BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pump-n-Shop with Kentucky Volleyball's Molly Berezowitz

BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pump-n-Shop with Kentucky Volleyball's Molly Berezowitz

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 5 (01:09):
Hello everyone, hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Welcome
into BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumpin' Shop. And we
have a very special guest with us in studio tonight
from the Kentucky Volleyball team. We've got Molly Breziwitz, a
junior defensive specialist, and she's going to talk to us
about the upcoming NCAA Tournament Volleyball. The number two seed

(01:29):
overall in the tournament, they'll host Wofford on Thursday night
at seven o'clock inside Historic Memorial Coliseum, So we'll talk
to her about that, plus the run to another SEC
championship and now an SEC tournament crown that they get
to put on the shelf, so we'll talk to her
about that.

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Welcome back into BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop.
With the volleyball team found out their destination for the
NCAA tournament, there'll be the number two overall seed in
the tournament beginning Thursday night against Wafford inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
Seven o'clock, first serve.

Speaker 5 (05:37):
And we are now joined by a very special guest,
Molly Breswoods has taken time to join us, a junior
defensive specialist also Livero. But Molly, first of all, congratulations
on securing another SEC regular season title and now you've
added the tournament championship on top of it.

Speaker 11 (05:53):
Yeah, I no, thank you.

Speaker 16 (05:54):
It was very exciting to get not only one but
two SEC rings cell super cool.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
What was the reaction of the team when you found
out your seeding and your destination in the NCAA Tournament.

Speaker 16 (06:06):
Yeah, we were kind of expecting a one seed, just
with kind of the end of our season and getting
two SEC championships, But we were stoked. I mean, in
the beginning of the season they kind of had us
at that like four or five. So not for sure
clinching that one seed, but I think we just kind
of knew we were it was coming, and we're super

(06:26):
excited because it is really significant to host not one
but two rounds, especially at the Memorial Coliseum. We've been
packing it recently and so we just hope that we
can sell it out for the next few rounds and
get people there.

Speaker 5 (06:39):
Yeah. What's it like for the team sitting there? I mean,
like you just mentioned, you kind of knew you would
be a one seed, but you're still watching the bracket
play out. Of course, they leave Kentucky for the last
quadrant to be revealed, but as the opponents are unveiled,
what's the what's the feeling like seeing that all finally
be displayed.

Speaker 16 (06:58):
Yeah, it's definitely nerve wracking, I mean and palms are sweaty.
It's a little just like just the unknown of what's
gonna happen. But I think since we were last it
just we kind of knew who we're gonna play. We
were kind of like, oh, this team hasn't got picked yet,
this team hasn't got picked yet, so we were kind
of putting the puzzle pieces together.

Speaker 11 (07:16):
But it's definitely nerve wracking, just.

Speaker 16 (07:17):
Like there's definitely teams that are have some powerhouses that
you don't want to see until Kansas City, and there's
other teams that don't. But once our name finally got
called and we saw our bracket, we were pretty happy
with it. And you know, Craig said yesterday at practice,
no matter what our call is, no matter who we
who are the picks are, we're.

Speaker 11 (07:36):
Just gonna play.

Speaker 16 (07:37):
So we try to not like think about who we're playing,
just about our team.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
So I was just going to say, we get to
sit here and focus on the entire quadrant in your bracket.
But you guys are just focused on Wafford now.

Speaker 11 (07:49):
Right, Yeah, absolutely, just one game at a time.

Speaker 16 (07:52):
For the next few practices, we'll be focusing on just
Thursday night at seven pm, which is Wafford.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
Having the SEC tournament Now, the SEC is in a
unique spot because you're the only conference that had a tournament,
So you're the only teams that have felt that one
and done survival mode already and implemented that. How much
of an advantage is that going into the tournament.

Speaker 11 (08:12):
I think it's a huge advantage.

Speaker 16 (08:13):
I mean, like you just said, you have to feel
that kind of survival and if you lose, you're done.

Speaker 11 (08:19):
And so for.

Speaker 16 (08:20):
Us in Texas and Tennessee and kind of all the
teams that made it, you just feel like, oh, wow,
we really can't lose this because season's over. And in
that in that case scenario, the season wasn't over. We
still had NCAA's But I just think it's a huge
advantage just to have that extra intensity pressure and all
those external factors on you.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
Facing teams like Texas and Tennessee back to back in
the tournament. You also had the tough non conferences team.
Feels like it's you've seen everything at this point, right,
you feel like you're ready for the tournament.

Speaker 11 (08:52):
Yeah? Absolutely.

Speaker 16 (08:52):
I mean they said yesterday in the selection show that
there was one hundred and some reverse sweeps and we
were like, well, we have two of those, and so
we feel like we have just really faced everything. We've
lost a few games in the beginning of the season,
which sometimes failure sets you up to succeed. So we've
lost a few, we've reverse swept, we've went to five
with teams, and so there's be've I mean, the SEC

(09:14):
just really sets you up for the tournament.

Speaker 5 (09:15):
To be able to do the reverse sweep is incredibly
challenging this team, Like you mentioned, you've done it twice.
What did the team learn about itself coming back in
those matches.

Speaker 16 (09:25):
I would say, just don't wait to do the to
do it, like get it, just get it done right away.
I mean we kind of talked about that yesterday at practice,
and our our team likes hard things, we like hard tasks,
and so we definitely made it harder for ourselves and
we kind of talked about it practice, just trying to
make things way easier for us and get it done
right away instead of waiting till it's times right.

Speaker 11 (09:47):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:48):
In terms of leadership, I watched the video that they
produced about the win and the SEC tournament sort of
the journey through all that, and it felt like every
time there was a huddle, there was a different person
stepped up and spoke in the huddle. Tell me what
the leadership is like on this team.

Speaker 16 (10:04):
Yeah, that is I mean, that is so true. That
kind of says it all there. I mean, our captains
are Eva Brooklyn and Molly Tuzzo, but I mean everyone
steps in and talks. We have freshmen that are talking,
sophomorre's junior, seniors. It doesn't matter what your age is like,
you are allowed to go in there and if you
have to say something, you can say something.

Speaker 11 (10:23):
And it's funny.

Speaker 16 (10:24):
Because every time out it's a different person talking, and
it could be a senior, it could be a freshman,
and even on the court, it's a different person talking.
And so on our team, we're just allowed to say
whatever whenever we want and whenever we feel called to
say something.

Speaker 5 (10:39):
How has that made you a better not just a
better player, but better person Stepping into a potential role
like that.

Speaker 16 (10:46):
Yeah, it just I mean, it just sets you up
for life, honestly, just having those leadership skills. And I
feel like I've stepped into a little bit of a
leadership role as well being an upperclassman.

Speaker 11 (10:56):
It's a whole different.

Speaker 16 (10:58):
It's just a whole different situation and experience than being
an underclassman, and so just having those leadership skills and
just letting the younger people also take the lead because
they're gonna have to take over the program someday and
so like next year there'll be seven seniors, and so
having them have to take over the program, it's just
we're they're ready because they have done these leadership things
all along in their whole career.

Speaker 5 (11:19):
We're chatting with Molly Breswooz from Kentucky Volleyball, and I
was thinking about Eva Hudson's There's so many videos and
images of her and her displays of emotion after big points.
You know what I mean, What is she like in
those huddles? How intense does she get during matches?

Speaker 11 (11:37):
You see my smile? She is amazing.

Speaker 16 (11:39):
Like I when we are playing, I have my full
confidence in her if I'm setting the ball or whatever,
like I am ready to give the ball to her
because I trust her so much as long as well
as all my other teammates.

Speaker 11 (11:52):
But you know that those emotions that.

Speaker 16 (11:54):
She has, she can just she's scary. I'm glad I
am on her team. Let's just say that because she's
scary if you're on the other side of the net.
But yeah, she's competitive, one of the most competitive people
I've ever played with.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
I don't think I would want to be in front
of one of her or Brooklyn Spikes.

Speaker 11 (12:11):
No, no, no, I've got hit in the head a
few times. But it's super fun to play against them
in practice.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
How much fun do you have playing on the back line,
being a defensive specialist. How much fun do you have
on this team playing in that role.

Speaker 16 (12:25):
It's so fun, I mean, especially getting to play with
Molly Tuzzo and Trinity Ward, Like, yeah, the three of
us just love it and we're just honestly just having fun.
And that's all you can ask for in college sports,
because just with everything going on in college athletics, the
main reason we play is to have fun. And that's
just what we see us three l Barrows. We're always
having fun. We're always cheering each other on, and we're

(12:48):
just doing it for the block, the defensive block up there,
because they're trying to get us good touches and we're
trying to get good digs for them.

Speaker 11 (12:55):
So it's awesome.

Speaker 5 (12:56):
Well, you have put up some great dig numbers this year.
At one point it was you were you were flirting
with three or right at three, I think you finished.
We'll call it two point two digs per set. Tell
me a little bit about how the hitters feed off
your defense.

Speaker 16 (13:10):
Yeah, No, being a DS, you don't you don't really
get many opportunities because it's only three rotations. So my
mindset was just you never know if you don't go.
So I was just like, I'm going for every ball
no matter what, even if it feels like it's out
of balance or way far away, Like I Am just
going to try to go for it and get that
ball off the ground.

Speaker 11 (13:28):
But our hitters always point to us if.

Speaker 16 (13:31):
We get a good dig and they give us that
attention and like, hey, that was an awesome defensive play,
Like you're the reason I got this attack. And Brooklyn
Eva our middles everyone always like points to us and
was like you are the.

Speaker 11 (13:43):
Reason that happened.

Speaker 16 (13:44):
And so that's just extra special because it helps us
keep wanting to get digs and keep wanting to play
really good defense for them.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
Yeah, we're chatting with Molly Breswitz from Kentucky Volleyball. We
got to get to our break here in just a minute,
but before we switch gears, and I want to ask
her a little bit about her journey getting to Kentucky
and about watching her older sister win a national championship,
certainly something I know you've got a goal of doing
now with the University of Kentucky. Talking about the digs,

(14:13):
it's almost like Libero numbers that you have put up
this year and doing so in a three DS rotation.
How have you been able to sort of adapt and
become such a huge part of that back line with
the rotations happening in a match.

Speaker 11 (14:27):
Yeah, I know. I would just say, like.

Speaker 16 (14:29):
Finding a rhythm, I guess, yeah, finding a rhythm, it's
super hard to find a rhythm. We even have like
people who just have to go in and serve for
one rotation, and it's super hard. But Craig sets us
up really well to do well in games because we
practice that in practice, and so when you do things
in practice, it's much easier to just incorporate them into
the game.

Speaker 11 (14:47):
And so I would say, this is what I have to.

Speaker 16 (14:49):
Do in practice every day, so I'm used to it,
and that's how I'm able to execute during the game.
And making big digs in big plays for our team.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
We got to get to our break. We'll be back
with another segment featuring Bred. Is what you're listening to
BBN Radio presented by Clark's Puppet Shop.

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Speaker 5 (19:44):
We're back with another segment featuring Molly Breswitz here on
BBN Radio, presented by Clark's Pumping Shop and the volleyball team,
the number two overall seed in the NCAA tournament that
begins Thursday ninth. They'll take on Wofford at Historic Memorial
Coliseum seven o'clock, first serve. I know this team, you
talked about it in the last segment. Super excited to
be hosting all the way through potentially to the Final four.

(20:08):
They're playing in front of Historic Memorial Colisseum and Big
Blue Nation. We have really continued to see the fan
base for volleyball grow. How exciting is it for the
players to get to have at least four, but potentially
four more matches in front of the home crowd.

Speaker 11 (20:22):
It's really so cool.

Speaker 16 (20:23):
I mean when I watched my sister play here four
or five years ago.

Speaker 11 (20:28):
Memorial was not like that.

Speaker 16 (20:30):
I mean we were like my parents were always like,
where are the Kentucky fans?

Speaker 11 (20:34):
We know you're here, where are they?

Speaker 16 (20:37):
And now it just flipped the script and we are
packing the thing and we just hope to continue to
have everyone bring their friends and family and younger athletes,
and it's just so awesome.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Coach Skinner always has this business like approach whenever I
see him, always straight faced, but yet terrific personality, wonderful guy.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
Loved talking to him.

Speaker 5 (21:00):
What was the reaction to the team when you see
him walk into the press room and stand up on
the desk or jump off the high dive trying to
help promote this team and get more fans in the coliseum.

Speaker 11 (21:11):
We loved it. We were just like dying laughing.

Speaker 16 (21:14):
We sent pictures of him in our group chat because
we were like, Craig, is this really you?

Speaker 11 (21:18):
You didn't know if it was like AI or a
mean but no, it was him. He did it.

Speaker 16 (21:23):
But yeah, he's just so passionate and he just loves
this team just as much as we appreciate love him.

Speaker 11 (21:29):
So it's super great.

Speaker 16 (21:30):
To see that he's going out in the community and
the university and trying to promote this sport.

Speaker 5 (21:36):
We're chatting with Molly Breswitz in I wanted to ask
you because a lot of interviews I've seen from your
teammates they talk about you, how relatable you are, how
fun you are to be around, and how you help
make them better. What's your reaction when you hear your
teammates just talk about you in those terms?

Speaker 16 (21:55):
You know, it means a lot because I really focus
on those types of things, and I try to remember
that it doesn't always matter about how you play, but
it's how you are as a person. And when I
leave this place, it's like, I don't care if people
think I'm good or not. It's how I made them
feel and my interactions with them and what I said
to them or what I what I did towards them.

(22:16):
And so that, I mean, it means a lot to
me because that just means that I'm living out what
my kind of like slogan is. So that's awesome.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
Another way you've really helped the team this year is
with your serve game. Tell me a little bit about that,
because it seems like when you're serving, this team goes
on runs.

Speaker 11 (22:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 16 (22:33):
No, Yeah, it's serving is so important. People who don't
watch volleyball, they just kind of get mad when you
miss a serve or they don't know how to react.
But you have to be aggressive because when you're just
putting in an easy serve, you're just gonna be saying
you're gonna get a ball down your throat because they
are going to kill that ball right back at you.

Speaker 11 (22:53):
And so serving at this level is something that.

Speaker 16 (22:56):
We take really seriously and we do in practice for
a long time. I'm like, oh wow, but no, it's
it's something where I get back to the line and
I'm hoping to make a difference.

Speaker 4 (23:08):
When it comes to serving.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
And I got to watch you guys in person when
you faced Arkansas at Historic Memorial Coliseum. It seems like
there's times where you can really go at it and
punch it as hard as you can, and other times
you need touch to it.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
You want to be a soft serve.

Speaker 5 (23:22):
What are some things you're kind of looking at and
serving when you determine how you want to approach your serve.

Speaker 16 (23:28):
Yeah, our coaches definitely help us out with where we're
serving because it just depends on each team. Every team
is different. Even our team help people go about serving us.
We don't really know what they're gonna do when, but yeah,
it's you have to scalp the team. You have to
know what their tendencies are and it's really kind of
like a technique and you have to look at it hard,

(23:49):
but you just try to get them in this place
that makes it hard to side out, which makes it
hard for them to score points. And so that's what
we look for when we are serving to them.

Speaker 5 (23:59):
Chatting with Molly Breswitz here on BBN Radio, and you
transferred here after a stint with Marquette. You're from Burlington, Wisconsin.
Of course, your sister played here, won a national championship.
We're talking about Maddie there, So I guess it was
pretty easy when you decided to step out and take
a look around. It was a pretty easy choice to
come to the bluegrass and follow Maddie, right.

Speaker 11 (24:20):
It was, Yes, it couldn't have been easier.

Speaker 16 (24:22):
When I got that phone crawl from Craig when I
went into portal, I was like, I don't even know
if I need to look at my options because this
one seems pretty easy for me.

Speaker 5 (24:31):
So what was the relationship with him like before you
got here? Just from I guess being here supporting your
sister before.

Speaker 16 (24:38):
Yeah, I mean I felt like I knew him as
a coach and as a person.

Speaker 11 (24:41):
I knew his family.

Speaker 16 (24:43):
I even knew some of the other coaches that were
here just because of my sister, and my sister had
such a good relationship with everyone here at Kentucky, and
so I just felt like I knew them already.

Speaker 11 (24:52):
I knew what their.

Speaker 16 (24:53):
Coaching tendencies were, like, I knew how they were both
on and off the court, and so it just made
my decision much easier.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
How often do you still talk to Maddie? Is that
a daily conversation?

Speaker 18 (25:01):
Oh?

Speaker 16 (25:01):
Yeah, it's probably more than once aday. Honestly, I probably
have a text or call from her on my phone
right now, But yeah, we are. I just went home
for Thanksgiving break and we hung out basically the whole
entire time.

Speaker 5 (25:13):
What was it like leaving home essentially for the first
time and coming down here to play volleyball.

Speaker 16 (25:19):
It was different, But honestly, like I tell people, it
was easier for me to come down here than somewhere
that was super close to home, and so that just
makes me feel so much better.

Speaker 11 (25:29):
And my parents love Lexington.

Speaker 16 (25:31):
My family loves Lexington, so they they every time we
have a game, they see as an opportunity, Oh, we
get to go down to Lexington.

Speaker 11 (25:37):
So they love it as much as I do.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
How much did you get to follow Maddie when her
team was winning the SEC championship because I remember it
was the whole COVID thing, so it was hard as
a fan to get in and watch. So how did
you follow that team?

Speaker 16 (25:50):
So actually, I was the only person my family that
wasn't able to go to the Nattie oh, and so
I'm it's kind of a full circle because I'm like, oh,
now I.

Speaker 11 (25:59):
Get hope motivation. Yeah, I have the more.

Speaker 16 (26:02):
Motivation to go to make it to a national championship.
And so yeah, I was not able to go because
I had a club tournament and I was like, I
need to get better at volleyball if I want to
be here someday. And so I ended up going to
the club volleyball tournament. But uh yeah, like I said,
it's just more motivation, internal external factors to.

Speaker 11 (26:20):
Make it that far.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
How did Maddie and Molly first fall in love with volleyball?

Speaker 11 (26:25):
That's a good question. Burlington small town just loved volleyball.

Speaker 16 (26:31):
We had our high school coach, Terry just kind of
just incorporated volleyball all over the community, and there was
I was doing camps, probably since I was five years old.
And yeah, my dad was the varsity basketball coach. He
still is for I think he's on your thirty and
so we were always the gym rats. We were always
there's three girls in my family, one boy, and so

(26:54):
we were always at the gym. My mom would just
we still make jokes about it about my mom would
sit home, do what she needs to do, and my
dad would take all the kids to the gym and
we would just run around like crazy.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
So I wanted to ask you about the decision to
come to Kentucky and knowing that, you know, Molly Tuzzo
was here as a libero, so you were going to
have to really compete for spot as a defensive specialist
ort libero. But I'm guessing sibling rivalries pretty much already
had you highly competitive.

Speaker 11 (27:21):
Oh yeah, no, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 16 (27:23):
I mean we would play balloon volleyball where we would
just and during COVID we had a carpet and we
would just play volleyball with a balloon and try to
keep it off the ground.

Speaker 11 (27:31):
So we're pretty competitive.

Speaker 5 (27:33):
Yeah, how have you and Molly worked to try to
make each other bar better? Because libero is a position
that Craig Skinner has always really emphasized.

Speaker 11 (27:42):
She has made me so much better.

Speaker 16 (27:44):
I mean, I can just tell in practice every day
I'm a very visual learner and I just watch her
and I'm like, Okay, if this is what she's doing,
I need to do the same thing. And so she
has just pushed me to another level. And her getting
MVP this weekend was so cool. I mean, me and
Trinity the other yes, we're just so happy for her
because we were like, this is amazing. Le Baro's need

(28:05):
this recognition and I'm so proud of her, and I
just thank her for how much she's pushed me in
our relationship. It means a lot to me how much
me and her Trinity as well as Molly just get along.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
So Volleyball's got wafferd to open the NCAA tournament at
Historic Memorial Coliseum again. That's Thursday night at the Coliseum.
We hope to see Big Blue Nation there. Fill it up.
Support this team, SEC champions, Tournament champions. Molly, thank you
so much for being with us.

Speaker 11 (28:32):
Yes, thank you for having me.

Speaker 5 (28:34):
So we've got SEC Player of the Years on this team.
Players of the Year, We've got all SEC today we
got to chat with perhaps the glue of this volleyball team,
Molly Breswitz.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (28:46):
Coming up on the other side of BBN Radio, presented
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Restaurants unlock exclusive coverage of UK Athletics with UKSN all Access.
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(32:22):
all in one place. Find it on the UK Athletics
app or uksnallaccess dot com. One of the many features
that fans can listen to or watch on UKSN all
Access are our podcasts, including Behind Kentucky Basketball. Recently, Noah
Frairie and I had a chance to sit down with
Jordan Obie of the Kentucky women's basketball team, and we

(32:45):
asked her what was working for her when she scored
back to back seventeen point games against Marshall and Purdue.

Speaker 29 (32:52):
Right now, I'm just looking to dominate when I'm on
the floor, I think that I'm not trying to really
force anything. I think all my shots kind of coming
in the flow of the offense. So really just being physical,
attacking the boards, doing like the little things right and
then everything else.

Speaker 8 (33:08):
Kind of what I tell myself is everything else will
fall into place.

Speaker 30 (33:11):
Where do you feel like heading into this year, Obviously
you're coming off of injury, but you talk about dominating,
Where do you feel like you've grown the most as
a player, allowing you to maybe go out there and dominate.

Speaker 29 (33:25):
I think really just being able to gel with the team,
so kind of like an intangible thing, but just kind
of adapting to the situation, playing kind of a different
role than I did at Penn. But yeah, just trying
to find, you know, my spots, find the people around
me because we have elite players on our team, so

(33:45):
just kind of being what.

Speaker 8 (33:46):
The team needs me to be.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Playing together.

Speaker 5 (33:50):
It feels like there's a lot of chemistry on this
team already through the first six games, and I'm just
curious as you try to adapt and get comfortable. Tony's
doing the same thing Asians some others having done that
or currently doing that together, is that brought this group
closer because you all are in it together.

Speaker 8 (34:06):
Of course, off the court, we love each other.

Speaker 29 (34:10):
You know, we went through summer workouts, grueling summer workouts,
doing the hard stuff together, so you know, being in
adverse situations with a group is going to bring you closer.
And I think that you know, we we've worked on
that all summer. And then being able to play in
the game, it adds to that.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
How fun has it been to try and expand your
game and be challenged by coach Brooks?

Speaker 4 (34:32):
Playing the two and shooting more threes this year.

Speaker 29 (34:34):
It's been super fun at Penn Again, I was I
was kind of a low post presence, so being able
to expand my game and at the next level, I'm
probably going to be in a similar position, so it's
been super fun.

Speaker 8 (34:46):
Coach Brooks is a great teacher, so it's been.

Speaker 29 (34:48):
Great being able to learn from him, and also playing
alongside Tony and then having Clara and Tiani in the
middle in the post.

Speaker 8 (34:55):
It's it's made it a lot.

Speaker 30 (34:56):
Easier, I think playing off of that. When when I
watch you play, you play so many different positions. I mean,
we'll see you bring the ball down the floor as
a point forward of sorts.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
You know.

Speaker 30 (35:07):
Maybe I think Lebron was kind of the first who
started to do some of that. And you know, we've
seen you play the two and the three, and I
think you could play the five if you had to
in a pinch. Is there a favorite position that you
love playing?

Speaker 8 (35:21):
Honestly, I feel.

Speaker 29 (35:22):
Like in Coach Brooks's offense, we're all kind of interchangeable,
so I mean I enjoy it all. I like being physical,
physical presence down though, I like, you know, being on
the perimeter I like it all and again it's that
adaptability being what the team needs me to be in
a certain situation.

Speaker 30 (35:40):
I mean, I gotta admit you probably love though, using
your size against a smaller guard, right, I love it.
I love a good small guard on jo you know,
type of matchup. But you know, Jordan, you touched on
it earlier. You start your career pen your three time
all Ivy, you end up transferring here Kentucky. Obviously you
tear your achilles and you're unable to play last year.

(36:01):
During that period, what did you learn about yourself having
to be away from the game of basketball for a
period of time, probably longer than you've had to and
in a long time, where'd you grow as a person
and what you learn about yourself during that stretch.

Speaker 29 (36:15):
Yeah, that's a situation I've never been in before, being
injured and missing basketball for a prolonged period of time.
Mainly that you know, I can like do hard things,
I can get through hard things. I think that to
this day has probably been one of the biggest obstacles
I've had to overcome. But yeah, it definitely increases your

(36:35):
mental toughness and just leaning on people. You know that
usually I'm not want to really reach out and ask
for help, but that really taught me a lot about that.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
Hell has playing alongside Claire strak Amelia Hassett and Tianni
Key made you better, especially as a post player inside
trying to grab rebounds when it feels like there's a
competition sometimes within the game where you are trying for
that rebound when there's two and three of you under
the goal.

Speaker 8 (37:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 29 (37:07):
I mean they are also knowledgeable, especially having played under
Coach Brooks that last season Clara, you know the season before. Yeah,
they're just all I'm I'm learning from them every day
what Coach Brooks wants and expects.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
Yeah, and real quick shout out to those practice players
because when I come to practice, those guys challenge you
and they make some tough shots.

Speaker 29 (37:32):
They're Yeah, they're there every day giving at their best
every day. Logan was working Logan and Park are working
out with me in the summer. Yeah, what they do
is really appreciate it.

Speaker 30 (37:44):
I had seen them in practice and I remember stepping
on the floor or you know, watching Blue White and
you're seeing some of these guys like taking logo threes
and hitting them and we all know those are the
shots that like coaches hate because you guys play great defense,
then you have like a crazy shot that go and
you feel like that possession was a little bit of
a waste.

Speaker 29 (38:02):
Yeah, yeah, you know it happened sometimes. You know, you
just got to give him a high five and say,
nice job.

Speaker 23 (38:07):
Yeah, move on.

Speaker 30 (38:09):
You know, I think going back to your decision to
leave Penn and ultimately end up here at Kentucky. I've
never asked you this, but why Kentucky? How did they
initially end up on your radar, because it's they're very
different locations in the country. And what about coach Brooks's
initial vision that he mentioned to you about wanting to

(38:35):
come here. Why did you decide, Hey, this is a
great place for me to spend the final years of
my college career.

Speaker 29 (38:42):
So, coming out of high school, Coach Brooks initially recruited
me to Virginia Tech. He was probably on the top
of my list coming out of high school. But you know,
I have African parents, so they wanted me to go
to Ivy Route.

Speaker 8 (39:01):
So I did my three years.

Speaker 29 (39:02):
My four years there, my first season got canceled due
to COVID, so I figured I'd just put my name
in the portal and see where I can go for
that last season. So Coach Brooks reached out to me
when he was still at Virginia Tech, before I had
taken this this job, and I knew I liked Coach
Brooks and what he was doing at Virginia Tech and

(39:24):
who he was as a person. So when he told
me he was coming to Kentucky, I was a little
you know, skeptical. I don't know, I don't know what
Kentucky is about. But I trusted him, and you know,
obviously Georgia was a big part of why I wanted
to come here as well and play for him. But

(39:44):
you know, it it all worked out in the end,
getting a year under my belt, seeing what he's about,
and then now being able to play with a year
of knowledge under my belt.

Speaker 30 (39:57):
As it lived up to you know, obviously you've known
him for a long period of time, Uh, playing underneath him,
being in that gym day to day has as the
expectations that they lived up to those expectations and or
maybe what have you learned differently about Coach Brooks or
this coaching staff in general.

Speaker 8 (40:15):
It has I mean, they're all great people, they're all chill. Yeah.

Speaker 29 (40:22):
Like I said, Coach Rick is a great teacher, great coach,
very knowledgeable. You know, I trust everything that he says.
The staff, they're just there to support you and and
make you a better person. It's not just about basketball.
It's about you know, growing as an individual so that
when we graduate, we're set up for success.

Speaker 8 (40:43):
So it's been great.

Speaker 5 (40:44):
I'm glad you said that because I've heard him talk
to the team two or three times in practice about that, Like,
I'm not just here to coach you in basketball, make
you better. I'm here to make you and prepare you
for life to be on basketball, right.

Speaker 29 (40:55):
Yeah, we get a lot of a lot of good
life lessons that we get after practice.

Speaker 8 (41:02):
Again, not everything is basketball.

Speaker 29 (41:04):
There's there's life outside of basketball that we all have
to be prepared for when we stopped playing.

Speaker 8 (41:09):
So it's been great, it's been great.

Speaker 30 (41:11):
You feel like Coach Brooks has some good dad jokes
every once in a while.

Speaker 8 (41:15):
Recently he's been doing the six seven Okay.

Speaker 30 (41:18):
Okay, yeah, but you know obviously, you you make your
return from injury the home opener this year more at State,
you go for fifteen and fifteen in that game. I
know you and I got a chance to talk afterwards
on the broadcast, but I wanted to ask you again
in this format, what was it like playing in a
real game for the first time? And I think it
was close to six hundred days at that point, six

(41:41):
hundred days. It was okay, it's a long time.

Speaker 8 (41:43):
Yeah, that is a very long time. I was honestly surreal.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
It was.

Speaker 8 (41:48):
Yeah, it was surreal. I was just happy to be
out there.

Speaker 29 (41:52):
Desia actually texted me before the game and was like,
you know, you've worked really hard for this, don't take
it for granted and play every game like it's your last.
So that's kind of the mentality I went in with.
And yeah, I was just really happy to be out there.

Speaker 5 (42:06):
And again that was Noah Frairie and myself along with
Jordan Obi from Kentucky Women's basketball. That was a part
of the Behind Kentucky Basketball podcast, which you can get
on UKSN All Access free sign up, or you can
listen for free to the podcast's audio only versions through Spotify,
through Apple wherever you like to listen to your podcasts.

(42:28):
We'll continue with more of Clark's Pumpinshop BBN Radio after
this on the UK Sports network.

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Remember it's just a game. Hey, Wildcat fan.

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Speaker 4 (47:10):
Final segment of the show.

Speaker 5 (47:11):
This week, we thought we would spotlight our baseball podcast
that continues to grow in popularity, hosted by myself and
Darren Williams. Recently, we got to sit down with Lighton
Harris and Nate Harris. No relation, both pitchers, both sophomores
on the baseball team. The first question, guys, has anybody

(47:31):
ever asked if you're related, like a casual fan or
anybody in Lexington, like, hey, are you guys brothers or something.

Speaker 33 (47:37):
So we had an assistant trainer last year, Luke, and
we came in with the same last name, and we
made this whole story up about how we're third cousins.

Speaker 4 (47:50):
That's awesome.

Speaker 33 (47:51):
I love We said, like we had an uncle Jimmy.
I'm trying to think what other names we pulled out
pulled out.

Speaker 11 (47:57):
But it's just the Bobby, that's all.

Speaker 29 (47:59):
Yea.

Speaker 33 (48:00):
We would like count down from three and he would
test us to see if we knew who our uncle was,
and it was like uncle Jimmy. So we told him
that we were third cousins and he believed that.

Speaker 23 (48:08):
It's a great story. I love that.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
And just so folks at.

Speaker 5 (48:12):
Home, No, Layton is from right here in Lexington and
the Nate is from Yorkville, Illinois. I mean, but still
we're calling them basketball here at Kentucky has the Harrison Twins.
Baseball's got the Harris Twins.

Speaker 23 (48:25):
We'll take them a good convo right here.

Speaker 5 (48:28):
One of them is a right handed pitcher, the others
a left hander, Like there's no relation at all.

Speaker 23 (48:31):
No, what, there's no.

Speaker 5 (48:34):
All right, guys, your number two with the Wildcats. First
of all, how important was the summer for you, Nate,
just to continue growing off what you did last year?

Speaker 34 (48:43):
Yeah, I mean I split time between here and home.
But when I was here, I was I did my
best to be super intentional with the new guys. All
the freshman pitchers were here, and then there was a
couple of transfers. But I was just doing anything I could,
like in the weight room here, like whatever, just getting
them acclimated to the place, because I know coming in
as a freshman like it can be nerve wracking, like

(49:04):
getting yourself situated to like an sec environment, Like, I mean,
that's not an easy thing to do. So I mean
I went through it late and went through it. So
I just did my best to make it as easy
as possible for those guys. And it's still an ongoing
process too.

Speaker 5 (49:16):
So late And how about you, man, what did you
do this summer just try and continue to grow?

Speaker 33 (49:21):
So I was in the New England clusion Baseball League.
It is about an hour away from the Cape in Newport,
Rhode Island. I went up there, got to be on
a seven day plan, starting games every Wednesday, and then
they gave us a membership at the YMCA, so I
would go over there. Brent Jones, our strength coach, would
send me the full week plan. Throwing was kind of

(49:42):
on my own, depending on how I felt and stuff
like that. Bullpens, but really just grinding out, treating it
like a test out, just to go out there and
get the summer rest reps and then also get the
lifting piece in, get stronger, get faster, all that.

Speaker 35 (49:56):
While we're on the subject of Newport, Rhode Island, that
place is sick awesome. I played two summers in that
league for the Sanford maynards Man and I made a
start his like July fifth, I think, at Newport, and
that place was awesome. Yeah, the most weird baseball field ever.
But it's like right by the water. There's like three

(50:16):
thousand people on top of you. Just speak on the experience.
They all made it pretty far right.

Speaker 33 (50:21):
Yeah, we ended up losing in the semi finals of
our division, but we won our division throughout the year.
And literally, like you said, downtown is right next to
the ballpark. It's the oldest ballpark in America, and all
those people would just flood in like they'd hear the
noise from the baseball game be like, oh, the goals
are playing. Yeah, they finish up dinner their dinner reservation
and come right over and watch over.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 33 (50:43):
And there would be a ton of games where because
it was right on the water where a fog would
just come over. We had like an hour fog delay
one time. But the experience was awesome. The fans were
amazing up there. Even the owner Chuck, he is so
personable with you and make sure you're taken care of
the host families are amazing.

Speaker 23 (51:01):
Yes, yeah, I.

Speaker 35 (51:02):
Experience you have. You both are, you know, very similar.
As freshman last year. Obviously threw a lot for US Nate.
You ended up pitching a lot, you know, on the weekends,
so you didn't go play summer roll late and you went.
You didn't throw crazy ton, so you went and played
summer ball.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
You know.

Speaker 35 (51:18):
Playing in the summer was one of the best things
that I did, you know, to learn myself. What did
you learn about yourself as a pitcher during the summer
and getting on that routine of pitching every week.

Speaker 33 (51:27):
I think just having so much confidence in what you're
doing on a day to day basis and knowing that
you're doing the right things whenever you're going in to
get your lift in or getting some mobility in and
even and starts. Just making sure that you're refining all
your pitches and having confidence bringing you back to here
into the fall and knowing that you belong and knowing
that you can do the stuff that the little things

(51:50):
that will go a long way in the end, you
can this summer, you got to grind out for another
what two months, so it's like an extra added on season.
Where As I didn't get as many innings as Nate
during the spring, just adding on in the summer able
to get those reps is huge.

Speaker 23 (52:07):
It's got to be valuable, man Nate.

Speaker 5 (52:09):
For you, sometimes freshmen get eased into things. You get
a roll here there, they were just like, hey, Bud,
we're gonna put you Friday nights in the sec have
at it.

Speaker 34 (52:18):
What was that experience like, Yeah, I mean started off
as the midweek guy.

Speaker 24 (52:22):
I mean I was.

Speaker 34 (52:22):
I was super grateful for that opportunity, and things just
like fell in a certain ways where eventually I was
coming in on Fridays, and I just try my best
to like have an open mind with it all. I mean,
even just coming in last fall, like that was the
main thing, which is keep an open mind, like things
are gonna happen, Like you're gonna deal with stuff good

(52:43):
and bad, and so just keeping an open mind through
it all. And that was the mindset during the season two.
Like obviously it's a tremendous opportunity to be able to
do that and to be able to help our team
that way, and so I just try my best to
make the most of it, and yeah, just enjoy it.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
I mean, as a competitor, you want those roles, right,
you want to be in those spots. But from you know,
coach Minjion, Coach Roseelle and the staff, how did they
help kind of take some of that pressure off of
you so you could just focus on going out there
and executing your job.

Speaker 34 (53:12):
Yeah, I mean Coach Rozelle, he's he was great like
all of last season, just reminding me to you know,
trust my stuff, like just reminding me of their trust
in me. Coach minch as well, like throughout the season.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
That was super helpful.

Speaker 34 (53:26):
But ultimately, like what I kept falling back on was
just like trusting my stuff and you know, believing like
that I belonged, which like as a freshman that I
can take like a while to like have that belief.
So like, once I got that belief, I just I
took it full force.

Speaker 23 (53:43):
And yeah, just.

Speaker 5 (53:45):
Kept going and it and it culminated in the Clemson Regional.
You went up against the host team in an elimination
game and fired a quality start six innings, three runs.
Kentucky won that game eliminated the Tigers. But the season
to that point had prepared you for that moment, right.

Speaker 34 (54:01):
Yeah, yeah, per I mean it was just like any
other game. I mean, definitely the stakes were definitely higher
obviously elimination game, losing, go home winning advance, But honestly,
like I just tried to treat it like any other game.
I mean, yeah, obviously it was a super cool environment.
As a freshman to like be in that environment, it
was it was a cool experience.

Speaker 23 (54:21):
But what was that bullpen?

Speaker 35 (54:23):
Like before they get they moved the visitors bullpen right
like they student I think it was like got renovated, right,
it got renovated.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
They didn't really move it so much as they took
out all the barriers to let the fans come right ball.

Speaker 23 (54:35):
What was that like?

Speaker 35 (54:36):
But because obviously when you're playing West Virginia upstate, like,
there's not that many fans.

Speaker 33 (54:40):
West Virginia was rowdy in the bullpen.

Speaker 23 (54:42):
Virginia.

Speaker 33 (54:43):
Yeah, there were some fans down there, tripping a lot
of the bullpen guys before.

Speaker 23 (54:48):
I like that, that's fun. Like what was that like?

Speaker 34 (54:51):
I mean, it was the first time for something anyone's
ever said something to me like in the bullpen. But
I mean they were just looking stuff up from my
Oh yeah, on the website, I'm just saying a bunch
of random stuff, which I mean some of it was funny.
Most of it was funny, just like making funny jokes
and plays on the stuff in my bio, like my
aunt and uncle in a restaurant. So they're saying a
bunch of stuff.

Speaker 23 (55:11):
About that, sure, like.

Speaker 34 (55:16):
Oh you look like a finance bro. You look like
you'd be color playing. It's also my bio I got
just saying stuff like that. But yeah, it was funny.

Speaker 35 (55:24):
Gosh, I do remember getting chirped for being twenty five
years old a lot, especially at that last year. Man,
that was fun. Man, Nate, I thought you're Uh, your
season last year was sick. You don't see many freshmen,
you know, play let alone play well, let alone be
one of the studs on the team. So for you
to make the you know journey you did last year
was sick. I got to go into the mindset of

(55:44):
that first sec start though as the freshman. That's something
I did when I was twenty four, doing it at
eighteen nineteen. Like, were the nerves there were?

Speaker 23 (55:54):
Like? What was that mindset? Like?

Speaker 34 (55:56):
Yeah, I mean, if I was saying I wasn't nervous,
I'd be lying. There's definitely more nerves than like my
other starts. But I did my best to turn those
nerves into adrenaline. And I mean the first inning it
was like lakes were definitely a little shaky. It's just
I mean, that's good. It's a different environment, but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 23 (56:15):
I did my best to get it.

Speaker 35 (56:16):
Grows you up, man, like you're ready for every environment
that we're gonna pitch in this year, right, you know?

Speaker 4 (56:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (56:22):
And you can hear the full conversation with Dub, myself, Layton,
and Nate by subscribing to Behind Kentucky Baseball. It's free
to listen to free to download wherever you like to
get your podcasts from, and you can also sign up
for free and watch the video of that podcast on
UKSN All Access.

Speaker 4 (56:41):
That'll do it for us.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
This week on BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop,
be with us. Next week, we're back at our normal
time seven o'clock. We'll be live from Drakes at Brandon Crossing.
You can join us there as we'll chat with head
coach Kenny Brooks again. That's next week, live from Drakes
at Brandon Crossing. Beginning it's haeven o'clock. Be with us right.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
Here on the UK Sports Network, Entucky.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Entucky, you've been listening to Clark's Pumpin' Shop, Big Blue
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