in wheeler makes both free throws for the university of kentucky and with 7 40 to go now it's a 32 point lead for kentucky talented rich in talent rich in depth and a hungry ball club after last year's lackluster performance for john calipari's ball club kentucky wesleyan basketball right now panthers get it down low and here's a foul from behind as the kentucky wesley and panthers got the basketball along the lane line right side down low to jamel boyd and he was fouled from behind so it'll be kentucky wesleyan's ball from the in line on the common foul kentucky wesleyan looking trying to get it in bounds a lobby in heavy traffic down low nothing's available so nothing available to wilson he gets it out front and then on the return pass jabel wilson knocks it down 79 49 after the three-pointer for jamel wilson kentucky wesleyan is now four for 14 on the three-pointers of the game 28 and overall kentucky wesleyan is 21-53 39 from the field kentucky wesleyan has been out rebounded looks like 35 to 24. underneath going for the shot of foul against kentucky as our kentucky wesleyan panthers had freshman edward jones underneath and the young man from new orleans fouled as he goes to the free-throw line with 6 44 left in our contest here at ruff arena in downtown lexington jones charity toss is good eddie jones for our kentucky wesleyan panthers and in the process he now has a total of two points in the game and he'll have another opportunity coming here eddie jones 6'5 freshman very promising athlete free throw is up and it's good for jones so that makes it 79-51 and some of the fans beginning to file out now here at lexington's arena we have 6 45 to go and the university of kentucky is leading by 28 points on our kentucky wesleyan panthers mints into four court for uk angles to the left side gives the basketball up behind to kellen grady straight away this time a one-hander that is off the mark from dante allen rebound claimed by uk so they reset the offense back on the right side keon brooks wearing number 12 on that white home uniform takes the basketball straight away looks high on the left side a three-pointer by allen jones dante allen a three-point field goal the sophomore from falmouth kentucky makes it 82-51 the lead is 31 for the university of kentucky they have not trailed in this game they jumped out to a 7-0 start and have led all the way here's the phone ringing again i just don't know what's going on [Music] okay hopefully we have reestablished communication boy great stuff there and i i hope he gets connected back to wbio some technical difficulties there but that was really neat joel utley again in his 61st season as the radio play-by-play voice of kentucky wesleyan that's really cool yeah just a a gem of a human being that's straight from uh rex chapman texted me during that three-minute segment there he actually also was a play-by-play guy for rex chapman when rex was in high school and you could just see that that just listen to him describe the action and we're in downtown lexington like he's he's he's got a gift trust me i was taking some notes over here now and we both talked to him earlier he said he just still has a love and enjoy for what he does my favorite was charity toss and davion mintz has one coming up the only the only time i could really relate to what he was saying is when he threw out there at the end i'm not sure what's going on here right now i think there's some technical problems on the other end of this other end of this table right now [Applause] but you said it before i grew up in madisonville he said he grew up listening to cardinals games you know on the radio listening to his father and fell in love with the play-by-play platform okay kentucky now up 10 out of 26 from the three-point line 38 that's the percentage i think they're going to shoot all year when i watch them in practice i think i've watched them now four different occasions they shoot the ball at that 38 40 clip from their primary shooters and that's what you judge and kentucky should have no problem opening up the lane this year offensively for their dribble drive their five out game their isolation post up game the offense will look 100 different than it did a year ago that's the key at times that was not the case just setting the lane and dare kentucky to shoot can't do it now [Applause] here's boyd he stretches out to the three-point line this time that guy's a player man i'm telling you he makes threes he's guarding his tail off on the inside against bigger guys he's a fighter i think true cooper eventually pure bucket that's out i think drew cooper has found where quite a bit of his scoring is coming from this year jamelle boyd 23 9 of 13 from the field the game's leading scorer so if you're cal i mean i think at some point probably tomorrow you say i know jamel boyd's a nice player he's not paolo bancaro from duke you know i'm saying you're right and if this guy can hang 25 or 30 on us we better lock up somebody in the next nine days of practice and we're gonna be in serious trouble hopkins missed everything there goes back to kentucky wesleyan number nine duke mr bancaro in 10 days november 9th regular season opener kentucky's cats still up big first exhibition game of the year [Music] scc football doubleheader tomorrow on the sec network mizzou vandy gets it started at three and then these wildcats on the road in starkville to take on mississippi state that's at seven tomorrow sec network also on the app nice little quarterback battle you've got will levis will rogers the scc's leading passer can matt corral from ole miss win the heisman if bryce young was at the front runner right now i think he would be right there those are your two yeah i i watch matt corral playing he's good is there someone better than him i don't know that's a great match up tomorrow as well ole miss auburn all right where where did we just go here all right so this is the before picture of kentucky wesleyan's locker room a section that is of their athletic facility there's drew cooper did did he was he part of the construction here was he the contractor this is their new film room and uh yeah up in the top right corner of the screen the film doesn't that sounds familiar that's the title of a great book by the way the film doesn't lie who wrote that well i i did but what a cool thing for kentucky wesleyan to play and rupt tonight but the check that they're getting for playing here in the exhibition game paid for that fantastic film room that they now have right and coaches and teams live in that film room during the season and there's not a truer statement in all of college ball for a coach then the film doesn't lie and you sit down and watch it like both these teams will do tomorrow you'll see the good you'll see the badge you absorb it you take good coaching and you move on and you get better boy that's really neat again there's just there's value as we mentioned before in this matchup for both teams and you see what can come of this for a team like kentucky wesleyan that's something that is going to be extremely valuable beneficial for this basket he's just giving him business joel boyd is giving 25 now business game high 25 for the indiana native washington fouled on the way in you know sure it's a 24 point game right now but kentucky wesleyan showing you why they're going to be at the top of their conference the great midwest athletic conference all right tell me something you learned about kentucky tonight that you didn't know before we tipped this thing off i wasn't for sure how much fight they had in them you know you can't tell by watching pro day big blue madness and whatever that was last week inner squad scrimmage i've seen some fight i've seen some maturity about them i'm outlets i do trust their depth right now i think cal you know at some point in the season's gonna have to whittle that 10 guys down to seven or eight which is not going to be easy to do but man that's how you get better when there's pressure on you every single day in that practice facility good job by beating the press wasn't it by kentucky wesley there's aj young bit another transfer he was at idaho briefly and again it's just worth reminding everyone still absent tonight cj frederick he's working through a leg injury jacob toppin was of course a reliable role player last year dealing with the shoulder injury frederick there wasn't a more reliable three-point shooter in the big ten the last two years than him i i watched cj frederick seem on the bench over there but uh i watched cj frederick last time i was in town and in a five minute period make 61 threes i that's about 12 a minute my if my math is right and i think your observational skills are better than your mathematics yeah well i know he just made a lot of threes in a five minute period and it doesn't matter if you're being guarded or not this guy is this guy is a one-man wrecking crew in rough tonight 21 in purple he will watch this film over and over and over and show it to his kids and grandkids someday i was just going to say now we told you about the prowess of this program eight national championships i think this story that he tells the grandkids about going for 27 in rupp arena is going to fall second to maybe that national championship story from yeah for the next couple years should kentucky wesleyan get back to the top again can he get 30 in rough well he's going to try this is for 29. he's got 90 seconds here so if he's got cj frederick like abilities maybe he can you get 20 points yes okay one away i'm pulling for him to get 31. i know the game's over with and all that but i'm just for a guy from d2 that can come interrupt and get 30. impressive performance kentucky of course up by 20. [Applause] what a loss for montana state northern right what'd that do to their program when he left [Music] all right get your sec saturday started with marty and mcgee at nine then sec nation gets rolling at ten live from jacksonville of course we got number one georgia and florida clashing again it all gets started on the sec network at nine the only guy in the building that can guard drew cooper but that can guard jamel boyd is drew cooper took him out of the game with 29. oh what a night for what i'm just gonna give him a round of applause right there what a night for that young man so here he is i think he's found a home at kentucky wesley and he started at glen oaks community college junior college of course then transfer to montana state northern do you want me to tell you the name the nickname of montana state university northern i do it's the lights polite felt the lights the northern lights oh the lights there's that jump shot that i i i just trust the jump shot of kellen grady i know he didn't shoot a great percentage tonight that dude's gonna have a game and this year for kentucky where he makes five or six threes i'm just telling him kentucky's gone for a lot of ball fakes tonight defensively they've lost their discipline a handful of times off of ball fakes [Music] nice night inside rough arena the first tune-up if you will for kentucky they've got one more exhibition next week against miles college then duke champions classic 10 days from tonight and kentucky wesleyan it learned quite a bit about itself as well number one [Applause] they've got a score in jamel boyd 29 that's a game high they've got guys that fight they they ran their stuff right talking to cal before the ball game like these guys run good stuff man you're gonna have to cover them they just missed a handful of shots but they could do nothing about it because of kentucky's link but his promise to coach cal about we will make you work will play straight man we'll play a good brand of ball both teams actually got a win tonight in terms of it's an exhibition game we saw our good we saw her not so good and then we go back to work in the film room which doesn't lie good job i'm sticking that one back in five scores at double figures for kentucky the leaders keon brooks tied ty washington with 18 apiece they actually combined to shoot 14 of 21 from the field between the two seven triples [Music] and kentucky continues this march towards the regular season the first leg in the books second exhibition game next friday against miles college and you you see drew cooper there part of that ovation that you heard from the kentucky fans in attendance i think he's an appreciation for the panthers efforts as well [Applause] and the wildcats hang up 95 on kentucky wesley and stick around just in just a moment jimmy dykes is going to speak with john calipari i'll give you his immediate thoughts after this first exhibition game all right so here is jimmy with coach cal coach first of all congratulations on the win what did you learn about your guys tonight let's start there we got a long way to go okay uh defensively we got and i've worked real hard to get us to space to court and play with speed and create good shots and i've done a poor job of defensively and normally my teams would guard um our interior defense can't be this bad i mean and and they're good i got to give them credit what they did 21 what do you have 50 29. yeah i mean they just felt like 50. but a couple jumpers but everything else was muscle and go next to the basket not to leave our feet i'm like what a bad job i've done with these guys but you know it's early i was trying to play everybody you could see that this is going to have to be narrowed in um but it's uh it's an interesting start now we got work to do coach let's talk about your offense your ability to to space the floor out open up the lane you got shooters this year that's got to give you a lot of confidence the only problem is the first six shots we took were threes i'm like dudes what are you doing i mean and and the biggest shot we've been working on is that floater get it all the guys shoot that thing man we'll rebound your miss the other thing i knew this team would do is they would take charges like you cannot just drive in there because they're gonna take charges and i'll be honest with you we gotta have some guys you can't block the shot anyway take a charge you know we got to do some of that but i got to watch the tape but i'll be disappointed defensively there's a there's a book out the film doesn't lie you'll watch that tape tomorrow let me ask you this about tai tai washington as a young guy plays with a lot of composure doesn't get sped up just talk about what you see in him right now well how about we're not getting them shots or he's not getting opportunities he doesn't change and then he knew as a point guard how i can get myself off screens to get some shots off terrific three-point shooter but a really good mid-level shot there's not many that have those three levels so i uh like i said we there were plays where we could have made an extra pass but the guy's trying to make a play for himself instead of just passing to pass sometimes um but i get it they're each trying to establish who they are too and the first game out in front of fans pretty good kyle i said on the air that i've i've been here over the last 10 11 years at times i've seen maybe a guy or two a little bit of a little bit of coolness a little bit of arrogance i don't see any of that i think you got a bunch of fighters tonight because that team fought that team fought you played again right and here's the other thing though we got a couple that motors don't run all the time you you can't be in the game and not ready not rotating the guy's really good how about this thing playing before he catches it yeah well that takes an effort and a motor i mean i can't just let him catch it because he's killing me so i got to play him before he catches it so but it's a it'll be a good field session we'll go on twice tomorrow we're going twice on sunday give them a day off a couple days off as a matter of fact we get ready for one more exhibition um but it's good to have fans back i was going to ask you about what's it what's it feel like this year for you it it isn't like a real game but who would have an exhibition and have this many people here i mean somebody say well you're gonna have twenty thousand it's an exhibition game hey a lot of people showed up the player keon brooks and my last question for you you play like an older guy tonight you need his voice more how's he doing in that area for you he's doing better more motor keep it rolling don't be satisfied uh defensively you got to figure it out kid went and scored six straight points on him come on now and so and i left oscar out he's been a little bit the hips bothering him a little bit so i let him out but gave me a chance to see all right damian you play center you play in there see what happens get a shot blocker in there the only mistake that ty ty washington's parents made was the name should have been win-win there you go thanks for your time thanks oh that's that's what tonight is as john calipari just acknowledged it's a learning experience that you build up to the regular season in 10 days you learn about your team you learn what rotations work who can play with whom and where they can be slotted as well and that leads kentucky to a 95-72 victory win-win with 18 points team high for the wildcats to go along with keon brooks more breakdown of this one on the other side sec now coming up in seven minutes so don't go anywhere it starts at nine you get dary gene chris thanks for sticking with us you have kentucky the winner tonight their first of two exhibition games jimmy and kevin with you but i i think coach hit on a several different points with you now i like what he said about hey this is why we play these games we're gonna learn where certain guys fit into the rotation and positionally where they can fit in as well well what's a coach do after a huge win like that he immediately starts talking about what we didn't do well and what they didn't do well was defend on the interior he let jamelle boyd who's 6'6 and the division 2 player come in here and get almost 30 on you so that's the starting point uh to cal's defense a little bit i know he's concentrated a lot on his offense because of last year the struggles they had feeding your guys confidence offensively early is always a good thing he's going to tighten down that defense though the next 10 or 11 days before duke if if not it will not be a good outcome because duke's got dudes you know but kentucky's got the link they have i think they have the fight in them to become a much better defensive team than they showed tonight they did some good things their close outs were much more better than they were they took way too many ball fakes but a lot of highlights tonight for kentucky especially with keon brooks uh and ty ty washington yeah no question and those guys provided these highlights in front of a few thousand fans some good stuff but keon brook started hitting shots early in this well he did but to cal's point kentucky they they settled for the three-point shot the first seven or eight minutes of the ball game but if keon brooks shoots that 38 39 from three from that four position that kentucky offense becomes almost like a lethal type thing because the other shooters and the big guy on the inside with shibuy kion playing like an upperclassman should play right now in kentucky he's confident he's trusting his voice and he's got a really good side piece right now in tai tai washington who is a freshman doesn't play does not play like a freshman at all he's smooth he's confident he's tough he's got some alpha dog in him he's got a really nice comfortable quick release on his three-point shot the ball doesn't surprise you he's not a jet but he's just fast enough to go by and create problems brooks and washington led the led the way tonight jamel boyd sent a message to all of division two that when you play kentucky wesleyan college this year you're gonna have to deal with me he came interrupt and put 29 on kentucky as a six six undersized post player with a lot of ball fakes a lot of shoulder movement kentucky got out and ran but i mean how often do we show a highlight package of a visiting player not very many but jamel boyd deserves that tonight kevin he was he was all over the place giving kentucky the business like beaver cleaver used to say this from all spots the ball fakes the inside scoring he played hard he played tough he guarded his possession i was impressed with 21 in purple i don't know about you i i think the i don't know of how accessible the montana state northern film was to the division two the film is out now on jamel boyd i'll tell you that much yeah really impressive what did cal say that was 50. yeah what do you have for 50 because it felt like 50 if you're coaching against him tonight i want to salute kentucky wesleyan because they really fought hard they ran really good stuff they made kentucky guard a lot of different actions tonight pin downs flares uh the the the flex movement uh and kentucky's got a lot of stuff to look at now on their film but uh just salute to drew cooper in terms of what he's done with his guys this can be a good program we start off the broadcast talking about eight national title banners for kentucky playing against eight national title banners from kentucky wesleyan so just a really good night of basketball for the bluegrass state it's gonna be a nice night for jamel boyd he's gonna be scrolling through all those highlights that are gonna be popping up on his twitter feed on the bus back to owensboro we'll be back to wrap things up in just a moment in [Music] lexington all right this is who kentucky has coming up this is the ramp up to the season opener against duke champions classic top ten battle nine against ten nine thirty eastern inside madison square garden on november 9th but one more exhibition game the final tune-up miles college will be here next friday watch that game on the sec network and then you see the three other games that kentucky has following the duke matchup here we go champions classic and you know at the bottom there kansas duke kentucky all picked to win their conference i would be surprised if michigan state finishes above that projection either yeah that's four that's four heavyweights yeah kansas duke kentucky all have the roster the experience to get to the final four you can't discount michigan state with tom izzo i'll see them in atlantis in the battle for atlantis but kentucky has a lot of work to do to get ready for duke here in 10 days and it's going to start on the defensive end of the floor i think offensively they're going to be fine more than fine for this early in the season in the champions classic defensively though they're gonna have to get a lot better in the next nine or ten days yeah and again one final exhibition again it's against miles college it's next friday right here on the sec network enjoyed it always fun to be with thanks for joining us tonight for jimmy the great joel utley producer todd jones kevin fitzgerald saying so long from lexington have a good night [Applause]

Channel: Funchester Teevee

Views: 1,589

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Id: ko-1RE5H0o0

Length: 93min 22sec (5602 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 29 2021