UK Sports Network Today March 16th, 2024

Andrew Kappes breaks down a day of upsets at the SEC Tournament with Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Alabama all losing. Hear from John Calipari postgame after the 97-87 loss to Texas A&M. Tre Mitchell & Reed Sheppard discuss where the team needs to improve heading into the NCAA Tournment. UK Softball & UK Baseball both pick up a win. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome inside a special postgame edition ofUK Sports Network Today. SEC Tournament quarter
Final round Texas A and M defeatingKentucky ninety seven to eighty seven. On
this special postgame pod, we willhear from coach Cal, We'll get some
player reaction as well, and wewill break this down and what is next

(00:21):
for Kentucky. Of course, thatnext step is waiting for Sunday as we
await the committee's decision on where whatseed the Cats will get, where they
will play, and of course whenthey will play. We just know Thursday
or Friday of next week. UKSports Network Today is always presented by the
Big Blue Brew. You can signup today at ukathletics dot com slash Big

(00:42):
Blue Brew. It's the official newsletterof UK Athletics. It's completely free and
it hits inboxes every weekday morning.Again, that's Big Blue Brew. Ukathletics
dot com slash Big Blue Brew.Let's get into it. On Friday.
It did not take long for thingsto get wild in Nashville at the SEC

(01:03):
Tournament. Top seed at Tennessee,the regular season champion taking on Mississippi State,
a team that was already in thetournament. Big question for them,
coming into the game was if theywould avoid playing on Tuesday or Wednesday in
the quote unquote first four in Dayton. That answer was answered emphatically by Mississippi
State as they move on with aseventeen point victory over Tennessee seventy three fifty

(01:26):
six in a game in which reallythe Bulldogs were never really challenged. Tennessee
had brought it back to within acouple possessions a few times, but they
trailed thirty eight nineteen at halftime enroute to that seventeen point drubbing at the
hands of Mississippi State. And thenAuburn in the second game of the afternoon,
winning by thirty one over South Carolinaeighty six to fifty five. So

(01:49):
in the upper part of the bracket, the top seed already gone. It
was Mississippi State Auburn. In thesemis, the big question was would it
be Kentucky or an m Alabama orFlorida. Unfortunately, Kentucky unable to take
advantage of the craziness of the firstsession when we opened up session number two
as once again your final ninety sevento eighty seven, some numbers that really

(02:12):
popped up to us when discussing thisone in postgame, talking about it with
Jack Gibbons, who saw it upclose and personal their court side, alongside
the voice of the Cats, TomLeach, that eighteen points off turnovers.
Texas A and M conversely took careof the ball in a big, big
way. They only turned it oversix times Kentucky fourteen turnovers turning into eighteen

(02:35):
Texas A and M points. Andthat is a critical number when you lose
a game by ten, when you'reonly able to get four points off your
opponent's turnovers because they took care ofthe basketball so well, and your opponent
turns fourteen of your miscues into eighteenpoints. And then the other thing that
I'm sure that we'll drive the coachingstaff crazy when they see it. Twenty
six second chance points for Texas Aand M only nine for Kentucky. So

(03:00):
overall, the defensive numbers not thatbad, especially when you consider the Cats
outshot Texas A and M. Kentuckywas an even stephen fifty percent from the
field thirty of sixty while A andM was thirty two of sixty nine,
so shy of fifty percent there fortysix percent overall from the floor, but
they did shoot a respectable forty twopercent from three That was eleven of twenty

(03:21):
six, and then they got tothe free throw line thirty times, only
converted seventy three percent. But whenyou get there thirty times, that adds
up to twenty two points for Aand M in their ten point victory.
So Texas A and M entered theday today on the bubble. Most likely
this puts them in the tournament,according to most bracketologists. Of course,
we will know for sure on Sunday. But after the game, Tom had

(03:45):
a chance to catch up with coachCal for his thoughts on both the way
that the Cats played on Friday andthe way Texas A and M played to
move on, Cal, what didyou see? Well, they we weren't
ourselves. I couldn't like. Ikept saying, just pass it, to
pass it. That's when we're outour best, not trying to play just

(04:05):
one on one, and you can'tever get any kind of rhythm going because
not enough guys are touching the ball. Give them credit, they played physical,
they bumped in it, they weregrinding. We rebounded with them,
but they got big rebounds and stickbacks. Their guards scored seventy two on our

(04:28):
guards seventy two. They did thesame thing down there, if you remember,
they scored fifty eight out of ninetydown there. It's something that I
worry about. That's why I workedon a zone because I'm like, if
you can't stay in front of theseguys. And again, let me say
this, we did some good stuffdefensively, and they made it anyway,

(04:48):
you know, so they made itat the rim, but you know,
it's just we we had been playingso well, you just expected. I
think we kind of separated a littlebit, guys who are trying to do
their own thing. But hopefully it'sa lesson that you can't play in this
next tournament that way. I wasgoing to say, how do you account

(05:10):
for what you saw? But isthat kind of where you're headed? I
think so, But you know,and I could have done some things different
too, So I'm not going tojust say it was the kids there.
You know, I could have goneto his own earlier. Just I'm not
comfortable. We haven't played it thatmuch. And again, we were good
for a minute and then we madea substitution. The guy gave up two
threes. I mean, you can'tplay zone that way, you know,

(05:30):
now, you know, just eventrying to get into their legs. We're
in good shape. It's a twobucket, three bucket, six point game.
We missed some free throws, youknow, we're right, and then
they beat us on a bounce andshoot a lamp what I mean, So

(05:55):
we're we're better than that, butit's just it's disappointing. Kat's got great
production from Reed Shepherd, as always, the sensational freshman for Kentucky, was
second on the team and scoring offthe bench with fourteen points. It was
incredibly efficient as well, five ofeight from the floor, three of six
from downtown. Also added three rebounds, four assists, and a couple of

(06:16):
steals in thirty two minutes of action. After the game, we caught up
with Reed Shepherd as well. Imean, you got to give them credit.
You know, they played a reallygood game. They were physical,
you know, they guarded well,but a lot of that was on us
as well. You know, wedidn't play like we normally been playing.
We didn't share the ball. Wekind of we got selfish and try to
make home run plays and just tryingto take over the game by ourselves.

(06:42):
But you know, we'll learn fromit. We'll get better. We got
a bunch of dudes that know howto play basketball, so we'll continue to
get in the gym, watch thegame and learn from it, and then
just get continue to get better.Reed's freshman backcourt mate Rob Dillingham led the
Cats in scoring. Rob had twentyseven points to go along with seven assists
and four rebounds and twenty nine minutesof action. He was five of ten

(07:05):
from deep, one of three doublefigure scorers for the Cats, joining Shepard
and also Antonio Reeves, who hada seven game streak of twenty or more
points snapped thanks to foul trouble.Had to leave the game early in the
first half because of two fouls,and then struggled with foul trouble in the
second half as well. But whenhe was in he was very good as
he always is and efficient. Thirteenpoints on just seven shots. He was

(07:28):
four to seven from the floor,two to four from deep, and eighteen
minutes of action. Again, thoseeighteen minutes because of fouling out of the
game. Those are your three doublefigure scores for the Cats. Eight points
for DJ Wagner, four rebounds,five dimes for him in twenty nine minutes
Adu Thierro a big hat tip tohim. His left hand heavily bandaged.
In fact, to add insult toinjury, he landed on that a couple

(07:51):
of times as well, that heavilybandaged hand. He had seven points,
five rebounds, three blocks, battledthrough that pain in eighteen minutes of play.
Seven points as well for Trey Mitchellwith nine rebounds before fouling out,
nearly a double double for Trey.He is starting to get back into that
form that he had before the backinjury, and at the right time as

(08:13):
well. After the game tray usingthat veteran leadership and talking about what Kentucky
has to look forward to, notjust the days leading up to Sunday where
they find out their seed, fate, and their opponent, but also to
get ready for the next step inthe NCAA tournament. You know, it's
pretty simple. You know, we'renot done yet. That simple, and
we'll get back from the gym,we'll get back to work. We're looking

(08:35):
at the tape. Cult will tellus what we did, what we did
and didn't do, will worked forus, and what we went away from.
But at the end of the day, we have a dude for a
team for the hungry dudes that aregoing to stay in the gym, and
this minor setback is going to motivatea lot of dudes to play that much
harder. Come the tournament. Toptwo seeds are out of the SEC tournament,

(09:00):
it'll be Auburn and Mississippi State inthe first semi final on Saturday afternoon,
while Texas A and M will awaitthe winner of Alabama, who just
reportedly has given a nice contract extensionto their head coach Nate Oates taking on
the Florida Gators. So in thatsemifinal round, the two teams the most
to play for one would think MississippiState and Texas A and M as far

(09:22):
as the bubble goes, But seedingwise, you would think Auburn trying to
improve that seed. You know,their metrics are really good, but they
don't have a lot of signature wins, and ironically enough, Tennessee losing in
the quarterfinal round sort of hurts theirdesire for that, but still Mississippi State
would be a quality victory for BrucePearl's program to try to improve their seed

(09:43):
line, and the same can besaid in the night cap on Saturday for
Alabama. But one thing we doknow, Kentucky will have to lick those
wounds from Friday night in the quarterfinalround loss to Texas A and M and
get ready for selection Sunday. Wewill be back on UK Network Today with
some NCAA Tournament preview episodes next week, so be on the lookout for that

(10:05):
as we get you ready for theNCAA Tournament and one of the greatest days,
if not the greatest day on thecalendar. And just not sure when
whether that will be Thursday or Fridaywhen Kentucky will be kickstarting their NCAA tournament
run. We will know for surejust a little shortly after six pm Eastern
time on Sunday. So once againthe final score from men's basketball Texas A

(10:30):
and M ninety seven Kentucky eighty sevenin the SEC Tournament quarterfinal, turning our
attention to the Diamond here on theUK Sports Network Today podcast presented by the
Big Blue Brew newsletter. Softball gettinga nice win in short fashion run ruling
South Dakota State on Thursday, anda game moved up because of some possible
weather concerns on Friday in the JohnCrop Classic, Kentucky improving to sixteen and

(10:56):
seven with the eight to nothing win, and they got some big offense from
Carissa Hamilton. She went one fortwo with three runs knocked in, including
her fourth home run of the year. Peyton plots two for three In the
cleanup spot, she smacked her fifthlong ball home run of the season,
and the All American Aaron koffl onefor three. On the afternoon, she

(11:18):
had her ninth double the All Americanshortstop shortly after breaking, of course,
the home run record. We hopeto have her here on the UK Sports
Network today rather shortly to talk aboutthat record and of course the high flying
season the Cats are having so faron the softball diamond. But Sidney Langdon
fantastic inside the circle. She wentfive innings, only allowed one hit,

(11:39):
did walk three, but struck outfive to get the win for Kentucky,
who improves to sixteen and seven.And of course, the John Crop Classic
continuing all weekend long. The schedulea little bit altered because of weather,
so Cats just played that loan againstSouth Dakota State on Thursday. They'll take
on Columbia at three pm on Saturday, and then Ohio State at five point

(12:01):
thirty on Saturday night, and thenthey'll repeat that feat in the afternoon on
Sunday, Columbia first, then OhioState on Sunday to wrap up the John
Crop Classic. Kentucky Baseball welcoming ina ranked opponent this weekend to Kentucky Proud
Park Is they kick off SEC play, the Cats, entering with a record
of fourteen and three, welcoming innumber twenty five Georgia and the Cats won

(12:24):
a wild one on Friday night,sixteen to ten, overcoming an early four
to nothing deficit at the hands ofthe Bulldogs to move to one to oer
an SEC play fifteen and three overall, I mean, just a bunch of
great offensive performances. How about NickLopez Three hits for him, including a
couple of runs knocked in his battingaverage now at four fifty three. It's

(12:46):
been a fantastic start for him inhis University of Kentucky career. And Ryan
Waldschmidt getting healthier by the day.A three hit performance from him, He's
three for four with a couple ofdoubles, two runs knocked in, also
walked, so he was on fourtotal times in his batting average now sitting
at three sixty two. One ofthe other offensive stars as well, Nolan

(13:09):
McCarthy. He was a man thathomered his first long ball of the season
on Friday night, McCarthy going twofor three with that home run and two
RBIs. But the Cats also gothome runs from Lopez his second Mitchell Daily
his loan hit one for four onthe afternoon, but he made it count
his second long ball of the year. Bulldogs hit three home runs in their

(13:31):
ten run output, but just toomuch Kentucky Wildcat offense as the Cats knockoff
Georgia to get a ranked victory andtheir first SEC win in SEC Game number
one. Always great to get thatfirst one out of the way on Night
one of conference play. After thegame, Nolan McCarthy one of those guys
that went yard for the Cats,with his thoughts gone, it's really good,

(13:52):
really good for the mental knowe likewe're a good team. This is
a really good test for us andit expires them two hours at midnight.
That's what coach Mine always says.So it's a new game tomorrow and we
got to we gotta come out andearn it again. Speaking of coach Bne,
we were able to catch up withhim as well briefly after the victory
over Georgia, a very happy coach. I'm sure with Kentucky now standing at

(14:13):
one to zero in SEC play andoff to a fantastic start as we sit
here in the middle of March.No, that team is scary. They
could come back at any point intime. But I thought Johnny Hummel came
in, thought he did a greatjob. I loved what Cam O'Brien did
there in the ninth to steal it, you know so I thought those guys
threw the ball well and got uswhat we needed. And you know what,

(14:35):
at this point, just happy wegot to win. I thought we
had great at baths. I thoughtWaldy had great at baths all day,
Pete Burks Lopez daily had great atbaths. Nicholson, we just had a
bunch of guys that were just committed. I thought Ruben had a good good
some good at baths. There wasjust a total team effort. And thought
ol McCarthy played great. I thoughthe made, you know, a good

(14:56):
play, huge homeron We mentioned softballin action on Saturday and early part of
Sunday as well, against Columbia andOhio State, respectively. Baseball continues their
series against number twenty five Georgia.The first pitch on Saturday at the Kentucky
Proud Park two o'clock. Darren Hedrickwill be on the air across the UK
Sports Network with pregame coverage at oneforty five as the Cats go for a

(15:20):
series victory clinching game that would setup a possible sweep on Sunday. That
finale at one o'clock and again theJohn Crop Classic continuing at John Crop Stadium
for UK softball against Columbia and OhioState on both Saturday and Sunday, and
of course on Sunday six o'clock Easterntime, it'll be selection. Sunday a

(15:41):
little after six, we'll have anidea of where exactly Kentucky will be going
and when they'll be playing and whothey'll be playing on Thursday or Friday in
the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Look for this week as we'll have
some previews across the UK Sports Networkdifferent platforms, but here on US UK
Sports Network today as well to getyou all ready and all set for whether

(16:04):
that's Thursday or Friday. Is theCats now embark on their journey in the
NCAA tournament for everybody at the UKSports Network. I'm Andrew Kappus saying thanks
for tuning in to UK Sports Networktoday, presented by the Big Blue Brew
Newsletter, and we'll talk to younext time.