November 24, 2025 • 38 mins
Tom talks with Van Hiles, Craig Skinner, and Ben Roberts.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day everybody. Welcome in Thanksgiving week and welcome into
our Monday edition of the show. We're always presented by
Bobcat Enterprises, and coming up today it's Shuffle being coffee
Monday morning Quarterback Day, So that means we'll chat with
Van Hiles here shortly and get a painful look back
at the Vandy game and a little look ahead to
(00:21):
the matchup with Louisville for the Governor's Cup this Saturday.
And then we also are going to hear from UK
volleyball coach Craig Skinner. They got win number one at
the SEC tournament. They're playing Tennessee tonight. Taped an interview
with coach Skinner last night. And then Ben Roberts from
the Lexing and Herald Leader quick update on UK men's
(00:43):
basketball as they get to return to the court on
Wednesday night against Tennessee Tech. So that's the lineup. Wildcat
News of the Day presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. What
a brutal day in Nashville for the Wildcats is. They
were looking for a fourth straight win and Vandy jumped
out and took control right from the start, scored on
(01:05):
the opening drive and never looked back forty five seventeen,
dropping Kentucky to five and six. Diego Pavia is on
quite a heater right now. Against Kentucky. He was thirty
three of thirty nine five touchdowns, averaged twelve point four
yards per attempt the last three games, which includes their
(01:25):
loss to Texas and their win over Auburn. He's thrown
in three games for twelve hundred and twenty six yards,
eleven touchdowns and one interception. Now, it was against an
injury depleted Kentucky defense, particularly in the secondary, so they
had a reason to They would not accept the excuse,
(01:46):
but you cut them a little slick. It was the
struggles of the offensive side that were probably more problematic
for Kentucky because with the injuries on the defensive side
and the way pave is playing and Fannas averaging thirty
eighty game one of the best offenses in the country.
I think actually in maybe yards per play, I was
number one. You were going to have to score points
(02:08):
to have a shot to win the game, and Kentucky
had been doing that of late, but not on Saturday,
as they got a relentless dose of blitzing from Vandy.
And we're not able to make them pay for that
and struggled really to move the ball until late when
the outcome was long gone. So Kentucky tries to regroup
this week against Tennessee against Louisville for the Governor's Cup.
(02:32):
Volleyball swept Auburn, the eighth seed at the SEC Tournament
fifteen kills from Brooklyn delay, and we'll take on Tennessee
tonight and that was a bit of a tussle where
they played on that pack the house game not too
long ago at Memorial Coliseum. So Kentucky is against the
balls tonight. And then women's basketball had a big day
(02:53):
on Saturday, number twenty Kentucky went into number twenty one
Louisville and won seventy two to sixty two. But I
think it was a little more convincing than that. Here
was Kenny Brooks after the game as.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
A coach that's trying to learn his team with the
understanding that there's so much possibility, so much just an
ability to go and be a great basketball team. You
just want to see them get better every day. This
game means a lot, it really does, and I think
it's a tremendous opportunity or not only the two programs,
(03:23):
but the state in general to have, you know, this
much recognition for women's basketball, So you know, we take
it very seriously and we love beating in this atmosphere
and this opportunity, and today was really good for us,
and we grew and.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
We went in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Kenny Brooks is transfer point guard. Tony Morgan had her
best game yet nineteen points and seven assists for the Wildcats.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
We're gonna get to a.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Break and get back to chatting with Van Hiles here
and just a bit on our Monday Morning Quarterback show
opening segment a Wildcat News always presented by just Sepies
of Lexington, and they have their barrel pick bullet barrel
pick that is on the way to the restaurant and
you can buy a bottle and take it home. And
they're currently working on their new Russell Reserve barrel pick,
(04:07):
so check those out. When you're at Juseppes, get to
open table and make a reservation sometime today to get
your group together for a night out at Giuseppes sometime
during the holiday season. You will have a fantastic time.
Sit in the lounge area, listen to Dave Hall and
that live jazz music. It is fantastic at Juseppes.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Chafavin coming Monday morning quarterback edition of The Leach Report.
And that means Van Hiles, the former Wildcat d B
and Chicago Bears dB is with us. You can follow
him for on the analysis of Kentucky football at V
Style seventeen and him and you here Van and his
former teammate Anthony White on Wednesday nights at nine on
(04:51):
the Locker sa Van. I thought today we would just
talk about the Bears and how well they're playing.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
That's great, Yes, let's do that.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Look, I was gonna try everything possible in my power
to find a tangent to talk about something besides this
game that was played on a Saturday afternoon. And and
I don't think that's right. I don't think you brought
me on this show talk about for the Mississippi or
(05:22):
University of Houston or even the Bears, or even the Bears.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
No Bears who did win again yesterday, who are doing great?
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
I uh been a.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Bears fan back to Gail Sayers and told somebody the
other day I said, I said, yeah, we're on top
of the division, not sure how good they are, but
that's okay from the top of.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
It doesn't matter exactly.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
That's how you play to win a game that on
your schedule, and they're doing that to a high degree.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
All right, let's get into Kentucky Vandy. This was I
mean for you, you played in the secondary and Kentucky,
I said, last week was kind of like a jinga game.
They just kept taking pieces out and at some point
it was going to collapse, I guess, and they did
on Saturday with what with the matchup with Pavias. So
we'll start on the defensive side. What did you see
(06:14):
in terms of any any way they could have been
able to put up a better fight.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Unfortunate, Right, this was probably the worst execution of defense
I have seen, probably since Stoops started here.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
When you look at the plays and you.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
Dive into them one by one and you're looking at
it from an objective eye, this was the worst that
they have ever played. There were times where we were
in man the man Will was guarding the same person.
There were times where guys don't understand where to push
their covers to. We're rolling out quarterback and we were
(06:57):
too busy trying to jamb a guy and we're leaving
guys open when and here's the thing, I'm gonna give
you a positive. It was one thing that was great
in this game. And it's funny right now, and think
about it is I said that if we can't prevent
Diego from extending drives with its legs, we will probably
(07:18):
win this game. When you look at the stats, he
had under fifty yards Russian, which I think is probably
the worst of the season. If you'd have told me that,
I would say we won this game. I didn't expect
five hundred yards passing, basically, and that was a issue
with guys just not executing in the back half. It
(07:39):
wasn't even a level of those guys just more talented
than us, and they are making great catches, great route,
great plays. We just did not execute in the back half.
And it's embarrassing for me. I think it's concerning for
the coach's potentially because it wasn't just a young guys.
It was a complete system failure by the seven by
(08:01):
guys who have had a lot of snaps and a
lot of starts.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I can see where that would be more concerned.
If you got guys like a great and as a freshman,
and is you know, been thrown into the fire well
ahead of the plan with all the injuries, and you
could expect some struggles from a guy like that exactly.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
And I'm be honest with you, I think Grayton played
a really good game. Good for the Yeah, because if
you think about it, the I mean the touchdown caught
on him and m zone was a absolute doot. I mean,
he couldn't have played the covers better. It was a
great throw. Great throw beat great defense one hundred percent
(08:39):
of the time.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
That was a great situation.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
Some of the other things were on people whom have
played a lot of snaps.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
These that just should not.
Speaker 6 (08:47):
Happen Week eleven when you have played as much football
as as you have played. And that was the problem
with this defense, is that those guys didn't come ready
to play and maybe what was trying to do too
much because of the of certain players. But in this game,
you can't do that, especially not against that quarterback.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
You know you had.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Earlier in the season when Kentucky was really struggling offensively
first month or so of the season, one of these
discussions and I had you talked about what can happen
on a defense in a situation like that where you
start to try to do too much because you see
the offense struggling and nobody will ever acknowledge that, but
(09:30):
you just feel that and you okay, you have to
make a play. I have to do something. Whatever is
that something that could have happened here, not when the
game started, because they'd been playing well on offense, but
as it was unfolding.
Speaker 6 (09:44):
No, it was it was just man, I would say
this and I can't remember what coach said. This is
that some days it happens you have your bad game.
I mean, these guys are not robots, and for whatever reason,
this was not this on Saturday. Was it's not a
system of old court. The office is doing this and
we got to make plays. No, they were not trying
(10:06):
to do things outside the framework of the scheme, the
play call, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
They were just not execution. And exactly it's like.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
They were maybe in a fog, and it'll be something
if we could say or you can ask.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Me, I can say, well, you know what, missus. Least
it seemed like it started like after halftime. No, it
started at the first drive.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
And when you are not on and I'm not going
to say focused, because I think they were focused. But
whatever that was preventing you from playing your best, it
cannot happen next week, and fans have to understand and
there's no excuse, but you do have to understand that
these guys are under heavy stress right now because they're
a student, well they're athlete students. The student is a
(10:52):
part of and sometimes school can play a factor in this.
I don't know what it was, but these guys were
not on their best on Saturday defensive and they got
exposed to the highest degree of getting exposed more of a.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Van Hiles would come right back with the shift gears
talk about on the offensive side for Kentucky's lopsided loss
at Vandy on Saturday. Coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop studio, Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's this
holiday season.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
It's pretty parent. Probably even halfway through the first quarter.
We need to use tempo, and we couldn't, you know,
we couldn't even get in a rhythm to get it going,
to be quite honest with the end. So I just
felt hats off the Vanderbilt on the job. They did
post a lot of issues got beaten in every facet.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
That was offensive coordinator Bush Hampden. After the Kentucky forty
five to seventeen loss, Aid Vandy were chat with Van
Hiles at v Style seventeen for our Shuffle being Coffee
Monday morning quarterback edition of the Leech Report. On the
offensive side, Van Kentucky got a relentless dose of blitzing
and did not handle it. Well, what did you see?
Speaker 6 (12:03):
Yeah, that's It's another thing now that you have me
thinking about even more, is using the cliche. Maybe the
moment was too big for us, because if you look
at some of the offensive plays, there were plays to
be had, there were touchdowns available, there were.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
I mean the two plays.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
I know I'm not going to describe it well, but
that was a one play where where Cutter had Kendrick
Law wide open. If he throws it to him, it's
a touchdown. On the first third and five. We had
two guys on one. We could not block him. One
guy made the play. It cannot happen. If he doesn't
make that play, that's a first down and now we
(12:47):
get a drive. I think another one when Kazada came in.
The two plays, the first play was definitely defensive passing
offerience as a defensive player, that was the worst of
defensive passing inference, right in front of yes, right in
front of two officials. That was in where there's nothing
(13:07):
else you were looking at.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
That was obvious.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
And the interception if you look at it, if he
throws it to the pyelone in that direction, it's a
touchdown because that safety is city Like those plays. There
were three touchdown plays that could change the momentum of
a game and we just could not execute. And when
you get to a point where you're down by three
possessions at halftime as a defensive player, it's like blood
(13:33):
in the water and you're sharp. You're like, yes, now
they can only do such and such because we got.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
On our offense. When you talk about offense and defense,
we know all of offense can take six to.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
Seven minutes off the clock. So now how many possessions
are they're gonna get? Yes, now they have to pass
the ball. And now that's a time where you can
sit back and do all the anxiety exotic things that
you like to do as a defensive play call.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
And that is what happened in this game.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
It was another thing of execution the players were there,
we just did not make can happen.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, it felt like Vanderbilt kind of came into the plant. Okay,
this is a young quarterback. Let's just come after him
and bring everything we've got and we'll be exposed to
a risk there, but our offense is playing so well.
We'll take that chance because if they score, we can
get it back. And so they just took advantage of
(14:22):
that situation and threw everything at the house and Kentucky
didn't make them pay for that risky strategy.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Yeah, and and we.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
It looked like they blitzed a lot, but they only
blitched a lot because we got put in a bad situation.
I think our average, well we on first down. This
is what that got me when I looked at it.
First down, we had eighty five total yards on first
downs on twenty eight first down plays, Vanderbilt had three
(14:55):
hundred and forty two first first down yard. That's half
of their total yards. They won on first down. And
I'll say this, bandy won on first down on both
sides of the ball, and that was the difference in
the game.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
We got put in.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Situations where it was third and long and what they're
gonna do. They know we're gonna pass the ball, and
they sent pressure.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
In the Auburn when one thing Kentucky was able to
do was if the start of drives make one or
two first downs yep, and get a little field position,
you could maybe open up the offense a little bit
when you get out around the forty. And then if
you did you only make one or two first downs,
then la Ross can punt them back to around their
fifteen or something.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
And that's yep.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
That was totally flipped the other way in this game
for Kentucky.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
That's what we call, I know is a it's a
bad word to some fans. It's called complimentary football. And
we did not play that to any level in this
game at all.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And when you don't do that.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Well against and and it was their senior day and
I didn't know they had that many seniors. I didn't
realize that many seniors. They have a big senior class
with the best quarterback in the conference. And when those
guys are hitting on all cylinders, man, and when that
defense can can can fill the momentum shift. Because we
(16:13):
had chances when when they went forward on fourth down
and we got the shortfield position and we.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Got nothing out of it.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
That really was that was Indeed, there were a couple
of nails put in early in that, but that was
really the final nail. And and that happened in the
first half, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I couldn't believe when they actually went for that in
that situation. And then exactly if you do it to
take the ball out of Povia's.
Speaker 6 (16:39):
Hands, and because you know what, because there's a lot
of things happened there. They were trying to get too cute.
They had it was his senior year, and I'm gonna
say this, I guarantee you that was his call and
not his call like he just did it without their advice,
But I guarantee you he looked at the coata.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
And said, can we run this play?
Speaker 6 (16:57):
And they got too cute and and it and it
bit them, but.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
We could not capitalize.
Speaker 6 (17:05):
And that was to me, the end of a chance
for us win that game, because in that situation we score,
Now we feel.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Good seventeen seven. You've got a little momentum. You've played
bad in the first half, but you're still in it. Yeah, no,
you're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
It kind of felt so that way that play took
all the air off the sideline, and I would say
this with that, Ben said, I said, all out the sideline.
I want to thank all the people the big Blue
nation that came to that game when I saw the
panning of that stadium and man for us to be
where we are now and I have those people travel
down south to Nashville. Man, I really appreciate that as
(17:42):
a former player, because y'all came out and showed that
we still have big support within this program and that
was awesome to see. Sorry, the players didn't play their best,
but thank you for traveling down to watch those young
men play well.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well said. We are halfway home. We're gonna do one
more segment with Van when we come right back than
here from Coach Skinner, and a little basketball with Ben
Roberts coming up here on The Leacher Report presented by
Bob kat Enterprises. It's the Shuffle Wey Covey Monday Morning
quarterback edition of The Leacher Report. And one more segment
here with Van Hiles. Then we're gonna hear from Coach
(18:15):
Skinner at the SEC Volleyball tournament, they're tearing it up.
Vam UK women had a big win so two Kentucky
teams had very successful weekends.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
The women are doing great. Coach, when you win nine
consecutive SEC championships in the row, when you were the
last team program to win the national championship, and he's
still not getting the amount of.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Support and praise that he should.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
That guy's is he's the coach in leading the best
program on campus. And Coach Brooks, look when you beat
that team out West back to back years the way
they have beaten them, he is creating a remarkable program
and he's got another recruiting class coming in with highly
(19:08):
ranked players. That is, those are two sports that are
gonna be played in Memorial Coliseum that people need to
go visit the new Memorial Coliseum because those two teams
right there are playing great at the two respective sports
that they are representing this university with women's basketball and
volleyball are doing amazing things right now and they need
(19:28):
all of all support.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Let's shift gears to the Governor's Cup matchup this weekend
and Kentucky faces a Louisville team that is reeling from
three straight losses and pounded at SMU thirty eight to
six on Saturday and did not have their starting quarterback
who's been struggling. So you have two teams coming in
that probably the fan bases on each side are wondering
(19:54):
if their team is gonna be anywhere close to fully
dialed in for this game. So who wants it most?
Is that what determines it?
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Yeah, it's a rivalry game.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
I mean there's a situation where they lost their best
player on offense and Isaac Brown we haven't played. We
haven't played you think about it with a healthy defense
the entire season.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
We lost Waller Game one.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
We have not played with the guys we expected to
be starters but a quarter or two in this season.
So it's gonna be an interesting thing with those two
pair of size of the ball going against each other,
with them losing players and we losing players. It's gonna
be a game of hoom handles the trenches. The best
it's the game of football is one in the trenches
(20:41):
of time. And now it's a chance for both of
those linemen to come back, lick their wounds, figure out
what they did wrong Saturday, and come back and beat
this team. And read this Saturday, because if we dominate
the line of scrimmage like we have done for the
majority of this series the last six to seven years.
We will come out with a dub.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Those two areas. The offensive line. The defensive line for
Kentucky is where they've stayed the healthiest. They've had the
same five out there on the O line all season,
and I think the same until Khalil got hurt up
started Saturday. I think they had started the same three
every every game until then Khalil ended up playing right.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
And I'm gonna just tell you, and I know people
are gonna say that the off the line and play
well offensive line played well enough to win. The defensive
line definitely played well enough to win. What they did
to Diego and how disciplined they were in their assignments
and their past Atlanta assignmons were the best off see
in a long time. So for those two, if they
can play their best on Saturday, I had I feel
(21:46):
highly confident that we win on Saturday. If they don't,
that's when we can have problems.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Do you think Louisville can look at anything on that
tape from Saturday and be able to take advantage of
any of the things Vandy took advantage of.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
They don't have Diego, They don't have Diego. Diego is
the is the starter of that whole program on both
sides of the ball. The level of confidence that he
has permeates through that locker room, and that's the difference
in that team. Louisll does not have a Diego and
since they don't have a diego, the playing field in
(22:24):
the Marsina era for US is greater this week because
they don't have a star quarterback at that level.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That is Van Heiles. It's at V Style seventeen and
you can hear him on the locker on Wednesday nights
on YouTube with Anthony White and also on all the
other podcast platforms, and then we'll be back here mondayta
kind of put a bowl on the regular season and
hopefully be talking about looking ahead to one additional game.
But the van between now and then. Have a very
(22:52):
happy Thanksgiving you and your family.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Same to you. Don't eat too much Rode turkey, boy,
that is good stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
If you have fried tur If you have never had
fried turkey, men, that's good.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Is that what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Oh I have I have this for people who have
Oh yeah, fried turkey is a difference maker with Cajun
season Cajun season Turkey change of Life.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
I like that. Yeah, got a change your life man,
Thank you much.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You two will be right back and here from Coach Skinner,
It's the Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
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at corn Bread hemp dot com. Last night, got a
chance to catch up to coach Craig Skinner after they
defeated Auburn at the SEC Volleyball Tournament. They'll play Tennessee tonight,
(24:09):
so let's hear a little bit from Coach Skinner. Connecting
with coach Craig Skinner from down in Savannah, where Kentucky
has advanced to the semifinal round of the SEC Volleyball
Tournament to face Tennessee. Tell us about the win on
Sunday afternoon, coach, and what do you like best about
what you saw?
Speaker 8 (24:27):
You know, I felt like we were pretty sure in
the first two sets, and Auburn you know, started, you know,
putting some pressure on us in second set, and we
responded well. And you know, it's any time your in
tournament situation, it's you know, do or die. And I
thought our team really stayed composed, you know during some
you know situations.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Auburn you know, was really good.
Speaker 8 (24:46):
And then we were able to hit three fifty for
the match and offensively spread spread it out a little
bit and then slowed down the two best hitters on
their team.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
So it was a good day.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Does this tournament help you for the next tournaments?
Speaker 5 (24:57):
I definitely think so.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
I mean, you know, the s he's doing a really
good job. I mean, it's it's a big time environment.
The you know, the athletes are being treated to a
great experience, you know, both ours and all the all
the players and so when you get to the n
CLA tournament, the logos, the media, the you know, all
the extra things that go along with that's not typical
part of your daily prep. You know, it's you get
(25:21):
to feel what that's like and then also know that
you know, if you don't don't get the dub, you
got it, you're going home. So you know, you got
to feel what that's like before you know how to
do and how to respond to it.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
You played Tennessee fairly recently. That was the pack the
house game. What do you remember about that match? What
concerns you for the rematch?
Speaker 8 (25:41):
They're a physical team. They have, you know, ability to
kill the ball and a lot of different positions, a
lot of different ways across in that Star Williams, their
opposite hitter, right side hitter, has really come on the
last few weeks. I mean she's going to be a handful.
Hayden Kubic on the left side, as you know, hits
the ball as hard as anybody in the league. And
the Libarro she's from Turkey, I mean, she keeps everything
(26:04):
off the floor.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
But they're led by a.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Setter who's tough, who's gritty, you know, gets after a
little undersized chip on her shoulder and she makes the
makes the engine turn as they say, and you know,
so be it's gonna be a tough match.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
What about this team?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
You won a national championship with Kentucky with that team
versus this team? Just compare the strengths. For me, each
team has its own strengths and weakness. Is what are
the strengths of this team versus that one?
Speaker 8 (26:32):
That's a good question, you know people have asked. I
don't know if I've come up with a great answer yet.
We're they're all different. But you know, the obvious things
that you see in the Hudson and Delay and the
firepower that they bring allows you some freedom because that
you have them on the left side of the net,
and so when it's not going perfectly, you always have
them available to score. You know, our physicality, uh, you
(26:55):
know with six two six three Delay, Hudson sixty six,
the car or center who's over six feet tall, Kennedy
Washington who touches ten to four, Asia Thickpin on the right,
who's as good an athlete as there is, and then
Jordan Daely coming off the bench. Blockwise, we're different, but
I'd say this team overall, you know, in all positions,
(27:17):
maybe a little bit better defensively. We might have been
a little bit more balanced offensively in twenty twenty. But
both have a, you know, a grittiness to them that
I think is required in a way to be able
to be successful in multiple ways, not just rely on
one thing.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Lastly, did you think it was cruel for your former
player to bust your chops about your hair?
Speaker 8 (27:43):
I mean that came out of nowhere, Leah. I mean
right on the last time you were in this tournam
he had no hair.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Well, I've had hair in a.
Speaker 8 (27:50):
Long time, so I mean that that s could go
back even before that. But you know, I feel like
it's symmetrical and it does a decent job of wearing
itself even though there's no no hair on top.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
So I own it. We're good with it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
If only you could make her run now, oh man,
she'd be at the top of Memorial Coliseum hitting those
exit signs on the daily if she was still in
the program. It was Coach Craig scater I should have
done a better job of setting up that question, because
there's some of you that didn't see the interview. It
was with Leah Edmund, his former player. She's was doing
sideline reporting for the SEC Network coverage on at the
(28:28):
volleyball tournament and that was the last question she asked
her former coach about his hair. So it was just
a great moment between the two of them. And Leah
is fantastic. If you've heard her with Dick Gabriel and
some of our UK Radio Network broadcasts of volleyball, she's
a tremendous analyst as well as doing the sidelines work.
(28:49):
Gonna get to a quick break. We'll come back and
visit with Ben Robertson and talk a little bit about
a Kentucky men's basketball they'll be back on the court
Wednesday against Tennessee Tech Leach report presented by Bobcat Enterprises
with four locations around Kentucky. So that's who you google
when you need to find where to find heavy equipment
for a job site day, whether you're buying or renting,
(29:12):
they'll have it and you just google Bobcat Enterprises, you'll
find the one of those four locations that's closest to you.
We'll be right back and a listener sending in a question,
when will the coach Mark Pope radio show begin begin
it is tonight. First edition is coming up tonight. It'll
be after the Coach Stoops Show, so back to back
coaches always this starts. We have two of these the
(29:37):
week of Thanksgiving and then the Monday that follows it,
So Coach Stops first, Coach Pope second six to eight,
and then back from that point on in the second
Monday of December. It'll be Coach Pope every night at
six o'clock, except for the occasional week when we have
to move it for road games that are on Tuesdays.
(29:59):
So we'll get to all that as we come to it. Anyway,
all you need to know is that the first one
is coming up tonight. So two hours of coaches shows
on the UK Radio Network, joined now by Ben Roberts
from the Lexingdon Herald Leader Kentucky sports dot com, where
he covers Kentucky men's basketball. So man I said going
into Friday, there was nothing Kentucky was gonna do that
was gonna make any you know, make anybody feel a
(30:22):
ton better after the Michigan State game. That can come
the next time they're on a big game stage, which
will be next week against North Carolina and then Gonzaga.
But what did you see in the game that was
noteworthy in the win on over Loyola on Friday.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, I mean, one, you're right about that, And yeah,
it's gonna be till Tuesday night before you know, they
can reverse some of the stuff that happens obviously in
New York. You know, one thing, coming out in New York,
a lot of the smartest basketball people I know that
I'm in regular contact with were hitting me up basically
(31:05):
as soon as that game ended, talking about how they
needed to get back to what you know, Pop Pope
knew best and and what Pope did best, and and
maybe go with with more of a small ball lineup. Uh.
And obviously it was kind of necessitated by by Mo.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
Being out with the ankle injury.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
But you know, I think everybody who didn't like what
they saw in New York really liked what they saw
with Cam Williams and there in the starting role and
just the way that team, you know, moved the ball,
moved around on the court, moved off the ball in general,
you know, with until the end there where he had
(31:44):
Beg and Malachi out at the same time, it was
really a lot of four guard lineups. Uh, and it
really looked a lot like Kentucky look last season offensively.
And that's that's whatever. You you know, that's what a
lot of people loved about that team and loved about
Pope coming in. And you know, Mark even acknowledged in
(32:05):
the postgame press conference that's what he's most used to
and that's his that's his comfort zone. Now, you know,
long term, you've got Malachi, You've got bg Mose coming back,
Jaden Quainton's at some point will be back. It's gonna
be it's gonna be a real balancing act to play
that way, I think.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
But you know, I think a.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Lot of people have suspected that Cam Williams might be
keyt on locking.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
The ceiling of this team.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
And you know, he got a lot of on the
other night, and and and look good in a lot
of different ways.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
Yeah, you saw.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
I think we saw a little flash in the Louisville
game when he came in late. But in this game,
you kind of, I think left thinking, Okay, now I
see what they saw in this guy. And what people
are you know, talking about in terms of, you know,
the next level, Although the NBA guys are probably talking
about mostly just a six ape guy that can shoot
the three, which he even' even isn't doing that well yet. Yeah,
(33:00):
that's still coming. But just he he is very active.
He's kind of like, well really some of what he
saw from Trentoa last year just seems to be around
the ball a lot.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
He does.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
And that's what he was so great at, I felt
like in the Louisville game, and that's obviously what they
needed there with somebody just to come in and give
that energy spark, and you know, he was for those
who hadn't turned it off by that point. He was
obviously a big part in them trying to turn that
thing around and getting it down to four towards the end.
But yeah, I mean, and you know, it's it's also
(33:33):
understandable that it might take him a little longer to
get going in this system. You know, he's playing a
little different role than he played it too, Lane, He's
still a sophomore. You know, six games into a sophomore season,
I think, you know, everybody was probably a little spoiled
by last season's bunch that you know, you had a
bunch of super seniors fifth to your seniors coming in
(33:54):
who were you know, they were also in a new system,
but they were very secure in their game games and
their skill sets and and and you know, three years older,
three years more experience. Yeah, so I think it was
always going to take a little bit longer with Cam,
and you know, I think you're starting to see it.
But to your earlier point, Uh, you know, Cam's got
to do this against Carolina and Gonzaga. These other guys
(34:17):
have got to do this against against Carolina and Gonzaga
for people, I think to really kind.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Of you know, change their minds on this team.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
They still Mark has said day to day for Jalen
Low at this point. Uh, do you think that's something
that needs to get resolved idea? I guess I say
needs to get resolved that for them to to really
truly move forward, they need some resolution. Do they need
some resolution? Because are they going to play differently if
(34:46):
they know they have low versus if they know they don't.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Yeah. I think Mark's kind of shown his hand there.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You know, he talked about when when Jalen first went
down in October that a lot of what they were
doing in the summer and fall was kind of tailored
around him, you know, especially offensively and they had to
kind of switch up some of the stuff they were
doing when they were throwing.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Denzel and Colin and Jasper into that role.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So ideally, yes, they would know, you know, what's gonna
happen with him. The reality, I think is more that,
you know, with the situation like that, you kind of wait,
you let it rest, you you don't test it too
much over these next few weeks, and then maybe you
see where he is in late December and see if
he can come back for the SEC schedule. But yeah,
(35:31):
that that really complicates things because obviously while he's out,
he's such a unique player, especially the way this this
particular roster is set up, that you're gonna play differently
when he's out, and then if he can come back
and stay back, you're gonna play a lot differently there.
So yeah, it's not it's certainly not an ideal situation,
(35:53):
but you know, you want him on the court. You
need to have him on the court as another guy
who can kind of break that first line of perimeter defense.
But I don't, you know, from what I've heard, I
don't think there's gonna be any super quick resolution to
that one.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
And then oteya, oh wait, first play of the game,
makes a sharp cut on the baseline to get a
get a pass in a basket. Next time, Down catches
it on the wing, turns down a jumper to get
to the rim, and then it seemed very very active,
engaged defensively, just the I don't know if body language
(36:31):
is the right word, but just to bounce at his step,
I don't know. The look at his eye was all
that was good in this game, even though again it
was Loyola.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yes and yeah one, he's gonna have to show that
too next Tuesday, but you know, welcome back to my friend.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
That was that.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
I thought that was a great quote from from Pope
after the game, and anybody who watched that and then
watched the first five games had to have seen that.
There was one play in that sequence before the first
TV time out where he just drove the middle and
just threw a just a violent shoulder into his defender
and popped him back about six or eight feet and
hit a jumper and was already back pedaling down the.
Speaker 4 (37:10):
Court before the thing went in.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
And there was just a confidence to him that was
there last season, Like you said, there was a poulay
of step that Yeah, that that wasn't that just wasn't
there for most of those first five games, and even
talking to him after the game, he seemed a little
on edge. It was almost like a guy who I mean,
I think you were on a plane coming back from
New York, but he seemed to me like a guy
(37:31):
who would have liked to have gotten off that plane
when it landed in Lexington at midnight or whatever and
had another go at it.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
It didn't land in Lexington at midnight. He was bugged in.
They've only hitted landed in Lexington midnight. We'd all been
much happier. Thank you, Ben. Yeah, there's a lot of
tom as Ben Roberts from the Lexington Harrold Leader in
Kentucky Sports dot com. We want to remind you about
Chef Being Coffee, longtime partner here on the Leech Report.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
It is a great.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Kentucky company that is all about making the best cup
of coffee. Starts with the best of coffee beans. So
pick some up and give Shuffle Being Coffee a try.
You're gonna love it. Get it for a Thanksgiving weekend.
Everybody's gonna want coffee. Make sure you have shufflebeancoffee. Shufflebeing
dot Us is the company's website. We'll see you tomorrow
on the Leach Report.
Good day everybody. Welcome in Thanksgiving week and welcome into
our Monday edition of the show. We're always presented by
Bobcat Enterprises, and coming up today it's Shuffle being coffee
Monday morning Quarterback Day, So that means we'll chat with
Van Hiles here shortly and get a painful look back
at the Vandy game and a little look ahead to
(00:21):
the matchup with Louisville for the Governor's Cup this Saturday.
And then we also are going to hear from UK
volleyball coach Craig Skinner. They got win number one at
the SEC tournament. They're playing Tennessee tonight. Taped an interview
with coach Skinner last night. And then Ben Roberts from
the Lexing and Herald Leader quick update on UK men's
(00:43):
basketball as they get to return to the court on
Wednesday night against Tennessee Tech. So that's the lineup. Wildcat
News of the Day presented by Giuseppes of Lexington. What
a brutal day in Nashville for the Wildcats is. They
were looking for a fourth straight win and Vandy jumped
out and took control right from the start, scored on
(01:05):
the opening drive and never looked back forty five seventeen,
dropping Kentucky to five and six. Diego Pavia is on
quite a heater right now. Against Kentucky. He was thirty
three of thirty nine five touchdowns, averaged twelve point four
yards per attempt the last three games, which includes their
(01:25):
loss to Texas and their win over Auburn. He's thrown
in three games for twelve hundred and twenty six yards,
eleven touchdowns and one interception. Now, it was against an
injury depleted Kentucky defense, particularly in the secondary, so they
had a reason to They would not accept the excuse,
(01:46):
but you cut them a little slick. It was the
struggles of the offensive side that were probably more problematic
for Kentucky because with the injuries on the defensive side
and the way pave is playing and Fannas averaging thirty
eighty game one of the best offenses in the country.
I think actually in maybe yards per play, I was
number one. You were going to have to score points
(02:08):
to have a shot to win the game, and Kentucky
had been doing that of late, but not on Saturday,
as they got a relentless dose of blitzing from Vandy.
And we're not able to make them pay for that
and struggled really to move the ball until late when
the outcome was long gone. So Kentucky tries to regroup
this week against Tennessee against Louisville for the Governor's Cup.
(02:32):
Volleyball swept Auburn, the eighth seed at the SEC Tournament
fifteen kills from Brooklyn delay, and we'll take on Tennessee
tonight and that was a bit of a tussle where
they played on that pack the house game not too
long ago at Memorial Coliseum. So Kentucky is against the
balls tonight. And then women's basketball had a big day
(02:53):
on Saturday, number twenty Kentucky went into number twenty one
Louisville and won seventy two to sixty two. But I
think it was a little more convincing than that. Here
was Kenny Brooks after the game as.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
A coach that's trying to learn his team with the
understanding that there's so much possibility, so much just an
ability to go and be a great basketball team. You
just want to see them get better every day. This
game means a lot, it really does, and I think
it's a tremendous opportunity or not only the two programs,
(03:23):
but the state in general to have, you know, this
much recognition for women's basketball, So you know, we take
it very seriously and we love beating in this atmosphere
and this opportunity, and today was really good for us,
and we grew and.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
We went in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Kenny Brooks is transfer point guard. Tony Morgan had her
best game yet nineteen points and seven assists for the Wildcats.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
We're gonna get to a.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Break and get back to chatting with Van Hiles here
and just a bit on our Monday Morning Quarterback show
opening segment a Wildcat News always presented by just Sepies
of Lexington, and they have their barrel pick bullet barrel
pick that is on the way to the restaurant and
you can buy a bottle and take it home. And
they're currently working on their new Russell Reserve barrel pick,
(04:07):
so check those out. When you're at Juseppes, get to
open table and make a reservation sometime today to get
your group together for a night out at Giuseppes sometime
during the holiday season. You will have a fantastic time.
Sit in the lounge area, listen to Dave Hall and
that live jazz music. It is fantastic at Juseppes.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Chafavin coming Monday morning quarterback edition of The Leach Report.
And that means Van Hiles, the former Wildcat d B
and Chicago Bears dB is with us. You can follow
him for on the analysis of Kentucky football at V
Style seventeen and him and you here Van and his
former teammate Anthony White on Wednesday nights at nine on
(04:51):
the Locker sa Van. I thought today we would just
talk about the Bears and how well they're playing.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
That's great, Yes, let's do that.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Look, I was gonna try everything possible in my power
to find a tangent to talk about something besides this
game that was played on a Saturday afternoon. And and
I don't think that's right. I don't think you brought
me on this show talk about for the Mississippi or
(05:22):
University of Houston or even the Bears, or even the Bears.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
No Bears who did win again yesterday, who are doing great?
Speaker 5 (05:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (05:31):
I uh been a.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Bears fan back to Gail Sayers and told somebody the
other day I said, I said, yeah, we're on top
of the division, not sure how good they are, but
that's okay from the top of.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
It doesn't matter exactly.
Speaker 6 (05:45):
That's how you play to win a game that on
your schedule, and they're doing that to a high degree.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
All right, let's get into Kentucky Vandy. This was I
mean for you, you played in the secondary and Kentucky,
I said, last week was kind of like a jinga game.
They just kept taking pieces out and at some point
it was going to collapse, I guess, and they did
on Saturday with what with the matchup with Pavias. So
we'll start on the defensive side. What did you see
(06:14):
in terms of any any way they could have been
able to put up a better fight.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
Unfortunate, Right, this was probably the worst execution of defense
I have seen, probably since Stoops started here.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
When you look at the plays and you.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
Dive into them one by one and you're looking at
it from an objective eye, this was the worst that
they have ever played. There were times where we were
in man the man Will was guarding the same person.
There were times where guys don't understand where to push
their covers to. We're rolling out quarterback and we were
(06:57):
too busy trying to jamb a guy and we're leaving
guys open when and here's the thing, I'm gonna give
you a positive. It was one thing that was great
in this game. And it's funny right now, and think
about it is I said that if we can't prevent
Diego from extending drives with its legs, we will probably
(07:18):
win this game. When you look at the stats, he
had under fifty yards Russian, which I think is probably
the worst of the season. If you'd have told me that,
I would say we won this game. I didn't expect
five hundred yards passing, basically, and that was a issue
with guys just not executing in the back half. It
(07:39):
wasn't even a level of those guys just more talented
than us, and they are making great catches, great route,
great plays. We just did not execute in the back half.
And it's embarrassing for me. I think it's concerning for
the coach's potentially because it wasn't just a young guys.
It was a complete system failure by the seven by
(08:01):
guys who have had a lot of snaps and a
lot of starts.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I can see where that would be more concerned.
If you got guys like a great and as a freshman,
and is you know, been thrown into the fire well
ahead of the plan with all the injuries, and you
could expect some struggles from a guy like that exactly.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
And I'm be honest with you, I think Grayton played
a really good game. Good for the Yeah, because if
you think about it, the I mean the touchdown caught
on him and m zone was a absolute doot. I mean,
he couldn't have played the covers better. It was a
great throw. Great throw beat great defense one hundred percent
(08:39):
of the time.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
That was a great situation.
Speaker 6 (08:41):
Some of the other things were on people whom have
played a lot of snaps.
Speaker 5 (08:46):
These that just should not.
Speaker 6 (08:47):
Happen Week eleven when you have played as much football
as as you have played. And that was the problem
with this defense, is that those guys didn't come ready
to play and maybe what was trying to do too
much because of the of certain players. But in this game,
you can't do that, especially not against that quarterback.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
You know you had.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Earlier in the season when Kentucky was really struggling offensively
first month or so of the season, one of these
discussions and I had you talked about what can happen
on a defense in a situation like that where you
start to try to do too much because you see
the offense struggling and nobody will ever acknowledge that, but
(09:30):
you just feel that and you okay, you have to
make a play. I have to do something. Whatever is
that something that could have happened here, not when the
game started, because they'd been playing well on offense, but
as it was unfolding.
Speaker 6 (09:44):
No, it was it was just man, I would say
this and I can't remember what coach said. This is
that some days it happens you have your bad game.
I mean, these guys are not robots, and for whatever reason,
this was not this on Saturday. Was it's not a
system of old court. The office is doing this and
we got to make plays. No, they were not trying
(10:06):
to do things outside the framework of the scheme, the
play call, et cetera.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
They were just not execution. And exactly it's like.
Speaker 6 (10:16):
They were maybe in a fog, and it'll be something
if we could say or you can ask.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Me, I can say, well, you know what, missus. Least
it seemed like it started like after halftime. No, it
started at the first drive.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
And when you are not on and I'm not going
to say focused, because I think they were focused. But
whatever that was preventing you from playing your best, it
cannot happen next week, and fans have to understand and
there's no excuse, but you do have to understand that
these guys are under heavy stress right now because they're
a student, well they're athlete students. The student is a
(10:52):
part of and sometimes school can play a factor in this.
I don't know what it was, but these guys were
not on their best on Saturday defensive and they got
exposed to the highest degree of getting exposed more of a.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Van Hiles would come right back with the shift gears
talk about on the offensive side for Kentucky's lopsided loss
at Vandy on Saturday. Coming to you from the Clark's
Pumping Shop studio, Return, Refresh and refuel at Clark's this
holiday season.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
It's pretty parent. Probably even halfway through the first quarter.
We need to use tempo, and we couldn't, you know,
we couldn't even get in a rhythm to get it going,
to be quite honest with the end. So I just
felt hats off the Vanderbilt on the job. They did
post a lot of issues got beaten in every facet.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
That was offensive coordinator Bush Hampden. After the Kentucky forty
five to seventeen loss, Aid Vandy were chat with Van
Hiles at v Style seventeen for our Shuffle being Coffee
Monday morning quarterback edition of the Leech Report. On the
offensive side, Van Kentucky got a relentless dose of blitzing
and did not handle it. Well, what did you see?
Speaker 6 (12:03):
Yeah, that's It's another thing now that you have me
thinking about even more, is using the cliche. Maybe the
moment was too big for us, because if you look
at some of the offensive plays, there were plays to
be had, there were touchdowns available, there were.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
I mean the two plays.
Speaker 6 (12:25):
I know I'm not going to describe it well, but
that was a one play where where Cutter had Kendrick
Law wide open. If he throws it to him, it's
a touchdown. On the first third and five. We had
two guys on one. We could not block him. One
guy made the play. It cannot happen. If he doesn't
make that play, that's a first down and now we
(12:47):
get a drive. I think another one when Kazada came in.
The two plays, the first play was definitely defensive passing
offerience as a defensive player, that was the worst of
defensive passing inference, right in front of yes, right in
front of two officials. That was in where there's nothing
(13:07):
else you were looking at.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
That was obvious.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
And the interception if you look at it, if he
throws it to the pyelone in that direction, it's a
touchdown because that safety is city Like those plays. There
were three touchdown plays that could change the momentum of
a game and we just could not execute. And when
you get to a point where you're down by three
possessions at halftime as a defensive player, it's like blood
(13:33):
in the water and you're sharp. You're like, yes, now
they can only do such and such because we got.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
On our offense. When you talk about offense and defense,
we know all of offense can take six to.
Speaker 6 (13:43):
Seven minutes off the clock. So now how many possessions
are they're gonna get? Yes, now they have to pass
the ball. And now that's a time where you can
sit back and do all the anxiety exotic things that
you like to do as a defensive play call.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
And that is what happened in this game.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
It was another thing of execution the players were there,
we just did not make can happen.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, it felt like Vanderbilt kind of came into the plant. Okay,
this is a young quarterback. Let's just come after him
and bring everything we've got and we'll be exposed to
a risk there, but our offense is playing so well.
We'll take that chance because if they score, we can
get it back. And so they just took advantage of
(14:22):
that situation and threw everything at the house and Kentucky
didn't make them pay for that risky strategy.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Yeah, and and we.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
It looked like they blitzed a lot, but they only
blitched a lot because we got put in a bad situation.
I think our average, well we on first down. This
is what that got me when I looked at it.
First down, we had eighty five total yards on first
downs on twenty eight first down plays, Vanderbilt had three
(14:55):
hundred and forty two first first down yard. That's half
of their total yards. They won on first down. And
I'll say this, bandy won on first down on both
sides of the ball, and that was the difference in
the game.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
We got put in.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Situations where it was third and long and what they're
gonna do. They know we're gonna pass the ball, and
they sent pressure.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
In the Auburn when one thing Kentucky was able to
do was if the start of drives make one or
two first downs yep, and get a little field position,
you could maybe open up the offense a little bit
when you get out around the forty. And then if
you did you only make one or two first downs,
then la Ross can punt them back to around their
fifteen or something.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
And that's yep.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
That was totally flipped the other way in this game
for Kentucky.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
That's what we call, I know is a it's a
bad word to some fans. It's called complimentary football. And
we did not play that to any level in this
game at all.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And when you don't do that.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Well against and and it was their senior day and
I didn't know they had that many seniors. I didn't
realize that many seniors. They have a big senior class
with the best quarterback in the conference. And when those
guys are hitting on all cylinders, man, and when that
defense can can can fill the momentum shift. Because we
(16:13):
had chances when when they went forward on fourth down
and we got the shortfield position and we.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Got nothing out of it.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
That really was that was Indeed, there were a couple
of nails put in early in that, but that was
really the final nail. And and that happened in the
first half, which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I couldn't believe when they actually went for that in
that situation. And then exactly if you do it to
take the ball out of Povia's.
Speaker 6 (16:39):
Hands, and because you know what, because there's a lot
of things happened there. They were trying to get too cute.
They had it was his senior year, and I'm gonna
say this, I guarantee you that was his call and
not his call like he just did it without their advice,
But I guarantee you he looked at the coata.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
And said, can we run this play?
Speaker 6 (16:57):
And they got too cute and and it and it
bit them, but.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
We could not capitalize.
Speaker 6 (17:05):
And that was to me, the end of a chance
for us win that game, because in that situation we score,
Now we feel.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Good seventeen seven. You've got a little momentum. You've played
bad in the first half, but you're still in it. Yeah, no,
you're exactly right.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
It kind of felt so that way that play took
all the air off the sideline, and I would say
this with that, Ben said, I said, all out the sideline.
I want to thank all the people the big Blue
nation that came to that game when I saw the
panning of that stadium and man for us to be
where we are now and I have those people travel
down south to Nashville. Man, I really appreciate that as
(17:42):
a former player, because y'all came out and showed that
we still have big support within this program and that
was awesome to see. Sorry, the players didn't play their best,
but thank you for traveling down to watch those young
men play well.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Well said. We are halfway home. We're gonna do one
more segment with Van when we come right back than
here from Coach Skinner, and a little basketball with Ben
Roberts coming up here on The Leacher Report presented by
Bob kat Enterprises. It's the Shuffle Wey Covey Monday Morning
quarterback edition of The Leacher Report. And one more segment
here with Van Hiles. Then we're gonna hear from Coach
(18:15):
Skinner at the SEC Volleyball tournament, they're tearing it up.
Vam UK women had a big win so two Kentucky
teams had very successful weekends.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
The women are doing great. Coach, when you win nine
consecutive SEC championships in the row, when you were the
last team program to win the national championship, and he's
still not getting the amount of.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
Support and praise that he should.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
That guy's is he's the coach in leading the best
program on campus. And Coach Brooks, look when you beat
that team out West back to back years the way
they have beaten them, he is creating a remarkable program
and he's got another recruiting class coming in with highly
(19:08):
ranked players. That is, those are two sports that are
gonna be played in Memorial Coliseum that people need to
go visit the new Memorial Coliseum because those two teams
right there are playing great at the two respective sports
that they are representing this university with women's basketball and
volleyball are doing amazing things right now and they need
(19:28):
all of all support.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Let's shift gears to the Governor's Cup matchup this weekend
and Kentucky faces a Louisville team that is reeling from
three straight losses and pounded at SMU thirty eight to
six on Saturday and did not have their starting quarterback
who's been struggling. So you have two teams coming in
that probably the fan bases on each side are wondering
(19:54):
if their team is gonna be anywhere close to fully
dialed in for this game. So who wants it most?
Is that what determines it?
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Yeah, it's a rivalry game.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
I mean there's a situation where they lost their best
player on offense and Isaac Brown we haven't played. We
haven't played you think about it with a healthy defense
the entire season.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
We lost Waller Game one.
Speaker 6 (20:18):
We have not played with the guys we expected to
be starters but a quarter or two in this season.
So it's gonna be an interesting thing with those two
pair of size of the ball going against each other,
with them losing players and we losing players. It's gonna
be a game of hoom handles the trenches. The best
it's the game of football is one in the trenches
(20:41):
of time. And now it's a chance for both of
those linemen to come back, lick their wounds, figure out
what they did wrong Saturday, and come back and beat
this team. And read this Saturday, because if we dominate
the line of scrimmage like we have done for the
majority of this series the last six to seven years.
We will come out with a dub.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Those two areas. The offensive line. The defensive line for
Kentucky is where they've stayed the healthiest. They've had the
same five out there on the O line all season,
and I think the same until Khalil got hurt up
started Saturday. I think they had started the same three
every every game until then Khalil ended up playing right.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
And I'm gonna just tell you, and I know people
are gonna say that the off the line and play
well offensive line played well enough to win. The defensive
line definitely played well enough to win. What they did
to Diego and how disciplined they were in their assignments
and their past Atlanta assignmons were the best off see
in a long time. So for those two, if they
can play their best on Saturday, I had I feel
(21:46):
highly confident that we win on Saturday. If they don't,
that's when we can have problems.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Do you think Louisville can look at anything on that
tape from Saturday and be able to take advantage of
any of the things Vandy took advantage of.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
They don't have Diego, They don't have Diego. Diego is
the is the starter of that whole program on both
sides of the ball. The level of confidence that he
has permeates through that locker room, and that's the difference
in that team. Louisll does not have a Diego and
since they don't have a diego, the playing field in
(22:24):
the Marsina era for US is greater this week because
they don't have a star quarterback at that level.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That is Van Heiles. It's at V Style seventeen and
you can hear him on the locker on Wednesday nights
on YouTube with Anthony White and also on all the
other podcast platforms, and then we'll be back here mondayta
kind of put a bowl on the regular season and
hopefully be talking about looking ahead to one additional game.
But the van between now and then. Have a very
(22:52):
happy Thanksgiving you and your family.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Same to you. Don't eat too much Rode turkey, boy,
that is good stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
If you have fried tur If you have never had
fried turkey, men, that's good.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Is that what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Oh I have I have this for people who have
Oh yeah, fried turkey is a difference maker with Cajun
season Cajun season Turkey change of Life.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
I like that. Yeah, got a change your life man,
Thank you much.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You two will be right back and here from Coach Skinner,
It's the Leach Report, presented by Bobcat Enterprises.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
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an extra twenty percent off if it's your first order
at corn Bread hemp dot com. Last night, got a
chance to catch up to coach Craig Skinner after they
defeated Auburn at the SEC Volleyball Tournament. They'll play Tennessee tonight,
(24:09):
so let's hear a little bit from Coach Skinner. Connecting
with coach Craig Skinner from down in Savannah, where Kentucky
has advanced to the semifinal round of the SEC Volleyball
Tournament to face Tennessee. Tell us about the win on
Sunday afternoon, coach, and what do you like best about
what you saw?
Speaker 8 (24:27):
You know, I felt like we were pretty sure in
the first two sets, and Auburn you know, started, you know,
putting some pressure on us in second set, and we
responded well. And you know, it's any time your in
tournament situation, it's you know, do or die. And I
thought our team really stayed composed, you know during some
you know situations.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Auburn you know, was really good.
Speaker 8 (24:46):
And then we were able to hit three fifty for
the match and offensively spread spread it out a little
bit and then slowed down the two best hitters on
their team.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
So it was a good day.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Does this tournament help you for the next tournaments?
Speaker 5 (24:57):
I definitely think so.
Speaker 8 (24:58):
I mean, you know, the s he's doing a really
good job. I mean, it's it's a big time environment.
The you know, the athletes are being treated to a
great experience, you know, both ours and all the all
the players and so when you get to the n
CLA tournament, the logos, the media, the you know, all
the extra things that go along with that's not typical
part of your daily prep. You know, it's you get
(25:21):
to feel what that's like and then also know that
you know, if you don't don't get the dub, you
got it, you're going home. So you know, you got
to feel what that's like before you know how to
do and how to respond to it.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
You played Tennessee fairly recently. That was the pack the
house game. What do you remember about that match? What
concerns you for the rematch?
Speaker 8 (25:41):
They're a physical team. They have, you know, ability to
kill the ball and a lot of different positions, a
lot of different ways across in that Star Williams, their
opposite hitter, right side hitter, has really come on the
last few weeks. I mean she's going to be a handful.
Hayden Kubic on the left side, as you know, hits
the ball as hard as anybody in the league. And
the Libarro she's from Turkey, I mean, she keeps everything
(26:04):
off the floor.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
But they're led by a.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Setter who's tough, who's gritty, you know, gets after a
little undersized chip on her shoulder and she makes the
makes the engine turn as they say, and you know,
so be it's gonna be a tough match.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
What about this team?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
You won a national championship with Kentucky with that team
versus this team? Just compare the strengths. For me, each
team has its own strengths and weakness. Is what are
the strengths of this team versus that one?
Speaker 8 (26:32):
That's a good question, you know people have asked. I
don't know if I've come up with a great answer yet.
We're they're all different. But you know, the obvious things
that you see in the Hudson and Delay and the
firepower that they bring allows you some freedom because that
you have them on the left side of the net,
and so when it's not going perfectly, you always have
them available to score. You know, our physicality, uh, you
(26:55):
know with six two six three Delay, Hudson sixty six,
the car or center who's over six feet tall, Kennedy
Washington who touches ten to four, Asia Thickpin on the right,
who's as good an athlete as there is, and then
Jordan Daely coming off the bench. Blockwise, we're different, but
I'd say this team overall, you know, in all positions,
(27:17):
maybe a little bit better defensively. We might have been
a little bit more balanced offensively in twenty twenty. But
both have a, you know, a grittiness to them that
I think is required in a way to be able
to be successful in multiple ways, not just rely on
one thing.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Lastly, did you think it was cruel for your former
player to bust your chops about your hair?
Speaker 8 (27:43):
I mean that came out of nowhere, Leah. I mean
right on the last time you were in this tournam
he had no hair.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
Well, I've had hair in a.
Speaker 8 (27:50):
Long time, so I mean that that s could go
back even before that. But you know, I feel like
it's symmetrical and it does a decent job of wearing
itself even though there's no no hair on top.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
So I own it. We're good with it.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
If only you could make her run now, oh man,
she'd be at the top of Memorial Coliseum hitting those
exit signs on the daily if she was still in
the program. It was Coach Craig scater I should have
done a better job of setting up that question, because
there's some of you that didn't see the interview. It
was with Leah Edmund, his former player. She's was doing
sideline reporting for the SEC Network coverage on at the
(28:28):
volleyball tournament and that was the last question she asked
her former coach about his hair. So it was just
a great moment between the two of them. And Leah
is fantastic. If you've heard her with Dick Gabriel and
some of our UK Radio Network broadcasts of volleyball, she's
a tremendous analyst as well as doing the sidelines work.
(28:49):
Gonna get to a quick break. We'll come back and
visit with Ben Robertson and talk a little bit about
a Kentucky men's basketball they'll be back on the court
Wednesday against Tennessee Tech Leach report presented by Bobcat Enterprises
with four locations around Kentucky. So that's who you google
when you need to find where to find heavy equipment
for a job site day, whether you're buying or renting,
(29:12):
they'll have it and you just google Bobcat Enterprises, you'll
find the one of those four locations that's closest to you.
We'll be right back and a listener sending in a question,
when will the coach Mark Pope radio show begin begin
it is tonight. First edition is coming up tonight. It'll
be after the Coach Stoops Show, so back to back
coaches always this starts. We have two of these the
(29:37):
week of Thanksgiving and then the Monday that follows it,
So Coach Stops first, Coach Pope second six to eight,
and then back from that point on in the second
Monday of December. It'll be Coach Pope every night at
six o'clock, except for the occasional week when we have
to move it for road games that are on Tuesdays.
(29:59):
So we'll get to all that as we come to it. Anyway,
all you need to know is that the first one
is coming up tonight. So two hours of coaches shows
on the UK Radio Network, joined now by Ben Roberts
from the Lexingdon Herald Leader Kentucky sports dot com, where
he covers Kentucky men's basketball. So man I said going
into Friday, there was nothing Kentucky was gonna do that
was gonna make any you know, make anybody feel a
(30:22):
ton better after the Michigan State game. That can come
the next time they're on a big game stage, which
will be next week against North Carolina and then Gonzaga.
But what did you see in the game that was
noteworthy in the win on over Loyola on Friday.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, I mean, one, you're right about that, And yeah,
it's gonna be till Tuesday night before you know, they
can reverse some of the stuff that happens obviously in
New York. You know, one thing, coming out in New York,
a lot of the smartest basketball people I know that
I'm in regular contact with were hitting me up basically
(31:05):
as soon as that game ended, talking about how they
needed to get back to what you know, Pop Pope
knew best and and what Pope did best, and and
maybe go with with more of a small ball lineup. Uh.
And obviously it was kind of necessitated by by Mo.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
Being out with the ankle injury.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
But you know, I think everybody who didn't like what
they saw in New York really liked what they saw
with Cam Williams and there in the starting role and
just the way that team, you know, moved the ball,
moved around on the court, moved off the ball in general,
you know, with until the end there where he had
(31:44):
Beg and Malachi out at the same time, it was
really a lot of four guard lineups. Uh, and it
really looked a lot like Kentucky look last season offensively.
And that's that's whatever. You you know, that's what a
lot of people loved about that team and loved about
Pope coming in. And you know, Mark even acknowledged in
(32:05):
the postgame press conference that's what he's most used to
and that's his that's his comfort zone. Now, you know,
long term, you've got Malachi, You've got bg Mose coming back,
Jaden Quainton's at some point will be back. It's gonna
be it's gonna be a real balancing act to play
that way, I think.
Speaker 4 (32:22):
But you know, I think a.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
Lot of people have suspected that Cam Williams might be
keyt on locking.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
The ceiling of this team.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
And you know, he got a lot of on the
other night, and and and look good in a lot
of different ways.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
Yeah, you saw.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
I think we saw a little flash in the Louisville
game when he came in late. But in this game,
you kind of, I think left thinking, Okay, now I
see what they saw in this guy. And what people
are you know, talking about in terms of, you know,
the next level, Although the NBA guys are probably talking
about mostly just a six ape guy that can shoot
the three, which he even' even isn't doing that well yet. Yeah,
(33:00):
that's still coming. But just he he is very active.
He's kind of like, well really some of what he
saw from Trentoa last year just seems to be around
the ball a lot.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
He does.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
And that's what he was so great at, I felt
like in the Louisville game, and that's obviously what they
needed there with somebody just to come in and give
that energy spark, and you know, he was for those
who hadn't turned it off by that point. He was
obviously a big part in them trying to turn that
thing around and getting it down to four towards the end.
But yeah, I mean, and you know, it's it's also
(33:33):
understandable that it might take him a little longer to
get going in this system. You know, he's playing a
little different role than he played it too, Lane, He's
still a sophomore. You know, six games into a sophomore season,
I think, you know, everybody was probably a little spoiled
by last season's bunch that you know, you had a
bunch of super seniors fifth to your seniors coming in
(33:54):
who were you know, they were also in a new system,
but they were very secure in their game games and
their skill sets and and and you know, three years older,
three years more experience. Yeah, so I think it was
always going to take a little bit longer with Cam,
and you know, I think you're starting to see it.
But to your earlier point, Uh, you know, Cam's got
to do this against Carolina and Gonzaga. These other guys
(34:17):
have got to do this against against Carolina and Gonzaga
for people, I think to really kind.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
Of you know, change their minds on this team.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
They still Mark has said day to day for Jalen
Low at this point. Uh, do you think that's something
that needs to get resolved idea? I guess I say
needs to get resolved that for them to to really
truly move forward, they need some resolution. Do they need
some resolution? Because are they going to play differently if
(34:46):
they know they have low versus if they know they don't.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Yeah. I think Mark's kind of shown his hand there.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
You know, he talked about when when Jalen first went
down in October that a lot of what they were
doing in the summer and fall was kind of tailored
around him, you know, especially offensively and they had to
kind of switch up some of the stuff they were
doing when they were throwing.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Denzel and Colin and Jasper into that role.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So ideally, yes, they would know, you know, what's gonna
happen with him. The reality, I think is more that,
you know, with the situation like that, you kind of wait,
you let it rest, you you don't test it too
much over these next few weeks, and then maybe you
see where he is in late December and see if
he can come back for the SEC schedule. But yeah,
(35:31):
that that really complicates things because obviously while he's out,
he's such a unique player, especially the way this this
particular roster is set up, that you're gonna play differently
when he's out, and then if he can come back
and stay back, you're gonna play a lot differently there.
So yeah, it's not it's certainly not an ideal situation,
(35:53):
but you know, you want him on the court. You
need to have him on the court as another guy
who can kind of break that first line of perimeter defense.
But I don't, you know, from what I've heard, I
don't think there's gonna be any super quick resolution to
that one.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
And then oteya, oh wait, first play of the game,
makes a sharp cut on the baseline to get a
get a pass in a basket. Next time, Down catches
it on the wing, turns down a jumper to get
to the rim, and then it seemed very very active,
engaged defensively, just the I don't know if body language
(36:31):
is the right word, but just to bounce at his step,
I don't know. The look at his eye was all
that was good in this game, even though again it
was Loyola.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Yes and yeah one, he's gonna have to show that
too next Tuesday, but you know, welcome back to my friend.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
That was that.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
I thought that was a great quote from from Pope
after the game, and anybody who watched that and then
watched the first five games had to have seen that.
There was one play in that sequence before the first
TV time out where he just drove the middle and
just threw a just a violent shoulder into his defender
and popped him back about six or eight feet and
hit a jumper and was already back pedaling down the.
Speaker 4 (37:10):
Court before the thing went in.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
And there was just a confidence to him that was
there last season, Like you said, there was a poulay
of step that Yeah, that that wasn't that just wasn't
there for most of those first five games, and even
talking to him after the game, he seemed a little
on edge. It was almost like a guy who I mean,
I think you were on a plane coming back from
New York, but he seemed to me like a guy
(37:31):
who would have liked to have gotten off that plane
when it landed in Lexington at midnight or whatever and
had another go at it.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
It didn't land in Lexington at midnight. He was bugged in.
They've only hitted landed in Lexington midnight. We'd all been
much happier. Thank you, Ben. Yeah, there's a lot of
tom as Ben Roberts from the Lexington Harrold Leader in
Kentucky Sports dot com. We want to remind you about
Chef Being Coffee, longtime partner here on the Leech Report.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
It is a great.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Kentucky company that is all about making the best cup
of coffee. Starts with the best of coffee beans. So
pick some up and give Shuffle Being Coffee a try.
You're gonna love it. Get it for a Thanksgiving weekend.
Everybody's gonna want coffee. Make sure you have shufflebeancoffee. Shufflebeing
dot Us is the company's website. We'll see you tomorrow
on the Leach Report.
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