2026-01-15- KSR - Hour 1

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Speaker 1: Comedy Off Broadway and Lexington welcomes Eda May, the Queen of Southern SaaS January fifteenth through the seventeenth. Then from Hulu and social media, catch zarn A Guard January twenty third and twenty fourth, and from TV the Office and anchor man don't miss David Keckner January thirtieth and thirty first. For tickets to all Comedy Off Broadway shows, call eight five nine two seven to one joke or visit Comedy Off Broadway dot com.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Comedy Off Broadway.

00:00:32
Speaker 3: This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

00:00:35
Speaker 4: Now here's Matt Jones.

00:00:38
Speaker 2: All right, welcome, good morning ladies, gentleen, boys and girls, grandpas and grandma's ants and uncles. This is the Thursday edition of Kentucky Sports Radio. Thursday, January fifteenth, Ryan Lemandrew Franklin, Shannon the Dude. Matt Jon't will be joining us any moment shortly, but uh as always TEXTPRTS Radio spotor by the TJ. Smithl Office. Shannon called TJ. Wewill you do.

00:00:56
Speaker 4: He'll make them pay.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: He'll make them pay Our Clarks Puppi Shop phone number eight five nine two A two to eight seven or as Matt learned this week at eight five, nine to eight ozer Cats Our Clark's puppet shop phone number is open all day, and I'm sure there gonna be a lot of happy callers today after what happened last night. We've had the Marty Gral miracle. Last night we had the Malachive miracle drew as Malachi Marino hits the last second shot to punch a great comfort behind victory for the Cats down eighteen points, came back to win on the road in the sec. Malachi Marino the hero last night.

00:01:29
Speaker 5: Sure was, and you know, shame on all of you that gave up. Ma goot pointing fingers to anyone has a camera in my face right now. But some of you quit believing in the first half. Maybe we didn't score but one one made field goal in the first eleven minutes. That happened. Sometimes maybe only twenty two points in the first half, but that's all right, because this is the second half team. That second half. I'm obviously kidding. That second half was an incredible comeback though, and we think about Malachi at the end, which is the big story, but just starting at the beginning with Aberdeen catching fire. I mean he made like his first six the field and then to end the way it did. Yeah, it's lsu. Yeah, it just got us to two and two probably didn't solve a lot of problems, but I woke up still smiling, and I'm still smiling. Now what to finish? That's one we'll be talking about a decade from now when we're ranking great shots in regular season history.

00:02:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, when they show the montage of last second shots at Upperena before every game, that Malachi Marino shot will now be involved in it because probably they said and met what was the third maybe the fourth option in the in that of bounds play, but he made the catch. Well, first of all, he had to make a great catch, turn and shoot, had the confidence and knock it down. It'll it will be going down in a UK history.

00:02:35
Speaker 6: Lower.

00:02:36
Speaker 5: I gotta talk to you k about their pr Why are they telling us that was not the right pass? No, that was the perfect pass. Just lie to us, Just say. Colin Chandler saw Malachi moreno way wide open, knew he could moss his defender and he threw it to him. Why does the story have to be that he missed true fifteen field?

00:02:53
Speaker 2: I don't like that.

00:02:53
Speaker 5: I am saying Colin Chandler through a dot to Moreno who laterner at LSU. I think it was the perfect play. Chandler even had a rough half before that perfect throw that was definitely attending to Malacamorino, so he got to I'm glad he got to be a part of that too. But what a roller coaster of emotions in that game last night.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: The second half comeback involved a lot of heroes. You mentioned Aberdeen maybe in his best half he's played in a long time, not just scoring but running the offense. Jasper. I don't even think he played a minute in the second half because they couldn't take Aberdeen off the floor. He didn't.

00:03:24
Speaker 5: Then, you know, I'm someone that's wanted a lot of Jasper. With the way Aberdeen in Oway were playing, I mean they were red hot with I think the team had eight three pointers in the second half after being ice cold in the first half, and at one point they were six of seven from three. Unfortunately, it seemed like, you know, it was good to get back to five or six. There was a stretch right when they'd get to five or six, LSU would have an answer. They were still giving up easy buckets, but just to see the offense making shots and scoring so much and completely flipping the script from one half to another was exciting. Whatever you think of the big picture, that was just an awesome twenty minutes in that game.

00:03:56
Speaker 2: And Otaga now four games in a row, He's got twenty points start the SEC season. He's this is the Otaga we all expected to have all season and he's back.

00:04:05
Speaker 5: Said, it's first since Jody Meeks to twenty play a game in his first four SEC games. It is good to see him back. Whatever was going on earlier in the year where we weren't getting these twenty point performances, which were pretty routine last year, I'm glad to see him do it again when it matters. Also, another play that kind of gets forgotten there as I'm just running through that second half of my mind. Cam Williams had kind of a quiet night in Foul Trouble, but I love that stealing slam. Yeah, Marino kind of stole his glory there on the highlight reel with the game winner, but that was a big moment. It was to complete the first comeback and give UK it's first leading the entire game, so just a wild second half with so many fun moments, few frustrating ones, but incredible comeback.

00:04:45
Speaker 2: Another guy we have to recognize. Yellovich got the start, played over twenty minutes, hit a couple of good buckets right with an Indians all he's earned the right to stay on the floor.

00:04:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you got to keep him in that spot.

00:04:57
Speaker 2: I think you do too.

00:04:57
Speaker 5: Now I still don't know what on a Diabaate we're gonna get. There were spurts where he would fight and hustle and he was part of the celebration, and you know it looked to be a good teammate. But there were moments where he wasn't reacting well and it didn't seem to be in the game. But it looks like you got to keep rolling with yet which there he just brings an offense that mode on his best day, couldn't do.

00:05:16
Speaker 2: I will say Diabate when they hit when Malachai hit the last I could shot. He was one of the first ones off the bench too, rightly. So there's he's not sitting on their palutin and he's still a big part of this team. They's got to find a way to use his skills when needed.

00:05:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it you know, it's he's obviously holly paid and was supposed to be a leader of this team and one of the ones when Pope built his Ferrari. I'm using my air quotes there. Diubate is one of the you know, shiny toys in braggingabouts. It's weird that you have to bench that guy, But I mean, kudos to Pope. It seems to be the right move and that can't be easy to do, knowing you brought him in to help lead and now you're having asked him to take a seat to a dude who you know came over at the very end.

00:05:53
Speaker 2: So where are you now on this UK team? Maybe they I thought they would win at least two of these three with Missouri, Mississippi State, LSU, they did not necessarily order. I thought they would win them in Where are you now in this UK team?

00:06:05
Speaker 7: Uh?

00:06:05
Speaker 5: You know, Ron, I don't like to look forward. I like to look backward. I just want to focus on last night.

00:06:09
Speaker 6: I thought.

00:06:09
Speaker 5: I just thought it was an incredible comeback. Credible comeback at LSU, got a big win in a building that's just full of magic. You didn't even mention that the women's team.

00:06:16
Speaker 2: That's true.

00:06:17
Speaker 5: Two weeks ago, Dagger and LSU's.

00:06:19
Speaker 2: Heart last second shot out in the same court. Boom, Kentucky. You beat him in the last second shot, just like they did last night.

00:06:25
Speaker 5: I like the women's basketball team put the they stacked the videos, put them out together. That was cool to watch. And then for those who had forgotten, the last time the men played there, LSU won on a buzzer beater. So if you throw on the women, we've had three straight buzzer beaters in that building, LSU winning beat the Rob Dillinghand team and Cow's last year when Rob hit what we thought was the game winner, and then they responnded seconds later, and we'd get Tony Morgan on New Year's Day beating number five, and then Malachi making it a third buzzer beater down there. For a team that we don't have a lot of, not a lot of interactions, not really a rivalry, that building might have more magic than any SEC holding in the conference. Well just look at our history there.

00:07:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Marty Gral America when they came from thirty one down the next year, they scored what eighty one points in the first six eighty six points, which is still amazing when you put that, say it like that, your.

00:07:13
Speaker 5: Boy Roger Harden has a buzzer Harden.

00:07:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly so. But the last night not just needed for the fan base, that locker room needed in and maybe this is something they can kind of build on now and turn around. You know, you get a freshman, a guy who expected to be probably third string center behind Brandon Garrison and Jane Quaintons when the season started. Now's a guy that he has earned the right to start, and he hits a game winner and he's a hero right now, just fro right down the road in Georgetown.

00:07:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, he doesn't solve any huge, big picture of problems, but it gives a team some confidence. It does an SEC road win. I don't care what your team looks like. I don't care what the other team looks like. You can't ignore an SEC I don't care. That's Those are tough games to win, as we saw last night. So it's good that they have some joy and some confidence moving forward. I'm still worried how they fit in to the SEC tiers. You know, Vandy lost last night, so they're only a game back. But I last night didn't make me think, all right, let's go out and win the league. I'm still pretty far from that, but I am. If they had lost this, I don't know how you can really come back. That would have been a horrible loss, even being on the road. Now we at least say you can hold it together and let's see what's next and take the next step.

00:08:20
Speaker 2: Shannon, what do you think after the game last night?

00:08:23
Speaker 3: I think that's the reason I don't tweet during games because of all the freezing cold takes I saw last night during the first half. Crazy comeback. I mean, this is the fight that I was wanting to see, going back to games like the Gonzaga game where they look like they didn't even want to be out there. The fight that they showed in the second half showed me that this team hasn't given up on the season. So you know, they're still fighting and I think that they're at least back on track right now. That kind of cancels out the loss of Missouri at home for right, so we're kind of back at square one.

00:08:53
Speaker 2: So you mentioned something Drew like, the win doesn't necessarily save your season, but a loss could have been devastating to your season if you'd have lost that game. So in that sense, that's why I view it as a huge, huge victory for the team.

00:09:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, to go one in three. If they had lost that with two losses being winless LSU and Missouri at home, that's when you start thinking, all right, maybe we should look at NIT tickets. But that didn't happen. They're moving on, got a big road win. All of those matter. We'll see what happens in Knoxville. I don't know that last night. It's a big statement for lookout, Tennessee, We're coming to get you. But that's a place that's also here. Lately, Kentucky's been like an eleven point underdog, a thirteen point underdog. It won both of them going down there, with teams that were held together by glue, missing star players, with Tennessee licking their chops. Darren has to come down there and get something, and Kentucky's escaped with a couple wins in the last trips there, So don't kind them out.

00:09:47
Speaker 3: I kind of feel like this is either gonna be the highlight of the season or the turning point of the season. You know, like if Kentucky goes on a run and makes the tournament and wins a couple of games, gets to the sweet sixteen.

00:09:57
Speaker 4: I mean, we're dreaming here saying.

00:09:58
Speaker 3: That that's gonna be the turning point of the season. If they have a bad rest of the season, maybe that's the highlight. Maybe this is as good as it gets.

00:10:05
Speaker 2: Last night, well, you know, maybe there's a little truth to that, because they're on this stretch where four of the next six games were on the road. Okay, they got the first one last night. Now they're on the road again in Knoxville, like you said, a place where they've had good luck in recent years. So maybe this is a spot where they can maybe get it turned around a little bit.

00:10:23
Speaker 5: And yeah, lots of road ahead, but especially after dropping to Missouri, and this was the case all season, you really don't need to lose it up. No, I mean, you shouldn't have lost the Zoo. Can't change that. But when the schedule came out we said that too. I mean, you got Florida, a few tough ones you could excuse, but no more of these home favorite losses. You just can't take that at this point in your resume and try to get into the field.

00:10:43
Speaker 2: So do you like the new starting lineup. It seemed to come out and didn't do too well to start the game. Yet to start the second half, they came out and look like they've been playing together all season.

00:10:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, William. William's got a little foul trouble, so I didn't get to see enough of him. He had the big to give him the lead. But I still think he works in that spot, even though we didn't get to see as much of it last night. And then let's just keep seeing more Yellovich and see what happens. He looks comfortable. I wondered how he'd handle a road SEC atmosphere when he didn't even play in the first two SEC games. That's a big change to go from not getting your warm up off to now you're starting. But he handled it very well, even though it was a slow start for the team.

00:11:22
Speaker 2: Shanna, what did you think of the new lineup?

00:11:25
Speaker 4: Didn't love it?

00:11:25
Speaker 3: I mean, and you're scoring three points in the first what was it eight minutes of the game. Look, he just needs to figure out like who's gonna play the most minutes?

00:11:33
Speaker 4: What is the rotation.

00:11:34
Speaker 3: I'm not really that worried about Well, maybe we should be, though, worried about the starting lineup, because we've been getting off to terrible starts the last couple of games, but they've come back, you know, they come back to win the games. And being down what was it in the Mississippi State game, you're down five point or not first five minutes of the game, you're getting boot out of the arena, come back and win by twenty four points. He's got to figure out some sort of rotation that's working. And the fact that we're halfway through January and it still doesn't really have it is a little concerning.

00:12:03
Speaker 2: It's baffling how they are struggling. Usually midway through the first half he makes the mass substitution. But it's just baffling how they just fall apart and are getting down double digits in most of these games.

00:12:15
Speaker 5: I don't know what's wrong with these starts. It's really incredible because of the same guys that were hot in the first second half were your starters that were just couldn't find anything. You know, Pope has made some good in game adjustments and it's kind of become a joke about collecting the data in the first half. Remember said that a few times last year when they had big comebacks. But this has to get fixed quickly. You can't expect to erase eighteen point deficits and score with one point second left off the road. That's not a winning formula. You've got to get forty minute games put together to stay in this league and get anywhere near the goals you set out to reach.

00:12:47
Speaker 2: Got a lot to talk about. We want to take your calls as well. Eight nine two two to eight seven. Had a very entertaining post game show. We'll save that from Matt when he gets here. We want to hear from you right now. Eight five nine two eight zero Cats eight five nine two two to eet seven. Ryan Drew and Shannon Well right back. This is k take his Portradio. Welcome back Ryan Drew and Shannon here on KA takes Port Radio and Mapp will be joining this momentarily. I heard your, uh, your theory that Garth Brooks is a serial killer like this.

00:13:14
Speaker 4: No, no, no, it's not my theory.

00:13:15
Speaker 2: I think I think you said it was your theory. No.

00:13:17
Speaker 3: I think there's like a whole podcast on this conspiracy theory that Garth Brooks is a serial killer because there were like a string of murders that happened in every city that Garth Brooks was touring in, and that led to people having a conspiracy theory that Garth Brooks must be the guy murdering people. I think he goes out after dark as Chris Gaines his alter ego and kills people. That that's what the theory is. Anyway, if you believe that.

00:13:39
Speaker 5: Where the body is Garth, I've said that on the show in the past. Yeah, throwing that out there a little bit. Where the body is Garth? We just need answers. That's all not accused anybody of anything.

00:13:47
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna doubt Garth Brooks is a serial killer.

00:13:52
Speaker 3: He's also got a big crew with him too, So I mean it's possible that if yeah, maybe like.

00:13:58
Speaker 5: Where are the bodies?

00:14:00
Speaker 2: Ryan Drew and the dude here taking sports radio. I got a couple couple of personal stories and we'll get to the telephone lines one. Uh. You know, I've been driving that Pomula Ford huge Ford Bronco for like a month.

00:14:10
Speaker 5: You look pretty awesome in that too. When I see you in the iHeart parking lot. There's a little bit of jealousy here, thank you.

00:14:15
Speaker 2: I think I look like a manly man studdely looking man.

00:14:19
Speaker 7: Here.

00:14:19
Speaker 5: I am in my little soccer mom Toyota just turned eleven, and you come in with this Bronco. Mario's got a new car. Matt's got a new car. I feel like I don't even belong in the same parking garage as you got Sometimes.

00:14:31
Speaker 2: Well, they've sold it, so I had to give it back.

00:14:33
Speaker 5: Oh okay, that's why when I pulled in and didn't see it, I wondered if you had gone downtown today.

00:14:38
Speaker 2: Okay, they put me in a Ford Escape. Okay, and here's a crazy thing like a Bronco. My dad's gonna buy it. Stayed for the Bronco, the Escape. They already sold the Bronco okay, so I had to take it back and they Pomela four gave me this Ford Escape. My Dad's like, I think I'll just buy that.

00:14:52
Speaker 5: Do they when they sell it is they're like, hey, ron Lemon's been driving this. You know it's kind of a kind of.

00:14:56
Speaker 2: I'm sure that's a value. It's about to turn. Oh kind of a crazy driver, I am. But you almost showed up to date Casbar and Grill with your your maass slippers on.

00:15:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, I had a warning. Still a little tired from a late night, I have a long day today, got some tough news about a friend. My head was just in a weird spot. But I know I have a radio show to do. And Malachymorino hit a big buzzer beater last night, So I got to get to work. So I run out to my car and I got my backpack, I'm dressed steel like I was looking nice, Mario, got my diet starts Monday, hoodie on new hat. But get to Winchester Road and I still feel something's just a little off. I don't feel completely ready for work, and I look down and wearing my house slippers with pants. I don't even know how. I guess I had him on around the house fully dressed and went to mister Rogers into my outdoor shoes and didn't. But then at this point I look at the clock and I'm like, I don't think I have time to get home and then back to the show, and I have a long day. I'm out all day today. I was like, I can't. I can't just wear house shoes around all day in public, got a meeting, I got places to be. I can't be walking around slippers. So I turned around and changed and got here just before we started. But there was a moment Ryan where I was just gonna be here in my in my house, shoes, fully dressed, ready to go.

00:16:08
Speaker 6: Have you ever done anything?

00:16:09
Speaker 5: I feel like you've done something like that before, walked out, forgot.

00:16:12
Speaker 2: Out of the house, forgot to put my shoes on, like your barefoot barefoot, or in my socks. It was in my sock. I realized, I put my shoes.

00:16:19
Speaker 4: How does that even happen?

00:16:20
Speaker 2: It happens more than you think.

00:16:21
Speaker 5: Seems like the concrete would get you.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: That's what got me.

00:16:24
Speaker 5: I at least had a little bit of rubber sole there.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: It felt like a shoe you got in your car. We're driving down here and you realize something is not right.

00:16:30
Speaker 5: And not a little bit. I got pretty far. I got not halfway here, but I'd say a quarter of the way here. So one time in uh, I can't remember what age I was. It was like middle school basketball, but I went to check in and ripped off back when you had the ball. Yes, didn't have my shorts on underneath.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: That was all too.

00:16:48
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:16:50
Speaker 2: Uh so that's a Drew's personal story. Now Shannon's personal story his Vanderbilt Commodore was finally lost last night.

00:16:56
Speaker 4: Shannon, Yeah, yeah, ugly.

00:16:58
Speaker 3: You know, I've actually picked that one, so I wish I just put some money on it and won some money on DraftKings.

00:17:03
Speaker 2: How do you think they were going to lose that game?

00:17:05
Speaker 3: First true SEC road game that was against the team that was halfway decent.

00:17:10
Speaker 4: I just felt like they were gonna lose at some point.

00:17:11
Speaker 3: That felt like when they would lose, and they did by sixteen last night.

00:17:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got drums. So you went the highs of the highs with the Malachi miracle and then the loads of the low's. Vandy lost on the road.

00:17:21
Speaker 3: We were just doing this on the pre show. Do you know the three teams that are still undefeated?

00:17:24
Speaker 4: Did you hear them?

00:17:25
Speaker 8: No?

00:17:25
Speaker 2: I didn't hear this.

00:17:25
Speaker 3: Okay, do you know the three teams undefeated in college basketball?

00:17:28
Speaker 6: Now?

00:17:28
Speaker 2: Arizona is one of them? Check b yu, No.

00:17:36
Speaker 5: Iowa State?

00:17:38
Speaker 8: No?

00:17:38
Speaker 4: They lost?

00:17:39
Speaker 5: Oh they lost.

00:17:40
Speaker 4: They lost to Kansas.

00:17:41
Speaker 5: Oh that's right.

00:17:42
Speaker 2: Michigan lost to Nebraska. Lose yet Nebraska and a beat Nebraska?

00:17:47
Speaker 4: Huh No?

00:17:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, Indiana beating Nebraska this weekend, didn't they?

00:17:51
Speaker 6: No?

00:17:52
Speaker 5: Nebraska won.

00:17:53
Speaker 4: They went to Nebraska's undefeated.

00:17:54
Speaker 5: My bad nebraskball.

00:17:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So what's the third one?

00:17:57
Speaker 3: Well, this is the one that we didn't get. I thought there was only two teams. I'll just give it to you, Miami of Ohio. I'm still undefeated. Wow, there those your three teams still left.

00:18:07
Speaker 2: After Vandy went down last night? All right, eight two two seven? Who's our first caller? Stand? Let's go to er Roger, Go ahead, Roger.

00:18:15
Speaker 7: Thanks to take my call. Guys. Is awesome when last night. But the main reason I was calling because I called in last week and was talking to Matt about our out of bounds play when we threw at the length of the court. Well, guess what we run one last night and we scored. I met. I want him he ben in on that for forty five seconds the other night, so I wanted have met to see what he saw about that scored last night. I have as play.

00:18:42
Speaker 6: Okay this year.

00:18:43
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, Roger. He did talk a little bit about on the postgame show last night, trying to come up with has there ever been a buzzer beater that involved a link to the court pass, and he couldn't think of one. I can't think of one. Do you know of any for Kentucky? There's been buzzer beaters, but to have a full like the Chris Laytner.

00:19:00
Speaker 5: Not like that. I have a little bit of a confession. You know, I'm calling Chandler's biggest fan, you are when he was when I saw that he's the one inbounding the pass, Can I admit a I was a little little pessimistic.

00:19:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:19:15
Speaker 5: I thought we're not even going to touch this ball because there was the game North Carolina, I think where we had the at home where he threw it to nothing, and even though he's my guy, I was like, oh, no, I have no faith that we're going to get a shot here. But in my face, he threw the perfect pass to Marino, definitely intended to him. But I did not feel good in the moment.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: I guess the story has come out now where normally it's set up where Cam Williams is supposed to do that, but he'd fouled out and in the huddle Colin volunteered, let me do it. I can do it. So maybe he was in his mind like I need to make up for that bad pass I made against North Carolina. I know I can make the right pass this time. And he like stepped up and was politicking to try to get to be the guy that inbound the pass.

00:19:58
Speaker 5: Well it works. He now, I'd say he's taking Cam Williams's job for the foreseeable future, at least on the on that inbounds. Maybe even will Stein can call him Malchi over and get a little run in the spring. So if they can put them to work, who's.

00:20:09
Speaker 2: Next, Shan, Let's get another phone call.

00:20:10
Speaker 4: Let's go to Randall.

00:20:11
Speaker 2: Randall, Go ahead, Randall, I.

00:20:14
Speaker 9: Bet Philo's I got two things. I am really glad about the win last night. You know, they come out, you know, got hotter than the Fox and the forest Fire, you know, really started to cook. I'd like to see, you know, I think Pope listen is the show. So I mean, you know, try to build you know, Jasper Johnson's confidence, maybe a little bit, give him a starting spot, let him go with that starting lineup. I'd like to see him with that lineup and see what happens, you know, maybe for at least the first five minutes of the game. I'd be pretty cool. And my second thing, I was just wondering if Ryan ever watched Godfather too.

00:20:49
Speaker 2: I appreciate the phone call. I have not yet. That is still on my list. You know, I don't watch so much that we've learned earlier this week, so much TV. I didn't have a chance to watch the god but but I will. I'm gonna watch it at some point. I do want talk about Jasper. You know, he got it some minutes in the first half as the backup point guards. We knew he would, but the second half it wasn't necessarily a reflection on him, and it was reflection on how good Aberdeen was playing. They couldn't take Aberdeen off the floor of the second half.

00:21:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm gonna assume Johnson was part of the plan. But Aberdeen did not miss until maybe the last thing. He finished eight of ten or something in the in the second half seventeen points after scoring zero in the second.

00:21:23
Speaker 2: He row in the first half seventeen and the second half.

00:21:25
Speaker 5: And then o Way right next to him completely turned it on too. So at that point you just got to let those guys go, and that's why they played the whole second half. I don't think it was any indictment on jazzp It'd be criminal for Pope to sit Aberdeen in that moment because he was hitting everything.

00:21:40
Speaker 2: There's one thing I will give Pope credit for. We give him a lot of hard time about his rotation, especially in the first half when he gets a group of five going. In the second half, he kind of stays with him. We've seen it in like the Saint John's game, even the Indiana game. You got your five guys that are playing the best that day, he rolls with him. And he did that again last night.

00:21:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's done that a lot this season. It was a little bit of a criticism last year, maybe just start this year reserves, but here lately he he finds out who's going. Maybe you know, some people think he still plays too many people whatever. That can be debated. But to his credit, once he sees who's playing well earlier, gets it going. He's not no longer sitting them because that's what the analytics said. He's letting the hot hand roll.

00:22:16
Speaker 2: Jasper though still gonna be a big piece. He he is gonna get a lot of minutes because he is now the backup point guard.

00:22:21
Speaker 5: No questions asked, And I mean saw someome as that was from Aberdeen. He's gonna have some bad nights. I don't know that we can expect him to do that every night for the future. And that's when Jasper be needed a lot.

00:22:31
Speaker 2: So Ryan, Drew, and Shannon we're here taking your calls eight five nine two two.

00:22:34
Speaker 5: Two das you see Matt Jones out the window.

00:22:36
Speaker 2: Aw, Matt'll be here. He's got trivia tonight, so he's got broke in his hand, is his UH planner. So it's perfect time. We'll take our break and we come back. Matt Jones will join us here on Kentucky Sports Radio. Don't go away.

00:22:48
Speaker 4: TJ Smith, personal injury attorney called TJ. He'll make them pay.

00:22:52
Speaker 3: Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

00:22:56
Speaker 4: Here's Matt Jones, Welcome back.

00:22:57
Speaker 10: It is Kentucky Sports Radio A five nine two twenty two eighty seven uh text machine seven seven two seven seven four five two five four. Sorry I missed the beginning. There had some meeting stuff got went a little long. But now I'm here and ready to help celebrate the win. I know you all talked a lot about it, but how exciting was that Yesterday?

00:23:18
Speaker 2: I thought maybe that's what it was. You partied to my heart last night after that big win. It was such a the Malachi.

00:23:24
Speaker 10: Miracle, Malachi miracle. I'll take it eight. I've nine two eight oh twenty two eighty seven. So I said season saved when it happened. Do you think, uh, season saved.

00:23:38
Speaker 5: For a little longer? I agree, yeah. I mean it doesn't change really anything. It just kept something bad from happening. It's just as basic as that sounds.

00:23:46
Speaker 2: Like.

00:23:46
Speaker 5: If they had lost that, maybe you can recover with some big wins. But I don't have the confidence they can recover. Now you're at least alive a little longer. The SEC is just all clumped up together, so who knows what could happen, So you're still in the fight for a little longer.

00:24:01
Speaker 10: Every single team in the SEC is within two games of first place after the first.

00:24:07
Speaker 2: If you beat Missouri or three and one, you're.

00:24:08
Speaker 10: Right except lu Yeah, oh no, if you're in Missouri. If you beat Missouri, you'd be tied for the lead. That's crazy to talk about a couple of things. And again, you all may have said this, So if you did, just act like I didn't. Before we go the phones seven seven two four five two five four. Let's talk about the end of the game. Did you think O Way got his shot off?

00:24:31
Speaker 5: I was one hundred percent convinced he did. And then I saw another angle where I could at least entertain the idea. But I'll admit I yelled when they overturned it. I was convinced it was gonna stand.

00:24:40
Speaker 10: I think it was just like that old Miss Auburn game where the television clock was different than the arena clock, because on the arena clock, when they did they showed the wrong angle, like they didn't show the right angle till the very last second. Yes, on the on the final angle, you could see the light being off, but they didn't show that angle for a while, so at first it like it was good. Then when they showed the other angle, I actually thought it made sense. That was a terribly discombobulated play though, like there was nothing happening on that play. They waited too long. So then they come down and they.

00:25:14
Speaker 6: Called the foul.

00:25:15
Speaker 10: O Way hated that call, didn't you, Yeah, because I didn't think he fouled him. I mean, he found him in the sense that everybody gets fouled. But I didn't I didn't like that.

00:25:25
Speaker 5: You didn't You didn't have to call it.

00:25:26
Speaker 2: You see, you see that lot called a lot in that situation, don't you know?

00:25:30
Speaker 10: So he made one of the two right, and then we came down and how would you describe our last.

00:25:37
Speaker 6: Attempt at a score?

00:25:40
Speaker 2: Brilliant coaching?

00:25:41
Speaker 6: No, no, no, before that, before that.

00:25:44
Speaker 5: This is why I don't want to I don't want to be negative on such a happy day because I am still happy. But there were a lot of things at the end that still made me think if that was our strategy. I mean, we lucked out and it worked, but I don't have a lot of confidence moving on. Like even admitting that final play wasn't what they were trying to do, I'm like, just tell me it was perfec. Just say that's what you want to do, so I know something is working.

00:26:02
Speaker 10: Yeah, I did like the play where uh where O Way drove down got fouled. Yes, but but you know, only h only hits he only hits one free throw, so like, you got to make that free throw if you're him, and he's pretty clutch at that.

00:26:16
Speaker 6: You know, he drew the foul.

00:26:17
Speaker 10: He just barreled into the paint and then drew the foul and then you of course had the the he misses two free throws. When he was shooting those two free throws for l s U, I thought he should make the first miss the second right. But then I but but but then he makes he misses them both. Ye, and then the Malachi shot. Malachi shouldn't have said, by the way that the past wasn't for him.

00:26:43
Speaker 5: That's how I loved the show. I was like, why are you all doing this? You need pr help, say Colin Chandler through the perfect pass.

00:26:49
Speaker 6: And I think he actually did.

00:26:50
Speaker 10: I think what he meant was the initial pass was to go to oh Way, but.

00:26:53
Speaker 6: Oway was covered, I hope. So so then he went to Malaka something.

00:26:57
Speaker 10: To say they're good at I must say, that was a great pass by Colin Chandler, and then what a shot by Marine.

00:27:02
Speaker 2: And we said before you got here, you know the stories come out now where Chandler volunteered. He wanted to be the guy to make that pass.

00:27:07
Speaker 10: Well, but that was also a little misleading because they said Cam Williams, but he had fouled.

00:27:12
Speaker 2: Out, fouled out, so somebody had to volunteered, somebody had to step up.

00:27:15
Speaker 6: So somebody had done.

00:27:16
Speaker 10: It was a great pass though, And the Malachi shot is that like the start of him becoming a star.

00:27:23
Speaker 5: I think so it wasn't just a shot he would have. That's a tough ball to go out and catch and in one second have your wits about you to turn around and you know, had a good looking form to jump shot go off too. That was incredible play by him. And yeah, I agree to your point about it being this his star really took off.

00:27:39
Speaker 10: It was the Laightner play, except they played good defense, they had a guy on the ball he did and they had a guy in front of marine and he still scored like it was the Laightner play.

00:27:49
Speaker 6: But then it didn't work, so I was I was happy.

00:27:50
Speaker 10: Then we had the postgame show, I would say, strangest post game show in the history. I mean, it's yesterday was up there for the most amazing calls in a day of KSRF, Bob and Jamestown.

00:28:05
Speaker 6: In the morning, we got Malchi's mam on again. She was awesome.

00:28:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great.

00:28:11
Speaker 10: We had h the guy who called Chad who had yelled at his wife and son and Dawg. Yes, that was strange. You had the woman at LSU who had been there. Huh, she was my favorite, who kept calling the players the numbers and saying her or what was her name.

00:28:30
Speaker 6: For her husband?

00:28:32
Speaker 2: But so sweet?

00:28:34
Speaker 6: No, no it was I can't remember. She was great.

00:28:37
Speaker 10: She also wrote me afterwards and said if we wanted to send her to any games as a correspondent, we could, which I love that. That was her thought, like, I'll, you know, just send me to some games. I did like her analysis.

00:28:49
Speaker 5: Uh.

00:28:50
Speaker 10: We had the guy who took his girl on a date for the game, so there were a lot of very Uh.

00:28:56
Speaker 6: There were some great calls last night.

00:28:58
Speaker 5: The woman that supports the team first sweet or honey, honey, honey. I think it was honey honey. Her enthusiasm to not really know what she was watching, that was genuine happiness, though you could fill it through the radio. How thrilled she was about a win and she doesn't even know the names of anyone else.

00:29:13
Speaker 6: No, she said she likes one, two, four or five. She basically mentioned all the but then she was like.

00:29:17
Speaker 5: I love Kentucky. Yes, got a lot to learn, but she loves them.

00:29:20
Speaker 6: I loved it.

00:29:20
Speaker 10: So it was a huge win, huge for the fan base. I mean, I think that's a huge fan base win. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if we didn't win, you know, I mean, Mario was here, he was celebrating with people at the end of the games. A lot of people quit during the game. The ones that stayed had a huge, uh you know, huge burst of excitement.

00:29:42
Speaker 6: But we needed that. I mean, it was kind of a shocking victor.

00:29:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, kaky, guys said, you know, the win kind of keeps his poking forward. But a loss could have been devastating, devastating for our fan base, devastating for NCAA tournament hopes.

00:29:55
Speaker 10: We don't make the turn, I agree. I mean, I'm not one hundred cent shar sure we're gonna make it, but if we lose, we do not make the turn.

00:30:04
Speaker 5: Well, at least still on the road. Our Ferrari is definitely not a Ferrari like we thought rent a rental. We're low on gas, might have a flat tire, but we are still on the road with the other cars right now. We didn't fall off the edge into the end of the ravine. We're still driving now.

00:30:16
Speaker 6: I mean shanting. We're like my old car.

00:30:18
Speaker 10: It's got two hundred and thirty five thousand miles, but no oil chain.

00:30:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it exists it physic there running Yeah.

00:30:25
Speaker 10: And like so far, there's all indications that will continue to run.

00:30:29
Speaker 5: We might pick up a little speed, you might get downhill up here in a mile or two, get going, and if we get some win behind.

00:30:34
Speaker 6: Us, and if we win at Knoxville, which we always.

00:30:36
Speaker 2: Do, look out, then look out, step back.

00:30:41
Speaker 6: We've got to stop falling behind.

00:30:43
Speaker 5: Can't do it again, don't.

00:30:45
Speaker 2: I don't have an answer why they keep this keeps happening. It's not just a one off thing. They do it all the time, down double digits by midway through the first half.

00:30:52
Speaker 6: And done it all the time for two straight years. Yeah, I mean it is. It's clear.

00:30:57
Speaker 10: It would be fascinating to hear what Mark Pope thinks. The reason is, like, why does he think this happens so much to us? Even in the some of the games we've lost this year, we've we've come back, but.

00:31:10
Speaker 6: It's started like that.

00:31:12
Speaker 5: I almost think it's just getting him up in motive. It can't be technically, so he's fixing the second half. How are you so bad to start the game when You've had days to prep to get ready. So I almost don't even think it's like the analytics and the coaching.

00:31:24
Speaker 6: I think it's just.

00:31:25
Speaker 5: Him literally motivating him and getting them up to play the game. Whereas you know, they get to halftime, they look it up and they're down bad and they're getting embarrassed. Then they wake up Andy like, now let's go turn it on. It's like he almost needs to be angry before they even tip it off.

00:31:38
Speaker 6: I agree, A nine eighty seven. Who's up next?

00:31:41
Speaker 4: Let's go to Connor Connor?

00:31:43
Speaker 6: How are you Connor?

00:31:48
Speaker 2: Connor?

00:31:49
Speaker 6: All right, we're rolling next year. Go ahead, Connor, whenever you're ready.

00:31:54
Speaker 11: Sorry, yeah, sorry, I just wanted to call in man last night, big Blue Miracle row last night, I feel like was it was It was for those fans this season that have been down on them. You know, if you're I'm thirty three years old, if you look back, we always tend to have a couple of those big blue magic moments in a season. Last night was our big blue magic moment. So hyped for it. That was o Tega hit that shot? Sorry and number one he traveled before he got that last shot before the miracle shot he traveled. But let's not talk about that. This is for the brand that need to Yep, they need to The big Blue nation needs to get behind them. We got the magic. The magic's coming.

00:32:41
Speaker 6: Go get your tickets to appreciate the call.

00:32:44
Speaker 10: So I I would say to you that this is well, do you think this will be a shot that's on the montage before the game?

00:32:54
Speaker 2: Yeah?

00:32:54
Speaker 10: You know for people who go to the games, they have that montage of clip.

00:32:58
Speaker 6: I feel like this one's gonna be on there, do you definitely?

00:33:01
Speaker 5: I mean I wrote a post yesterday in the day ranking like top LSU moments, quickly updated that, and then you know when we write those ten years from now and not just LSU just regular season shots and games that will be in the conversation.

00:33:13
Speaker 6: Sick have we ever won on a full court pass?

00:33:15
Speaker 2: Before? I heard you discuss that, and.

00:33:17
Speaker 10: Nobody really responded because I don't think we ever have. I don't think we've ever won on a half court pass.

00:33:22
Speaker 2: I heard you talking about that, so I was trying to think too. I don't remember any Some old timers were saying there was a time in like in the seventies they tried it and the ball Reggie Warford. I guess it win him. They didn't count the basket maybe or something like that. I don't think it's ever happened.

00:33:34
Speaker 10: I don't think we've ever had it, which makes it even more exciting, like that's a historic I mean, we've had a lot of buzzer beaters, but we've I don't think we've ever had a full court all the way down the court pass.

00:33:46
Speaker 2: But the answer question, I think it definitely is on the montage because not just because he hit the shot, but the way the team celebrated, like you know, they all run ran to him and celebrated on the court like that. On a ponesy think.

00:33:55
Speaker 6: It can be a unifying moment for the team.

00:33:59
Speaker 2: I think so.

00:34:00
Speaker 6: I think they've had some unification issues.

00:34:02
Speaker 5: Yeah right, I Knowed Diabat is one of the first ones to go. It's a big statement. That was a big statement.

00:34:08
Speaker 6: I think it can. I agree.

00:34:10
Speaker 10: If I'm nine twenty twoercent, we're here at kspar you can come have lunch with us.

00:34:15
Speaker 6: Say hello, tonight is trivia.

00:34:18
Speaker 2: You got your team all my team's doing something tonight. I've been trying to hustle up my team and they're all doing stuff.

00:34:23
Speaker 6: Why don't we Why don't we get you a team?

00:34:26
Speaker 2: Well, no, I'd rather do my own team.

00:34:28
Speaker 6: But if you don't play, there's no team.

00:34:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm still still efforting. I got two right now, just you and one other players Crystal. Yeah, so you need two more people. Yeah, I'll work on that.

00:34:38
Speaker 4: Where's you? A good girl?

00:34:39
Speaker 2: She can't join you?

00:34:40
Speaker 6: Why can't she play?

00:34:41
Speaker 2: She's smart, she's a lot smarter than me.

00:34:43
Speaker 6: So why doesn't she come?

00:34:44
Speaker 2: Maybe I'll have to convince her to come.

00:34:46
Speaker 6: You didn't ask her? I did, and she said no.

00:34:48
Speaker 2: She goes No, she's got too much other stuff to do.

00:34:50
Speaker 6: Well, why don't you tell her she needs to play? Okay? I need you in the content.

00:34:54
Speaker 2: On Trivia Night.

00:34:55
Speaker 10: I mean, come on, this is trivian agreed, and you are the standard by which people measure themselves.

00:35:00
Speaker 2: You just like it.

00:35:00
Speaker 6: You're like the Mendoza line.

00:35:02
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I cannot finish last. My whole goal each week is just don't finish.

00:35:05
Speaker 10: You're playing tonight, even if it's just you and Crystal, You're playing, all right.

00:35:09
Speaker 6: Big news for our listeners.

00:35:10
Speaker 10: In the Buckeye Day, corn bred hemp is now available at fresh time and select retailers across Ohio, Seltzer's Gummies, Relaxation, restless sleep, It's all there at Cornbread Hemp. There's no wedding for shipping ordering online, just walk in cornbreadhimp dot com. You can go visit at cornbreadheimp dot com or use a store lok or to find in one near shoe Cornbread Hemp. This is the good life. We'll take a break and be right back. It's KZR.

00:35:35
Speaker 2: Welcome back.

00:35:36
Speaker 10: Take you Sports Radio eight five nine two eight oh twenty two eighty seven, Text Machine seven seven two seven seven four five two five four Here at ks Bar and Grill.

00:35:44
Speaker 6: It's actually turned out to be a beautiful day after all that snow last night. It's really nice outside.

00:35:49
Speaker 2: After our pregame show, we came out of the studio and it was like a blizzard, like a white out in downtown Lexington.

00:35:54
Speaker 6: Well now it's here, that's here. It's good.

00:35:56
Speaker 2: Uh.

00:35:56
Speaker 6: Mario's gonna be taking pictures of all the new food today, aren't you, Mario? The yeah good? So that means you get to eat it. Rule of seventy one.

00:36:03
Speaker 2: Held up it did it did? Don't think I didn't think that either. When I hit.

00:36:07
Speaker 10: Everybody was watching that last bucket and when it was a Cam Williams dunk, and I was like, all right.

00:36:11
Speaker 6: We won.

00:36:12
Speaker 5: Yep, talked about my house too. We're all counting down. It was a race to seventy one. We celebrated getting seventy one. Still don't feel like the game was over at that point, but it was good to get their first.

00:36:20
Speaker 6: Never worried, no, I need knew we were going to win the whole time. Seventy one doesn't fail.

00:36:25
Speaker 5: And we were collecting data in the first half.

00:36:27
Speaker 10: We were collecting data in the first thirty nine minutes fifty eight points its four seconds.

00:36:33
Speaker 5: That was the worst data we've ever collected. Like, if you read it, it was not good data.

00:36:38
Speaker 2: What's crazy about last night? The starting five he had came out so sluggish and slow, but yet that same starting five started the second half and we're playing lights out, same group, two different halves, just to the way they played two different.

00:36:50
Speaker 5: Well, I think it's between the ears.

00:36:51
Speaker 10: More urgency, yeah, I think urgency and maybe maybe even game plan. There was a lot of standing around in the first half, a lot of stand and a lot more movement in the second half, and we got open threes. Now granted we made them, but they were open in the second half, which I think makes a big difference obviously for this group.

00:37:10
Speaker 5: And when you're not, you know, one for eleven and you're six for eight, that makes everything else easier for everyone else because they have to respect that they were just packing the inside in the first half and Darren Kentucky shoot.

00:37:20
Speaker 6: And the thing is, we didn't even get the best buzzer beater last night. Boopy got Boopy Boopy.

00:37:25
Speaker 10: First of all, can you believe there's a guy named Boopy? For SMMU Shannon, would you name your kid Boopy?

00:37:30
Speaker 4: No, of all the names, that would be the last one.

00:37:32
Speaker 6: He named him Boopy.

00:37:33
Speaker 10: But I will say this, if you're gonna get a half court shot at the buzzer to lead the Today Show, you want to be named Boopy.

00:37:40
Speaker 6: Malchoi shot made the Today Shows.

00:37:41
Speaker 2: It was number two on ESPN's top ten list this morning on Shoopy number one. Boopy was number one.

00:37:45
Speaker 5: Soon as I saw Boopies, I knew Malachi was in trouble.

00:37:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, Malchi would have been number one.

00:37:50
Speaker 5: The best part of Boopies is the Pyro. The pyro guy did you notice that timing was the second it goes to the net. It's not go an layup where the guy was ready. It was a half court shot. The flames just goes straight up. Incredible. Give the Pyro guy race.

00:38:03
Speaker 6: I mean, was unbelievable.

00:38:05
Speaker 5: He hadn't have just been sitting there locked in, finger on the button waiting for that to go.

00:38:10
Speaker 10: Have you seen the way Virginia Tech's five ACC games have gone. Virginia Tech has law is two and three in the ACC. Their three losses are all at the buzzer, really, every single one of them, and one of their two wins is triple overtime.

00:38:25
Speaker 5: And I think on all three buzzer beaters they weren't just tied, they were leading and then lost on the shot.

00:38:30
Speaker 10: They've lost on three buzzer beaters in five games.

00:38:34
Speaker 2: That's that's tough. That's tough in your locker room. And you can't pull one out like that.

00:38:37
Speaker 6: It's gotta be uh gotta be brutal.

00:38:40
Speaker 10: If I'm nine two twenty two eighty seven, one person rides Matt does Mo Diabate play big time minutes in any more games this.

00:38:48
Speaker 2: Year, There's gonna be a game they're gonna need him. But I think right now Hope has discovered they play better with yellowch or camp Wains at the four. But there's gonna be there's gonna be a game they're gonna need h.

00:39:00
Speaker 10: If I told you Kentucky was gonna not have Jalen Lowe, Jaden Queens and Mo Diabate, you would.

00:39:08
Speaker 2: Have thought we're in trouble. We're in big trouble. Who would have thought Marino was gonna play this level he's playing at right now. We were thought he'd be third string center coming into the season. Now he's a starter and playing great minutes.

00:39:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would have. I wouldn't think we'd be two and two in the SEC. I think you'd be lucky to be that.

00:39:27
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean it's gonna be. It's gonna be hard. But again, my number is six wins. Six wins gets us in the tournament. I think six wins sends us to Dayton. That's all we need.

00:39:39
Speaker 2: Just get us in the door.

00:39:40
Speaker 10: Buddy, we need eight SEC wins and we go to day six more to girls six more.

00:39:46
Speaker 6: So I feel like we got six in this.

00:39:49
Speaker 5: If they don't get the six, what's that look like? Are we are we do. We accept any bids anywhere else. Are we at a first round road game in Amaho.

00:39:57
Speaker 10: There's no reason to have that conversation tonight. We're winning, all right, we won, We won the game. We'll talk. That's a later down the year. Six wins, you get into the NCAA tournament. If we'd lost last night, I think that would be a fair conversation.

00:40:09
Speaker 6: But we won. Who's next, Dan, Dan, go ahead?

00:40:12
Speaker 8: Dan, ain't man Dan from Rocky Mount. Yeah, I want that Mississippi State game. So we go from getting booed win by twenty four and win this game last night. Let me tell you what when I watched games like if they get behind or by so much, I'll change the channels. I'll go in another room, I just can't stand it. And anyway, I turned it back on and it was they were at the file line. We get we're behind seventy four to seventy three, one point nine seconds. No way, I'm gonna watch it. I tell my wife, I said, now, at least the boys came back. Look, my buddy Fred texted me, says, man, what a great game, And I'm thinking, what the heck game is he watching?

00:41:00
Speaker 2: So you didn't watch the end of it.

00:41:01
Speaker 6: You didn't watch the final play?

00:41:04
Speaker 11: No, I didn't watch it.

00:41:06
Speaker 2: I think there's a.

00:41:06
Speaker 10: Lot of people like that that that that didn't watch it.

00:41:10
Speaker 6: It's good to hear from you, Da. I appreciate the call.

00:41:11
Speaker 10: I I couldn't turn the game off, you know, I tend to turn it off or not doing well. I had friends over, so I had to watch the whole thing, which made me persevere. And then I feel like Ryan, I had earned the victory at the end.

00:41:25
Speaker 2: So what where was your headspace when the guys at the free throw line throws down?

00:41:30
Speaker 10: It wasn't I was sitting there thinking about what was I gonna say on the postgame show. I was already kind of going, you know, how do we deal with this? Are we going to make the tournament? There was no part of me that thought that was gonna work.

00:41:43
Speaker 5: No, did you know we have through a lot to get ready for the site. And when o Way hit front rim on that free throw, I'm already writing game over stuff like I just thought that free throw inended it.

00:41:52
Speaker 10: I thought, I mean, I was gonna kind of write how they just can't get make the plays that that win And and then we did, and so now it's it's happen eight times, Hey, five, nine, two, eight oh twenty two eighty seven.

00:42:02
Speaker 6: We'll take a break and be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.