2025-11-14 - LEACH REPORT

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast of the Leech Report is presented by Boone's
Butcher Shop in Barnstown at one hundred Old Bloomfield Pike,
Family owned and operated since nineteen forty six, with fresh
meat cut on site daily Boons Butcher Shop. It is
a football and basketball Friday here on the Leech Report,

(00:20):
presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. Glad to have you on board.
Coming up on the show today we will get a
little preview of Kentucky's opponent tomorrow, an undefeated Tennessee Tech squad.
Dylan Vezzano, who's their radio play by play voice, will
join us here in just a bit. Mark's Story from
the Lexington Herald Leader and lee Ky Howard from WKYTTV.

(00:44):
That is the guest lineup for this Friday. Wildcat News
of the Day always presented by Joseppies of Lexington. Game
Night for Kentucky men's basketball, looking to rebound from the
setback on Tuesday night at Louisville, Kentucky takes on Eastern Illinois,
which is one and two on the season. Beat Nichols

(01:06):
lost to Valpo. The other teams in the four team
multi team event that's been labeled the BBN United Classic
and they also lost a Notre Dame on Tuesday night
by twenty SOUK. He's a big favorite, as you would expect.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
The concerning thing was a report yesterday from on three
Sports and KSRS Jack Pilgrim about Jalen Lowe. The report
is that Lowell re injured his shoulder yesterday in practice.
No confirmation from uk so I last coach Coach Pope
about it when we do the pregame show later today

(01:40):
for our broadcast on the UK Sports Network. Mark Pope
yesterday did a media session, talked about the loss to
Louisville and his reaction to that and how kind of
spoke for all of the Big Blue Nation about the
feeling from a back like that, and he said it

(02:03):
makes you want to vomit in your mouth, but that
their job now is to set it right and get
back on track and do the things that they need
to do when they face adversity or stress. And you
talked a little bit about that in more detail, about
responding to the pressure that they got from Louisville on

(02:25):
both ends of the court on Tuesday night.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's really really dumb. It's not the right word. It's distracted.
It's just distracted. It is distracted effort, distracted focus, and
so when you're under pressure and duress, sometimes you just
fall into bad habits, default habits, distracted actions. And so

(02:50):
you know, we spend a lot of time the other
night being really really distracted and disappointing way, but it's
human nature. It's what it is. It's what you as
an athlete, is the ability to just kind of get
back to focus on this moment. We didn't do it
very well.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Look at a film of Tuesday.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Is there any one thing defensively where you see like,
if this can be fixed or improved upon, then maybe
this and this and this and this follow times.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yes, you know, it's when you think about the disappointing
things for us, just us flagging at the ball and transition.
It's so wildly out of character for our teams. We've
been really, really disciplined. We've been a really good transition
defensive team overall. Now, credit to Louisville because they put
a ton of pressure on you with the pace of play.

(03:41):
I mean, we gave up thirty four points in the
first eight seconds of the shock clock. That's actually really.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
Hard to do.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
And there was so much in our response to the
pressure was to get out of character.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
So that was Mark Pope yesterday talking with the media.
All of those things sound like, obviously things that can
be fixed. So that's what they'll be working to do
tonight ahead of getting back into the deeper end of
the competition. Waters on Tuesday night against Michigan State in
the Champions Classic up in New York, and I'll be

(04:16):
interested to see how Cam Williams builds on what he
did Tuesday night. Hadn't made much of an impact to
that point, so he wasn't in the clearly, wasn't in
the plan early and then they were looking for a
spark and so he got his chance late and he
came through. And so now does he build on that.
We'll let me get into a little bit of that

(04:37):
with some of our guests today. Tennessee Tech coach Bobby
Wilder talked to the media. He's in his second year.
He's not real happy about this game being inherited on
his schedule because they have an important league game next week.
They have won fifteen games in a row. Quarterback that
has twenty two touchdowns four interceptions. Brad White talked about

(04:59):
him on Wednesday and how impressive. They are offensively got
some guys that have made some tough catches at the
wide receiver position. So it's the kind of game that
if Kentucky's focus, they should have a big advantage in
the offensive and defensive lines. And if they don't take

(05:20):
advantage of that, that's where you get into some trouble.
Links to the stories that we talk about each day
you can find them on the bud Light Leach Report
page at Tom leachky dot com. Head into a break.
As we do, we'll remind you our opening segments presented
by Giuseppes of Lexington. Was there last night and tried
their specials halimit with the lemon sauce and capers. Fantastic

(05:42):
everyone's while it's good to kind of break off from
what your favorites are try something new. They have fantastic
food at Giuseppes. It's just a really cool atmosphere. We
sat in the lounge area, listen to Dave Hall and
the live jazz music and it's just a really really
cool special night out at Giuseppes there. So you guys
are obviously paying attention, But if you don't have something

(06:03):
on the books for the holidays, get to open table
and make that happen. We'll be right back here on
the Leech Report Radio Network quarter past the top of
the hour here on the Leach Report, coming to here
from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio, returned to refresh and
refuel at Clark's still in Vazano Joints's from the Tennessee
Tech Radio Network. He is to play by play voice

(06:24):
for the Golden Eagles, who come in having won fifteen
in a row. And Dylan obviously this is a step
up in terms of the level of opponent for the
Golden Eagles, but winning is winning, and they have to
be playing with a ton of confidence right now.

Speaker 6 (06:44):
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head
right there. Fifteen consecutive wins can and oh stars for
the first time in program history. Confidence with this team
certainly isn't lacking. You go into this opportunity, you kind
of see what happens. You do the best you can.
They're prepared, they're ready to go. I know the team's excited.
But yeah, like you said, a lot of confidence going

(07:06):
into the game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
They've got a quarterback who transferred in from Eastern Washington
twenty two touchdowns, four interceptions. Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White
was talking on Wednesday about how good Visperus is in
their RPO offense. So give us your take on what
has impressed you about what he's accomplished this season.

Speaker 6 (07:30):
Yeah, I think when you talk about k Covis Faris,
it's the decision making. I mean, you read the stat
twenty two touchdowns, four interceptions. This is a player transfer
from Eastern Washington where he led FCS football and completion percentage,
had only three interceptions last year, so you knew coming in, Okay,
he probably protects the football well, he probably makes the

(07:53):
passes that he needs to. The ability to read defenses,
but then seeing it up close and personal, his ability
to run with the football, and his ability just to
see the whole field. And like I said, the decision
making is one of the things that jumps off the page.
He never really puts the ball in harm's way. He
knows how to process the game, especially when it's moving quickly.

(08:17):
So I think that that is some of the things
that really jump out with him.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Three running backs that they lean on. Are they comparable
contrasting styles? Tell us about those guys.

Speaker 6 (08:32):
Yeah, I think first off, Quintel Quinn. He is kind
of that bruising style back. He's a Texas Southern transfer,
big guy, so he's more of your powerful short yardage
I mean that being said, He's broken a lot of
long touchdown runs this year. He's averaging close to eight
yards per carries. So I think that that is the
name that jumps out first. Hugh Darius Jennings is a

(08:54):
Murray State transfer and he's more of that explosive quick
so it's kind of like that thunder and lightning cliche
with those two. Then you have Aiden Littles, who is
just a great seizing back out of the backfield. He
makes a lot of plays in the past game. Second
season with Tennessee Tech, he's developing, getting better. And then

(09:15):
you even have a fourth one, Obi Sani, who has
been injured a lot this year. He missed a lot
of the early parts of the season. But an old
Dominion transfer, he's kind of that home run threat we've
seen in a couple of years with Tennessee Tech, his
ability to break off long runs. So I think the
biggest thing when you think about the debts and running back,
no one has had that many touches, so you're looking

(09:38):
at it. Here we are in mid November, and they're
all relatively fresh, which is obviously an advantage, especially at
the FCS level, when you typically have okay, maybe just
one running back that you use and then maybe a
second one here and there. But you have three four
with a lot of experience but also fresh at this

(09:58):
stage of the year.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Talking with Dylan Mazzano's the radio play by playboys for
Tennessee Tech, which comes into play Kentucky at one thirty
Eastern tomorrow. I know Chattywick coach stoops over at practice
Wednesday about this team. He was really taken with the
catches that are being made by the wide receivers. He said,
you know, look there, these are contested catches. These are

(10:20):
plays that would you would impress you for any team
you watch. So what has stood out about that group?

Speaker 6 (10:28):
Yeah, I think again, similar to running back, there's a
lot of depths there. Noel Robinson, he's been a little
bit banged up, missed the last couple of games, but
he's a first team All Conference in the OVC Big South.
He was a Robert Morse transfer who set career highs
and program records in his couple of seasons. There his ability,

(10:48):
he's more like a home run threat to make all
sorts of catches in traffic as well. Maurice Sullivan Division
two transfer from Washburn University. He made a catch last
week against Eastern Illinos. It was kind of like you
got moss segment. He went up. It looked like the
defensive back had he just ripped it from him. You know,
his ability when he is covered and contested. So I

(11:11):
think those two certainly stand out. And then you have
Trey Holloway, another Division two transfer so Tennessee Tech. Ability
to find talent in all sorts of areas. He is
used out of the backfield a lot as well, just
trying to get in touches because when he's in open space,
lightning quick, the ability to be elusive, his moves, everything

(11:33):
of that nature. So they compliment one another and it
just speaks to as well, the options that the quarterback take.
COVID spars has UH.

Speaker 2 (11:42):
When you have an FBS versus SCS matchup, usually the
biggest difference shows up in the lines of scrimmage, the
O line, the D line. How well have those groups
played for Tech?

Speaker 6 (11:57):
They've been probably the the best part of the team.
I mean, maybe outside of the quarterback hey Covis Feris,
but I think that as you know, you build a
football team, everybody loves to talk about the skill positions
and running backs and receivers, and rightfully so, but the
success is always dictated what you're able to do up front.

(12:18):
Tennessee Tech, they've recruited well in those areas, They've invested
well in those areas, and it's certainly played that way. Now.
As you say, as you go into this matchup, and
you know, I'm filling out my death charte doing the
prep and you're just typing in and writing in these
numbers of the Kentucky linemen, and this is not something

(12:39):
that Tennessee Tech sees in the OVC Big South. So
that might neutralize it. I'm sure to an extent it will,
and that will probably be as it typically is, like
you mentioned with fcs FBS, so that will be something
to watch for. But overall, at this level, when you
think of the tenant oh start that Tennessee Tech has had,
it has to be first and foremost upfront what they've

(13:02):
been able to accomplish all year.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Dylan, I appreciate the time and the Scouting Report and
safe travels up here. We'll see you in Lexington.

Speaker 6 (13:11):
I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Dylan Vezano is the radio play by play voice for
the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech. We'll take a quick break.
Mark story'll join us from the Lexington Herald Leader when
we come right back here on the Leech Report Radio
Network presented by Bobcat Enterprises. It's the Leech Report coming
to you from the Clark's Pumpin' Shop Studios. We welcome

(13:33):
in Mark's story from the Lexington Herald Leader at Kentucky
sports dot com. Mark, we'll start on the basketball side,
the Wildcats coming off the Louisville loss, and it is
the kick took place on the eleventh of November, so
you can say it's early. They lost to a really

(13:54):
good team on that team's home court. But there were
obviously some things that concern Kentucky fans. Anytime there's a loss,
there's a the border between concerned and panicked gets a
little blurry. What was your take on it?

Speaker 5 (14:13):
Yeah, I thought it was a disappointing performance. You know,
it obviously is super early in the season, but you
know this is a big rivalry game, and I think
in college sports, rivalry games matter, and I didn't you know,
Kentucky has tended to play well in this series, so
it was a little jarring to see them not play
very well. I think, you know, one of the things

(14:35):
I thought was concerning was I felt like they had
sort of recruited this team to sort of address some
of the problems last year in terms of to be
better defensively, to be more physical, to rebound better, and
I thought the defense was bad. You know, they did
win the rebounding, but barely, and it felt to me
like a lot of the really important rebounds Louisville got,

(14:56):
and and just I just didn't think Kentucky played well
in that game. I haven't said all that I thought
they were gonna win it because they were making that
big run. And you know, I think these games, the
series take on a certain DNA and let's be honest,
Louisbell has usually lost this game, and I thought, when
Kentucky made the big run, there's a pretty good chance

(15:18):
that Louisvill would crack. And if you're a UK fan,
the one thing that I think he can be optimistic
about was he did not play well in that game,
but they were surprisingly close to pulling it out at
the end.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
There were two things that kind of jumped out at me.
One to your point about that Louisville didn't crack. I
thought that mckel brown was sensational. When Kentucky made that
run from eighteen down in the first half to get
it to five, he scored a couple of buckets, and
then when it was twenty and down to four, he

(15:51):
think may have only had free throws to that point
in the second half, and he came alive again. So
you know, he was the best player on the floor
that night, and he asserted his himself and his game
when his team needed it the most.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
Yeah, I agree, he was terrific. And I'd written the
column in advance of the game. If you look at
the history of this series, Kentucky guard players tended to
control it, and the column was asking the question that
that advantage flipped to Louisville, and for that night it
clearly had, because as you noted, he was Michel Brown
Junior was clearly the best player in that game, and

(16:26):
when Kentucky made the run and cut it to four
and had you know, missed the free throw that hit
two could have cut it to two, and I think he.
I think Brown scored on the next two possessions and
sort of gave Louisville enough cushion that they could survive
all the missed free throws they shot.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
The other thing that I took away was how especially
early in the game, and the coach folk talked about
some of the numbers on this, but Louisville came out
and just seemed to get whatever they wanted for most
of that first half and a good chunk of the
second when they were building the twenty point lead that
Kentucky wasn't able to make them uncomfortable. And usually the

(17:05):
team that is more comfortable if there's a gap in
that particular area, that team that's more comfortable in scoring
is going to win over forty minutes more often than not.

Speaker 5 (17:17):
I think, yeah, the defense was bad. I mean, the
little as you said, could get the ball wherever they
wanted it. They could get downhill against Kentucky. I don't
think Kentucky guarded the three point line very well. I mean,
it was kind of it was just bad. It was interesting.
I can't say that I left the Nichols game or

(17:39):
the Valpo game, saying, you know, they really got to
get Cam Williams. But it was interesting in that Louisville
game when he got in, I think with twelve twenty
four left, Kentucky was down nineteen and when he came
in is when the game changed and changed, you know,
to Kentucky's advantage. And you know, I find that interesting

(18:01):
and I wonder if defensively he gives them something that
they need to have on the floor.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
It's a good point. We'll pick up on that and
the mixing and matching of lineups moving forward. We'll get
into all of that with Mark's story when we return.
It's the Leacher Report presented by Bob Kat enterprises second
half of the Leacher Report for this Friday. We're talking

(18:27):
with Mark Story from the Lexington Herald Leader in Kentucky
Sports dot Com on x you can follow him at
Mark c. Story. You're talking about Cam Williams and Jack
and I have watched him in practice since July and
he's just a knockdown shooter, and yet in games he
didn't look like he felt comfortable to use that word again.

(18:50):
The other night, the first kickout from low where he
made the deep three I think it was shot clock
was winding down and he just caught it, shot it
seeming without thinking, knocked it down. And maybe that's what
it took to get him going, because he, you know,
was was lively, he was active. And Yeah, I think

(19:12):
back to what the conversations we all had on shows
like this over the summer, Mark about Mark Pope had
all these pieces, how how were they going to fit together?
It was going to be interesting to see how that happened.
I think probably the next sentence in that discussion was
but they might take it might take a few losses

(19:33):
along the way to figure it out against good competition.
So is there a little bit of that going on
for Kentucky?

Speaker 5 (19:42):
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think it's understandable
you have a whole lot of new players and you're
trying to play a lot of people that it's going
to take some time even for the coaches to figure out,
you know, combinations and who needs to be in when
and that kind of thing. You know, it's you know,
I I think there's some controversy about plus minus, just

(20:04):
in how to use that and what it means. I
think over large sample sizes, I put a lot of
stock in it. I think in small sample sizes it
can be misleading. But in the particular case, you know,
Williams was plus eleven, which was the best for Kentucky
in that game, and he was actually much higher than
that until the last minute when Wibill was shooting free

(20:25):
throws in Kentucky wasn't scoring. And in that particular case,
I thought the plus minus told a pretty significant story
because that game literally seemed to change when he came
into the game.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
He's you got tremendous length, so you can see how
he could be a disruptive force defensively. I didn't honestly
watch much of any of his games last season. If
you highlights or you know, you catch a little bit
of a game here and there, so you knew he
was an excellent shooter. You could tell that from the numbers.

(21:00):
But you know, maybe it'll be interesting to see if
he is a guy that gives them something defensively moving
forward that they need. If he does he plays.

Speaker 5 (21:09):
Yeah, yeah, I agree, and it'll be interesting to see
if he's, you know, having played well in the in
the game the other night, when given a chance, be
interesting to see if his role is bigger against Eastern Illinois,
then if he backs it up by playing well again.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
And uh, you know, Trent Noah didn't play in that
game coming off the ankle injury, but he and Williams
are supposed to be their their best two shooters and
they hadn't been yet, so uh, they should still have
that to look forward to as those guys start to
knock down shots. The other thing that, uh, that was
interesting last night at at dinner, we had the with

(21:47):
the the TV was on in the restaurant and it
was the Purdue Alabama game, so was following that and
the Purdue team that Kentucky handled quite easily. Again, I'll
be at an exhibition play, but uh still, Purdue goes
into Alabama and wins eighty seven to eighty. Braden Smith,
who didn't look like an All American that night against Kentucky,
scored twenty nine, Trey Kaufman Wren had nineteen and fifteen,

(22:10):
and Purdue won a road game against a top ten
non conference opponent for the first time since winning at
Louisville in nineteen eighty two. So an impressive win for
the boiler Makers and maybe it's going to be that
kind of year in college basketball.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
Yeah, I think it could be. And you know, Purdue,
I think Matt Painter kind of likes to go on
the road in exhibition and take a loss, because I
think he's done it now three years in a row.
I think I think I think that's how he gets
his team's attention. And so I'm a little struck by that.

(22:48):
But yeah, that was an incredibly impressive performance last night.
And Brayden Smith, who entered the season as the favorite
to be the national college Player of the year, he
looked like that.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Last Yeah, and they had and this was even Alabama
making sixteen threes and to produce nine, but they out
rebounded Alabama. This was a staggering number, fifty two to
twenty eight in the game.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
That, Yeah, that is a staggering number in Alabama had
just beaten Saint John.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, look great. So yeah they did it. Maybe it
will be that kind of back and forth year, and
Kentucky will obviously he's a big favorite tonight, and then
they'll get back in against a more more serious what
would seem to be on paper, a more serious test
on Tuesday night against Michigan State. Let's talk a little

(23:40):
football mark with Kentucky looking for its third straight win tomorrow.
It's a little it's a little bit like what I
was saying with basketball, where we all talked about, you know,
it would take some time to fit the pieces together,
and then when it plays out the way that you
said that it would, sometimes you forget what you said. Football,

(24:01):
I think a lot of us were talking the summer
that Kentucky would it would be rough in October, but
if they could survive that, they'd have a chance to
have some more favorable matchups they could take advantage of
of November, and that is, in fact, what is happening.
What's your take on what Kentucky has done.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
Well.

Speaker 5 (24:19):
I think they have appeared to me to be an
improving football team, and obviously Cutter Bowley has made a
big difference at quarterback. I think that the young wide
receivers have you know, the two freshmen they've been playing
of the DJ Miller and Cam Miller have both had
an impact. And then I've been super impressed with the

(24:41):
young defensive players. I remember at media Day Brad White
commenting that the freshman class, the red shirt freshman class,
just the recruiting class of what twenty twenty four was
as good a defensive class, or had a chance to
be as good a defensive class as they've had. And
I think we're starting see that. You're seeing guys you know,

(25:02):
Cam Dooley and and you know Lorenzo Collen and and
you know, just young guys making plays, and uh, you
know there's that that there there there is young talent
in this program. And you know, I think that's that's
not a small thing. And you know they've got a
chance if you know, they need to take care of

(25:24):
business against Tennessee Tech and what is kind of a
tricky game against as an FCS opponent, sure, but it's
an FCS opone that's won fifteen games in a row.
They need to take care of business of that. And
then you've got two shots to try to upset a
ranked team to get ball eligible. And you know that
could did there They have a chance to write a
pretty dramatically different ending to this season than what it

(25:47):
appeared was possible, you know, the first six weeks.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Or so, And you and I have seen some Kentucky
teams over a long run do that. I referenced to
six Group frequently and it happened by in seventy six
when they were four and four and finished with three
straight to go to the first Bowl in twenty five years.
Takes usually strong leadership to pull something like that off,

(26:11):
to stay strong through going through the valley of a season.
And that seventy six group had a you know, I
got like Derrick Ramsey as their strong leader and others,
and then a six they had Woodyard and Burton and Woodson.
We'll find out over time maybe who the guys are

(26:31):
that have been those individuals for this Kentucky team, but
I would imagine that's been a big part of this.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:39):
And you know, even Mark Soop's first ball team in
twenty sixteen, that team turned it around in the second
half and it's been interesting. So if you look around
the country, there's been some big programs, teams that entered
this year thought to be national championship contenders, where they've
encountered in versity and the program has just collapsed. I mean,

(27:00):
coach is gone. I mean just programs, you know, storied programs,
Penn State, LSU, I mean, just you know, absolute adversity.
They just the program seemed to melt down, and there's
certainly been just waves of negativity around the Kentucky program.
But that hadn't happened. They've kept fighting and they've they've

(27:21):
they're they've they're reaping some fruit from their labor and
it's kind of impressive.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Is that even more impressive in the current climate of
all the transfers and nil two?

Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yeah, I think it is. I think you know, look,
I think tends to be a little hit or miss
on your culture. I think one of the knocks on
Kentucky last year was maybe, you know, that that they
had not been able to maintain the culture that had
led to their success in this era of roster churn.
But the fact that, you know, they had a bad

(27:57):
year last year, they entered this year the get the
start that people hope for. I said, there's obviously been
plenty of negativity, you know, around the program and the
fact that they've persisted and are have at least given
themselves a chance to make something positive out of this season.
As I said, I think it's impressive.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
March Story Lexington Herald Leader, Kentucky Sports dot Com and uh,
thank you for the time.

Speaker 5 (28:23):
Thank you, Tom, appreciate it at.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
Mark c Story on X and a big Dodger fan.
I should have congratulated to him. I did when I
saw him at the media room the other night. But
he's a big Dodger fan, so he's celebrating that World
Series victory for LA. We'll get to a quick break
come back.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
Lee K.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Howard from WKYT TV joins the program here on the
Leach Report at Parts presented by Bobcat Enterprises. They have
four locations around Kentucky. When you need to buy or
rent some heavy equipment a tractor, a forklift, excavator, skin steerloader,
whatever it might be, turn to Bobcat Enterprises. They will

(29:00):
have what you need and give you a fantastic service
After the sale. Probably can get a good deal of
those zero turn mowers that they have as well for
working on the home lawn next spring. Heading to our
next guest, now, who is Lee K. Howard from w
KYT TV here in Lexington. Lee, Kay, we'll start with
your take on the Cats and the Cards annual showdown

(29:20):
on Tuesday night. What did you leave thinking about the
Wildcats versus what you thought going in?

Speaker 4 (29:27):
Well, Tom, I think being in that building there, it
was pretty overwhelming how good Louisville was early in the season.
I think if they played that game ten times. I
do think Kentucky wins four or five of them. It
was just kind of the perfect storm for Louisville to
go away with a big win. And I think so

(29:47):
often in rivalry games it's how you start, and the
way that Louisville started that game hitting shots not only
you know, back to back possessions, but early the shot clock.
They buried Kentucky's confidence very quickly. And you know how
it is when you're on the road. If if the
home team comes out and gets the crowd behind them

(30:09):
and gets going, it's going to be a long night. Now.
Credit Kentucky. I was impressed there in the second half
that they were able to cut that twenty point lead
all the way down to four, because there was a
moment there when I thought this is going to get
really ugly, but Kentucky fought back and Mark Pope tinkered
with some lineups and figured out something that would work

(30:30):
in that second half to get him some more points.
But I was, you know, I was. I was impressed
with how Louisville, how Louisville looked. They were the better
team on Tuesday night at least, and MIKEL. Brown Junior
is the real deal. Now, I don't think that says
a ton about Kentucky long term. I think Kentucky still
is one of the better teams in the country. And
like I said, they could win that game if they

(30:51):
played it again. But that's that was kind of my
first impressions of that game.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah, I mean, it's if you're a Kentucky fan, just remember,
you know, the the blowout by Duke in November of
twenty eighteen, and that nineteen you know, by that spring
Kentucky was lost in an overtime to go to a
Final four and what would have been a wide open
final four, they would have had a great shot to
win it all seventeen. That team lost some a lot

(31:18):
of it's big games early in the season, except for
maybe Louisville, but by the end of the year one
of the best two teams in the country. Yeah, I
think you know, other examples you can go back through,
even Heck Pope's ninety six championship team that was so great.
They got you know, handled by UMass early in the season,

(31:39):
came back and beat him in the final four. So
you know, it's a long way. As I said the
other day on something it's you can football coaches talk
about remember November for finishing strong. For basketball, it needs
to be Hey, it's only November, and there's a lot
of water to go under the bridge between now and
Final four.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
SAT.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
We're just talking about mark story about Cam Williams. That's
gonna be interesting to see how he plays in these
next couple of games to build on what he did,
because that was the first sign of like, Okay, now
I see what people are seeing.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, and I think so. I remember talking to you
on this show just before the season and mentioning that
Cam Williams was a guy that NBA scouts were interested in.
And I'll be honest to the exhibitions in the first
couple of games, you know, he was the guy that
was kind of slower to catch up to speed, I think,

(32:34):
and you understand that a little bit coming from you know,
two lane and not competing maybe at the same level
that he's used to. But there for a couple of
games it felt like, well, are we going to see this?
Like when are we going to see it? I mean,
he's got some sneaky athleticism that we saw in one
of the games where he came through and finished on
a transition dunk, and but we you know, everybody wanted

(32:55):
to see him shoot threes, like he was billed as
this knockdown shooter, and that just hadn't happened through the
first couple of games. But uh, you know, I do
think that that Pope found something there in the second
half that literally the last guy off the bench. And
I think at that point, like I said, they were
just tinkering with lineups, trying to find something that worked.

(33:15):
And and I do think that there's a world where,
you know, Mark Pope can put a small ball lineup
on the floor where you've got some sort of combination
of Denzel Aberdeen and Colin Chandler and and and putting
Cam Williams at like a four and even a mo
Diabode at a five, where you've got a very small

(33:36):
lineup though, but they can, you know, move up and
down the court. So I think that if you're taking
positives from the other night, Cam Williams is about the
biggest positive you can take out of that game, saying okay,
going forward, he might be able to give us something.
And then of course Denzel Aberdeen is the other big
positive out of that game, and the way that he
was able to get his points. But yeah, I was
impressed with Cam.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Garrison is a source of frustration for some kick some
percentage of the Kentucky fans, and for a big chunk
of that game, you could understand that Goose was talking about,
you know, just that he needed to be more basically
more active and just make an impression on the game.
And then all of a sudden he gets a runout
where he just sprinted the floor, got the feed, scored,

(34:23):
got foul, completed the three point play and that was
what sparked that run when they were down twenty. Williams
was certainly a big part of that. That's I think
around the time he came into the game. But for Garrison,
that kind of play and then there were a couple
of a couple that followed where he I think got
a tough rebound and then he had another one where
he tipped one to keep an offensive possession. That's got

(34:44):
to be who he is, right.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
Oh absolutely, I mean, you hit it on the head.
Garrison is your is your hustle clean up guy. I mean,
he's got to be that. And I know in most
basketball players heads and minds at the college level, they
want to be, you know, the finesse guy that leads
the team in scoring and the and runs and people
run plays for them and all that. That's that's not Garrison,

(35:07):
I mean. But he can offer a team a lot
just in his his motor and you know sometimes he
gets a radic with some of his you know, things
that he does. But I'll give him credit. He kept
his cool. You know, if if you had to point
to one guy that you thought may lose his cool
in a game like that, it probably would have been Brandon.
But he did a great job the other night. But

(35:29):
the play that you mentioned, I was right under that
basket where you know, first guy down the floor, gets
the gets the outlet and scores and and gets the
end one that's big. I mean him cleaning up the backside, rebounds,
the defensive rebounds. You know, if he can offer them that,
that's the best version of Brandon Garrison. And that will
keep him on the floor because I'll tell you what

(35:50):
Malachi Marino is pushing for those minutes. And I've been
very impressed with Malachi early in the season, and I
didn't know how he would transition from being a freshman
to to his first year in the SEC. But he's
doing pretty well. And then of course you got JQ
coming at some point. But yeah, Brandon kaoffer them something
when he plays like that.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Malachi has got great footwork and really good you know,
hand eye coordination, good instincts as a passer. So you
can see now in what he's doing early on what
Pope saw to recruit him.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
Yeah, the biggest thing for me for Malachi, he's even
following him in high school. He always had good footwork
and he was you know, he has a pretty good
knack for the ball, rebounding in blocking shots around the rim.
The biggest thing for me though, is his size. He
has grown substantially as far as just his you know,
thickness and putting on muscle. I did a one on

(36:44):
one interview with Malachi just before the season started, and
it was actually with him and Jasper and they talked
to their roommates and they talked about how Malachi just
eats and eats and eats, and every time in the
room in their room, Malachi is always eating. He said,
I'm trying to keep weight, I'm trying to put put
on muscle, and to me, that's the biggest thing. So
He's been able to combine kind of his knack for

(37:05):
the ball and his footwork with some more size this year,
and he's playing really well with it. And so you
only think, you know, look at Trent from last year
to this year and how he defined his body and
his muscle. Think about a sophomore Malachi Marino and how
much he can change from this year to next year.
Lee K.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Howard wky T TV. Thank you, Sar.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
All right, thanks Tom.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
We'll take you last break, come back finish up in
just a minute on the Leach Report. Is a Wowkat.
History is present about Kentucky road show sports cards at
Memorabilia on Romney Road in Lexington and at roadshowcards dot com.
Nineteen ninety eight, Craigie set school records for catches in
a game in yards sixteen for two sixty nine in

(37:48):
a win over Vandy. It was the most decisive win
against The most decisive win over an SEC opponent since then,
I'll put it that way, was the one against Florida
last week. Happy birthday couple, former Kentucky basketball players twenty
Beckham and Jared Crickett celebrating birthdays today. If you've been
thinking about stocking up on some of your favorite cornbread

(38:11):
Hemp products. Go to cornbreadhimp dot com through Monday, and
if you spend ninety nine dollars or more, they'll give
you twenty five dollars off the cost of your order.
When you put in the code save twenty five spend
one hundred and fifteen dollars, you get a free jar
the Sleep gummies to go along with it, So go
ahead and grab those infused seltzers you've been curious about,
or stock up on the gummies and the oils for

(38:32):
daily wellness. No synthetics, no shortcuts. All Kentucky grown hemp
with Cornbreadtheimp dot com. And they also want to thank
all of you for what you've tried to do to
help beat back the challenges to their industry. And the
bill that was passed to open the government back up
unfortunately included the the provision that Cornbread Hemp didn't want,

(38:57):
so you can help fight that back. You've got essentially
a year to win that battle, and you can find
out more at cornbreadthimp dot com. Last night, to Kentucky's
future opponent, Michigan State beat San Jose State seventy nine
to sixty volleyball tonight against Oklahoma women's basketball, tomorrow, against
Marshall women's soccer at Louisville tomorrow and the NCAA Tournament.

(39:20):
Good luck to all the Wildcat teams there. We'll see
you on Monday.