KSR - KSR Postgame UK MBB at Louisville 11/11/25

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 96-88 loss at Louisville.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You can give the shout. We'll take your calls beyond until probably about 1230, maybe a little later, 859-280, 2287. It was a game that Kentucky obviously at one point was down 20, came back, cut it to a four, had free throws to cut it to a one possession game, end up losing by eight. Looks like Vegas may have known something with that move to six and a half on the spread. But there are really two ways to look at this game. You can look at the first 30 minutes, you could look at the last 10. I'm going to spend, I think, most of the time talking about the first 30. because that was really what made the game.

But I will say in the last 10, Kentucky showed a lot. One thing I am positive about is that they made that a game down the stretch, and they made it a game. I think most people I thought we were about to get lost by 25, and they made a game, and, you know, with three minutes to go, had a shot. So I like the heart. I thought the team played with effort all night. I mean, I, Billy, I stayed in the gym for the first half and then left it after.

before half time? A couple minutes before half time. Just because, you know, you get a sense. And the arena there was super loud. I mean, that was a heck of an environment. But I did think Kentucky played with effort. I agree with what Mark Pope said. They played with a lot of dumb effort, a lot of it.

But the problem occurred really for me on offense in two stretches. There's a period. I think we went up like 13 to 8, maybe. maybe, and then we were down, I don't know, 27 to 10. So there was a run there where I think they maybe went on like a 19 to 2 run. And Kentucky shot selection on offense was so terrible during that period. I mean, very little movement, bad decisions, wrong guys taking shots at wrong spots. And during that period, Louisville's getting out in transition and Kentucky had no chance.

The transition defense for Kentucky tonight was about as bad as I've ever seen Kentucky do it, especially in those first 30 minutes. I mean, they would get back on defense in transition, and they would get out of sorts, and then Louisville didn't necessarily get a ton of layups, you know, off transition, but like one or two passes in Kentucky would be completely discombobulated, and you'd get a wide open three. And that happened over and over and over. and the stat that decides the game is Louisville has 20 assists and six turnovers, which

considering the pace they play, to only have six turnovers and scored 96 points is pretty amazing. And two of them were offensive fouls. So like four turnovers is, I mean, kudos to them. That's pretty impressive. But we had, you know, we had 14. And then they have 20 assists and we have 14. So you're losing right there. You don't have to tell me any other stat. If you tell me that one team has 20 assists and six turnovers and the other one's 14 and 14, I mean, you know who wins the game right there. But I was really disappointed with the defense.

Honestly, 32 minutes. Last eight minutes, they played pretty good defense. We got some help with all the free throws they missed at the end. But just terrible. Wrong guy. I mean, guys got switched and either. A, they went under the screens. You gave these great shooters, open looks going under the screens.

That's just a work hard thing. Switches were late. Two guys going with one player, leaving a guy open. I mean, they did not communicate well. They let themselves, and most of that I put on the players. Now, one thing I would put on Pope is that, and they changed this in the last eight or ten minutes, but they let them switch, Mikhail Brown and the kid from Zell. savior on to Lowe, play after play.

And I like Lowe. I think Lowe's good. We'll talk about him in a minute. But his weakness is defense. And it's going to be defense. It's going to be all year. Like he's not a great defender. And you got a scheme around that.

You cannot let McHale Brown, who is awesome, who is going to be an NBA star, in my opinion. You cannot let him get switched off on Lowe over and over and over. That's what Chuck Eiffburn did to Lowe last year when he was at Pitt. So, I mean, Louisville knew what they were doing, and we stopped that in the last eight minutes by not by, you know, basically saying Lowe would always take the switcher. But I don't know how it took so long for that to happen. That was a real issue throughout the game. McKell Brown's first half was unbelievable, but as good as he was, that's not why we lost. We lost because we gave other guys open looks, and they knocked him down.

fundamentally going forward, I'm a little concerned about the makeup of the team. And here's why. For Kentucky to be good this year, I mean, like really good. I think they're good now, but to be really good. They got to get great play from the point guard. I think that's going to be mostly low, but Aberdeen can do it too. And I thought in general they gave that until the final three and a half minutes when I do not think low was good.

Aberdeen was great. Aberdeen was great the entire game. Most of the time playing off the ball, but even on the ball. He was excellent. He's better than I thought, and so he's going to be a rock. So you've got to get really good point guard play. I think Kentucky got to have 80% of the game. You've got to get, O-A has got to be O-A.

Always got to give you 14 to 17 every night, rebound, play defense. O-A just does not look right to me. Now, I know he still had, what, 12 points, but he shot the ball poorly. He's taking different shots. He's not going to the basket. He's not doing the things, drawing contact, the things he did last year. And I know his shots never been great, but it looks off off. I watched the team warm up shooting threes.

I got there really early, so I sat and watched them. And they didn't shoot well during warmups, and OA in particular, I mean, with no one on him, was shooting poorly, and I thought, man, I hope he doesn't shoot like that during the game. He just doesn't look right to me. Now, he's coming off an injury. Maybe that is part of it. But I don't know. He just doesn't look like the away we had last year.

And I've said this a lot. He cannot be our best offensive player. If he is our best offensive player, we're not going to be very good. But he has to at least do his thing every game. and he just hasn't looked right to me at the start of this season. But more fundamentally, when we play teams like Louisville, I don't know about the bigs how we're doing it right now. Our starting lineup, in my opinion,

might be the worst lineup that we put out there some. Because we put three guys on the floor right now who can't shoot. When you put O.A. Diabate and Garrison on the floor together, I mean, you can tell me all you want O'A and Garrison and can shoot, but unless always making them, Diabate cannot shoot. And I worry, listen, Diabate's a great player. He hustles. He is a good defender.

But I don't know if he's a Mark Pope 4 because he gets that open look in the corner. And I don't know who feels like that's going in. And I will note, as much as I love the kid, we made the run at the end of the game, he wasn't really in. He didn't really play those last eight minutes. and I think it's hard to score with him on the floor if you're going to put Garrison on with him. I don't think you can play those guys together. I think they're going to have to figure out a different rotation.

Maybe you play Diabate with Moreno or you play. I think we're going to have to play four shooters and a big sum. And I don't think that's how this roster is built, but that's when we look the best. We looked the best when Cam Williams came in and you were running three of low Aberdeen, O.A and Chandler, Cam at the four, Moreno or Garrison at the five. That's when we looked the best. That's when we made a run. And I don't know what that means for some of these other guys. I thought Yelovich played well in the first half. Maybe he could have played a little more in the second. I'm not sure. But you just, right now it feels like a lot of pieces that just don't really fit.

And we do not have a great player. I don't think we have a great player. I think we got a lot of really good players, but I don't know if we have a great player. And in a situation like that, it becomes imperative that you have the right guys in in the right sequences. And it just didn't feel like we had that for a lot of the game.

So going forward, we're not going to play too many teams that are as efficient offensively as Louisville. I look at our schedule. Probably Alabama is the only one we're going to to play that'll be as efficient offensively as them. And it was an amazing environment. I mean, that is one of the better non-conference road environments I've been to.

So kudos to them for that. I've been in that arena a lot, not in the last few years, but even back in the old days, like they would have good environments, but I thought for whatever reason they seemed particularly amped tonight. But our defense has to be better. And our shot selection and periods of time has to be better. And I do think Mark's got to be better in figure in like game planning this stuff. Kelsey, Kelsey was better prepared for 30 minutes.

Now, I do think Mark adjusted. And I actually think Mark, he got low to where he didn't have to guard these penetrators at the end. He took out Diabate. I thought in the last 10 minutes, but it took too long. That took too long. And for moment one, it was clear what Kelsey's game plan was. Get in transition, get low, isolated, and make Kentucky's bigs have to guard their guards. And we weren't able to do any of those three things.

And it feels like it took Pope a long time to counter all that. And then when we did, we played pretty well. But by that point, it was too late. A couple things down to stretch. Low was not good down the stretch. I still like him being in there. I mean, I think sometimes we take for granted with him and Aberdeen how much movement they create.

Lo's got to be bad. He can't, like, jump up and then not having one to pass two. And, you know, he took a couple four shots. I didn't like his transition three. But go back and look at the plays when he wasn't in and look how stagnant we look. So I still like him. But he's got to, at the end of games, he can't, this isn't pit where he's, you. you have to take every shot at the end of games.

Create the shots and then kick out. And if you go back and look at the play where he got fouled when it was a four-point game, Billy, I don't know if you saw it. Well, you're listening on the radio. But they called the foul, but he was kicking it out to a wide-open calling Chandler in the corner. I wish they hadn't called that foul. Chandler was hot. Chandler was open, wide open in the corner, and he was passing to him.

And if they don't call that foul, Chandler has a wide-upin-three. Maybe it's a one-point game. Lo's got to make that. He's got to be smarter down the stretch. But I need more from O.A. I need more from Garrison. And I also need, like, better decision-making. Because Kelsey's a good coach.

He outsmarted us for a lot of the game. And, you know, Pope got there, but it just took too long. 859-280-22-87. We will take your calls. Congrats to the cards on the win. Big shout out to the BBN that was there. There wasn't a lot of BBN in the lower level. but if you went up top, there was a lot of Kentucky fans,

which means a lot of y'all bought tickets. Some of you're probably driving home. It's a shame we didn't get the win, but you guys definitely, definitely showed out. We'll take a break, take your calls. Cards, get one in the rivalry, and it's frustrating. We'll be right back. It's the local toy dealers, KSR Postgame Show.

Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR Postgame Show. 859-280-2287. On the text machine, one person writes, Matt, why do you sound concerned about lineups now when after Purdue we thought we were going to be elite? Well, it's a matchup thing. I mean, we don't have a lot of really good players. I'm not sure we have a great one.

We'll see, but I kind of, I think we have a lot of really good ones. I think we have a couple that are really, really good college players. But matchups are going to matter with this team because we don't have a dude like McKell Brown. They got a guy that even if nothing else is going right, and for tonight they had other things going right too. But if nothing else is going right, you can give the ball to him and he can go get you buckets. I don't know that we got that guy,

although Aberdeen played really well tonight. I'm not sure that we've got that guy. So matchups are going to matter, and we match up really well with teams like Purdue. I think eventually we'll figure out how to play against teams like Georgetown as well. but you know remember last year teams have played like Louisville we couldn't beat we could not beat

Alabama we could not beat Auburn and we could we beat Tennessee but we struggle with Tennessee I kind of wonder like is this going to be like this too and it shouldn't be because we're very athletic but I just Pope seems to have built this roster around having two bigs and I think when you play teams like

Louisville if our two bigs are not going to be able to shoot then you can't play too bigs. Maybe Malachi. We talked about somebody said the best lineup might be Oway, Aberdeen-Loe-Merano Diabate. I could see that. Somebody just sent me, Billy, that lineup played 70 seconds together tonight.

That's it. I would have been interested to see if they had played the more together. And maybe even you substitute Diabate for Cam Williams or Colin Chandler, but I don't think we got a lot of that lineup. I just, I'm, unless O-Awe starts hitting shots consistently, I don't think you can play Diabote and Garrison together. I just don't. I just don't think, I don't think you can get the offense and I don't know if you can even get the defense against the team of guards. All right, who's up first?

Edward. Edward. Go ahead, Edward. Hey, Matt. I was at the game tonight. Shout out Cam Williams and Denzel Aberdeen for a really solid game, first of all. Would it be already if I gave like just too small, quick. thoughts in a vacuum about hope. I mean, I'm very appreciative of him. I think he's a great coach.

I think he's the coach for us. But here's where I get concerned. Last year, I called into his postgame show with Tom Leach and asked, Mark, you've coached for 15 years, what makes a good defensive team? Because, you know, a knock on him besides the tournament stuff going back to last year was he's never really built an elite defensive unit. Main points were versatility, lengths, and playing connectively or just playing together, communication, all that. I just, nothing I've seen so far, even though we built this roster around some of those physical attributes, I'm just a little concerned watching the ball screen defense. And I understand that's a very elite back court.

One will probably, we won't face too many of those, probably, right? But just being at the game and watching some of those flare screens and how they're wide open, missed assignments, trying to go over and letting McNeely, a Comwell or Mackell get a free shot. It was just frustrating. I think that's a great analysis. I'll let you do your second one in a second, but I think that's a great analysis.

I think he's right. That's a way to be elite defensively is to have length communication and athleticism. He clearly built this roster trying to do that. Every player on this roster, especially the ones he brought in, except low, that's what they are, right? But they didn't look like it.

And I guess what I would say is if you're going to sacrifice what is your, and by your, I mean Pope's signature kind of player, which is a guy who could knock down threes regularly, if you're going to sacrifice that to get these defensive guys, I understand that decision. But they better communicate well and they better play defense. And that didn't happen tonight. So you sacrifice some of the shooting and you're not making up for it on the other end. That's a recipe to lose.

Yeah, no, I think you're spot-on. And I mean, I think Louisville was doing, especially in the first half, something, especially when we went in that little lull of offense that you were describing in the middle of the first half, they were doing something that we should have been doing. They were blitzing low every time they came off the screen. Yes. And they would essentially have a double for about a second or two, and the roller would be open every time. So we kind of played into their game. We're jacking up threes, taking some weird mid-ranges, like forcing things. And I don't think offense was the problem here.

I think it's mainly a defensive thing. I agree. We scored 88. I mean, it's easy to forget we scored 88. And against most teams, when you score 88, you ought to win. So I, now, granted, we hit threes at the end, but you know what? We missed a bunch earlier, so it was time for us to hit some. You score 88, you ought to win, and I appreciate the call.

That was a good call. The defense is the issue for me. I mean, it's just, it's so bad. And it was so bad. And I'm really disappointed. And I thought our bigs were particularly bad defensively. I mean, you have to know that if Jalen Lowe's playing, you're going to have a defensive weakness. But I think he makes up for it on the offensive end.

But you have to cover up that weakness. And not only do they not cover it up, some of our guys played even worse defense than him, it felt like. I mean, I hate to keep picking on him, but I don't know what Oway was doing a lot of the game. I was like, I think that's the worst I've seen him play. And I don't know why. That should have been like his. He loves these environments. It was really odd to me.

That's the worst I've seen him play. I really do think that's the case. Who's next? Skyler. Skyler, go ahead. Yeah, I'm going to talk to you again, Matt. Picking up on what you just said, I think Otega plays with, as the kids would say, a nonchalant nature right now.

and we really need him to wake up and dial it in. I wonder why that is. I agree with you, Schuyler, but I wonder why that is, because I would have never said that about him last year one time, right? And I felt like that in the Georgetown game. I think that was the Georgetown game. And I felt like that now. That is a good way to put it, and it just doesn't really seem like him.

Yeah, yeah, he had a drive and a drive. edge and a chip on his shoulder last year that I hope I hope returns maybe preseason SEC player of the year kind of can linger in the back of your mind. I'll just say this to I'll just say to I was I have not thought about Louisville for years and didn't didn't know what team they were even bringing in. I was actually impressed a little bit with the intensity that they brought to the game. They fought really hard. So kudos to them. I think I don't know if our guys were prepared for that or not or surprised by that. that's what I'm saying, that nonchalant nature by Otega, even in his response to the prior comment,

kind of bled into that first 20, 30 minutes. And maybe the question I have is, where do you see Trent Noah fitting into this? Yeah, I don't know. We did miss some key rebounds at the end of the game. We did. That I'm hoping Jaden can pick up where Malachi kind of got bullied around a little bit. I'll hang up and listen. A little bit.

I thought some of those, appreciate it. I thought some of those rebounds at the end, were just like Louisville actually shot bad threes and the shot was so bad that they got their own rebound. Sometimes you can't really help that. I think that happened a couple times on those possessions. Yeah, I think nonchalance the word. Also, by the way, the best our offense looked,

except at the end when we started running and hit threes, was at the beginning when Lowe and Aberdeen were in there together and they were penetrating and giving it to the bigs for dunks. And I thought they did a great job. And then Louisville basically, they started doing what the caller said. They blitzed low. He would get the ball. He wasn't able to pass to the bigs.

And then we would get to the secondary guys. And again, not to keep picking on him, but O'Way would get the ball. And it would be just like he would die in his hands. And I don't really know why that happened. Colin Chandler, by the way, becomes the first Kentucky player to hit four threes, Billy, in his first three games in the season. Is that right? That's according to Corey Price.

I think that's what the stats hit. Well, they needed him. He hit some big ones. He hit some big ones. I wish he'd gotten to take that one in the corner. Who's next? Michael. Michael.

Go ahead, Michael. Yeah, I just have two quick things for you, Matt. I think number one, and again, you know, this seems to be, obviously we only have last season and now predicated this season. But it is clear, again, that we do not have just that player. like a like a Walter Clayton, like a Maciah Brown, like a, you know, Shabazz Napier, like a Kimba, like that can just go and just take over a game. In college basketball, you need that. But I don't know how you get, like you can't, you can't just, well, okay, everybody's going to keep bringing up the $22 million. But what I would ask you is who is who was in the portal that's that guy.

Okay, I think there was. They had them and they lost them. Who? The guy that went to the one they lost. where do you go to Indiana or? You're talking about Lamar Wilkerson? Yeah, whichever the one that we really want. He's not that dude.

I mean, he's a great shooter. I'd love to have him. I actually think, but he's not that dude. The only dude that was in the portal, the guard that was like that to me is Donovan Dent, and we just got outbred by UCLA. I mean, they came in at the last minute. He was that dude.

But I actually think after him, there wasn't one of those guys. And so one of the things about living by the portal is there's going to be in the portal there's going to be a lot of guys like denzil aberdeen or diabeti who are going to be great players to bring in who can be parts of your roster but you're you're right you i think most teams need that guy and the problem is we don't have that guy but they also don't grow on trees which means you probably have to go get them in recruiting or develop them now right think about Pope's first class.

There wasn't that guy to develop. Maybe one day Colin Chandler will be that. I don't know. Maybe Jasper Johnson will be that. But we have not been able to get that guy in recruiting yet. You hear me talk about a lot. When's he going to get his elite guy? I'm kind of talking about when's he can get his Mikhail Brown.

Maybe it's Stokes this year, right? Maybe we'll see. But you're right. We don't have that guy. But you also, those guys don't grow on trees. That's true. And then just the last thing I have is, like you said before, like you said already, just to reiterate and to bring it home is this team is not like I think last year's team would outshute this

team blindfolded. And if you're going to sacrifice the shooting, then you better well, again, not to bring up the $22 million, but you better well have a defense. And I know you built this defense to face to face the gauntlet of the SECC season. But you built this defense for tonight. Just to be clear, you built this defense for teams like this. Okay? This is why you built this defense.

Like, take last year's team. Last year's team would have beaten like Georgetown. They wouldn't have lost to a team like that. But last year's team would have had a real hard time with this Louisville team. Like, because they wouldn't have been able to guard anybody on the team. So you built this team to kind of beat teams. like this Louisville team, but you got to go do it, right? Like you can't build a team to play defense like that and then not switch and do all the

things they did tonight. I agree. Thanks. Appreciate it. He's right. If you're going to sacrifice the shooting, then you can't give up all the open looks we gave tonight because we gave a lot of open looks. And to be fair, we gave a lot of open looks in some of these other games.

I'm really surprised. Like, they were so good defensively. against Purdue, but maybe that's just because Purdue can't beat them off the dribble. These teams that are doing these high ball screens, like, we're struggling. Last year's guys weren't athletic enough to do it. This year's guys are athletic enough. They're just making terrible decisions. Who's next?

Todd is next. Todd. Go ahead, Todd. Oh, Matt. I thought Louisville was the best team tonight. I hate to say that. For sure. They definitely look like the best team, and we did make a couple of wonderful comebacks.

But have you looked at the full box score yet? I did, but what are you talking about specifically? Well, it's just, it seems so even. I think we out rebounds. Except the turnover is to assist. That's the difference. You're right. Everything else, like, like, let's just take your point.

Like, if you look at everything else, okay, rebounds. 42, they had 40, assist is 20 to 14, but the turnovers is a big difference. Field goal three point percentage, they were 35%. We were, let's see, we were 33. We were 35, I think. Yeah, exactly. We were 35, they were 32, 47 percent field goal 45 for them. So you're right, but that assist to turnover ends up being the big difference.

Yes, and I was trying to. find points off turnovers to see if that might have been. They don't put that in the box score, but I saw that on social media. I have it here. What is? Kentucky had 10 points off turnovers. And what? What in Louisville have? 19. Yeah. I mean, that's, and guess what? We lost by eight. So, you know, there you go. They shot, they shot nine more, they hit nine more free throws, I think, than we did. The fouls were about the same, but they shot like 31 free throws. where we shot, what, 16? Yeah, we was 12 but 16.

Yeah, they missed a lot. Well, some of that's skewed because we were fouled them at the end, right? So, like, some of that, they had more free throws in part because we kept foul on them at the end. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I appreciate the call. I think the assist of turnover is a big deal. But early in the game, the problem was they'd made a bunch of threes and we didn't. Now, we kind of caught up to that at the end.

And so the disparity doesn't look as bad as it did with 10 minutes left. What's interesting, Billy, is we got down 18 in the first half, came back, cut it to five, I think. And then we got down 20 in the second half. Because we made two big runs in the first half and the second half. And Louisville scored on all three of their first possessions in the second half. I mean, you're pulling your hair out. You think the game's over.

That was a huge. It came back. The two, there were five-minute stretches. that caused us to lose that game. That stretch I mentioned where it was 13 to 8, and then it became 27 to whatever. And then the stretch there in the second half, where they went from,

I think they went from up 8 to up 20 in about a minute and a half. But still, we had a shot. We had a shot. But they were the better team. Had we won, we would have stolen it, basically. Let's do one more. And where of Kentucky would have? have been without Aberdeen tonight. I mean, he was

a lot. Aberdeen had 26, but in my mind, I would say he was made, like what Aberdeen did is what I think Lowe should, or excuse me, O-Way should have been doing, right? I'm not saying he should have had 26,

but I'm saying like, Aberdeen played like the player that I am hoping O-Way is. And Lowe, I mean, I'm going to be an apologize for Lowe because I just think when he's not playing and this team really struggles on offense. But he's got to be better down the stretch.

He was pit low the last three and a half minutes, and we don't need that. I think he did it because he was such a big part of us coming back. But then once it was a four-point game, now we need you to be the point guard that we brought you. We don't need you to be pit-low. We kind of needed you to be pit-low when we were down 20. But once we cut it to four, now we need you to be –

that free throw was big. I mean, listen, man, point guards, you've got to hit free throws. One more. Who's next? Dave. Dave. Go ahead, Dave. Hey, Matt.

As a UK fan who lives in Louis, it was a brutal night. Just, I was everywhere I wore my Kentucky shirt today, gas station everywhere. I ran everybody like, go cards. And it was just like, gosh, you guys, would be in Chesky. And, you know, they have a good team. But I guess I'll just say, you know, it's been a long time. You guys, welcome back to the robbery. And you've been gone along.

long time. So I just need some advice on how to deal with these Louisville fans that I work with and they're surrounded by. They're going to be brutal. I mean, they're going to be brutal because this is like, you know, I mean, this is their biggest win in a long time, certainly since COVID. But it's probably one of their biggest wins since before that. You know, you're just going to have take it. Like, we, I mean, a lot we can do about it. I mean, they beat us. And, uh, they were better and, you know, they have, they're going to be excited about McKale Brown. He's going to be explosive for them. And they're really good.

Now, I think they're going to have a problem later. I don't think their bigs are very good. Okay. So I do think they're going to have some problems when they play physical teams, like really physical teams. I think they're going to have some problems because I don't think their bigs are very good, although they do pass well. Yeah.

Their guards are great. I mean, Cromwell and McHale Brown are great in the third. kid the kid from Virginia is a good. They're good. I mean, they're good. But we are built to win games like this. He constructed this roster for games like this, and it's disappointing. I think the reason he sounded so sad in the post game is in part we lost to Lul. But in part, he really created a team to win games like this. And not only did we not win, we not win, we kind of got run most of the game. Yeah, well, it's still early.

So, you know, let's see what happens. Got a long season ahead of us, and hopefully we'll maybe see them in the tournament. Yeah. All right. I appreciate the call. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Michigan State. Because I think Michigan State will play a lot like Georgetown played us.

They're going to be physical. So we're going to need, I mean, that's a different set of weaknesses. So it'll be interesting to see what happens in that game. But we won't get another team like Louisville until, well, St. John's a little bit like that. We'll get another kind of test like that with St. We'll take a break. 859-2-80-2287. We'll take a break.

Be right back. Local toilet dealers, KSR Post-Game Show. Welcome back. It is Local Toy Dealer's KSR Post-Game Show. 859-280-2287. One person writes, Matt, you sound way too negative. We're going to be fine. Well, I mean, we can be fine.

I still think this team has a roster to be really good. But some things will have to change. obviously. And we'll see if they do. You know, Kentucky did have a chance. People reminded me of getting Caleb Wilson who went to Carolina. He could have been that guy. He's got to get one of those guys in the recruiting class.

He's got a chance at two or three of them this year. He needs to close on one. And it hasn't happened yet. Stokes would obviously be one, but there are others. Christian Collins, I think his last name is Holt. I don't know the recruiting class as well as I used to, but they got to get one of those guys. Pat Kelsey

dislocated his finger celebrating he was giving high-fives and got it stuck on a curtain and he said it bent 90 degrees Oh wow So He's such a dork

But he did a good job I mean he had a great game playing tonight And they executed it well Who's up next? Jordan Jordan go ahead Jordan Yeah Matt Of all the things I'm disappointed with

I have to be honest Brandon Garrison probably tops the list. Defensively, it's like he's lost on everything. His defense on the pick and row, he's always in the wrong spot. A lot of those flyers screens, if you watch, a lot of times because Garrison is kind of getting out of position, and when they kick it over the wing, our guy from the corner would have to come up and help and just throw everything up. Totally agree with you.

I think I thought in the first half, he was really bad defensively. I think it got a little better in the second half. But in that first half, you're right. He was, I would say, three or four of their open looks are directly attributable to his screwing up something on a switch. And it's almost like, I know you guys have talked a lot about that second year leave with Pope, but it's almost things like Garrison's kind of regressed or at least said the same because a lot of the mistakes he was making last year.

It's like he's making them this year. You would have hoped to have seen improvement from O.A. and Garrison, right? Right. And because those are our two main returning guys that got a lot of minutes. And so, yeah, it is a little disappointed. I just, you know, with Louisville's big, I know you'd mention that they're not very good. And unfortunately, Garrison, in a lot of ways, made them look very good. I just don't know this team.

Hopefully, Quentin comes back and is okay. But if we're having to rely on Garrison for a lot of minutes, I just don't know if we can reach that potential that we need to. Yeah, I agree. I think Moreno, I appreciate the call, is potentially more of a starter. And, you know, probably the person that stayed in front of Mikhail Brown the most were on two plays. Yellovich got switched on him. He actually.

He didn't look bad. He actually played, stayed in front of him both times. I was like, well, I'm surprised Yelovich didn't get a few more minutes in the second half. but I do think Pope was, I mean, Cam Williams doesn't even get in the game until eight minutes to go. So Pope was clearly trying to find

what is going to work. And it just wasn't. Garrison defensively, though, in that first half, that tape is not going to be kind to him when they look at that in practice. What's next?

Aaron. Aaron, go ahead, Aaron. Hey, Matt. You know, I was at the game tonight, and I thought that's probably got to be the most electric that the Yom Center has seen in quite some time. Oh, for sure, for sure.

I mean, they've had great atmospheres in the last few years, but then, like, they get killed at the beginning and it goes away, like against Duke. But tonight was great. I mean, I was there the whole first half, and it was as loud as I've seen it in a decade. Yeah, it was crazy, and I know that was kind of our first rude test, so I feel like maybe that was a part of it, but it also doesn't help that it felt like in the first half,

if they were little was shooting like, you know, NBA 2K shots from free. It felt like

they could not miss. I'm not super worried about this game, but at the same time, I did feel like, was this the game for Pope to really kind of play around?

I don't really think that he was playing around totally with lineups, but it felt like he had a lineup at the end of the game that could have worked, and I'm kind of like,

why did we wait? It took him a long, long time, not just to put in Cam Williams, but to decide to go with one big. And I don't know. I think we're going to have to do that a lot this year. I think the strength of this team is on the perimeter, but we got a lot of big guys. And part of me wishes we could trade one of those big guys for a dead-eye three. three-point shooter. You know what I mean?

Like, I'd like to, this would be, if it was the NBA, maybe you'd make a trade one of our bigs for a guy, you know, for a dude like Kobe Bray or something. That would be nice to have. It felt like some of our strongest lineats were a little bit of small ball, you know, with one big, and I'm like, why didn't we do that a little more? But I get it.

It's still early in the season, but it's also, it's Louisville. Come on. Like, let's, let's play our best lineup here. But it's still early. It is early. It is early. I appreciate the call. It is early.

And he got there. Just kind of maybe took him a little bit longer than maybe we would have hoped. Who's next? Patrick. Patrick. Patrick. Patrick. First time, long time.

Who are? Hey, just one thing I kind of really notice is paint touches. I just want to get more paint touches. And I did find myself kind of yell and run on some of those. So shout out to Coach Cal, I guess. Oh, you mean? Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay, got you.

I wasn't sure what you were saying. But go ahead. Yeah, just more pain touches. I think this thing will be fine. It's third game in. We'll be fine. We'll get some more pain touches. We'll figure it all out.

We'll be fine. Go cats. Win number nine. Appreciate the call. Yeah. We didn't do a ton of, but you know, early in the game, we had a lot of good

I mean we kind of went away from going to the you know penetrating and kicking lob into our bigs. That's the lobs, yeah. They changed the way they defended it and that's just why we got more three point looks. I think they were daring us to make them and we really didn't make them until the end of the game.

Who's next? Hunter. Hunter, go ahead, Hunter. Billy Matt, it's good to talk to you guys. Hopefully you's having a great night tonight. There's a lot of thoughts about this game that want to reflect on. I mean, it just seemed like we were just disorganized and we were almost rattled.

And it kind of gave me deja vu of the Clemson game last year. And I almost feel very deja vu of it with how we played and everything. And Mike, and I think now this makes the Michigan State game more important because it's, you know, we got to bounce back. We got to win this. We got to win Michigan State now. Well, all of our games, all of our games in some ways look harder if you think about I mean, Indiana might be a little better than we thought.

North Carolina might be a little better than we thought. You know, St. John's, I knew would be good. Michigan State beat Arkansas. I mean, in these non-com, Gonzaga beats Creighton by 30. So in these non-conference games, there were a couple games that I think in my mind that was just like, well, we'll win that. You know, none of these are assured in the non-conference. So you're right.

we kind of need to go get there when in Michigan State. You could make an argument that of all those five teams I just mentioned, Michigan State might be the worst of the five. And so we do need to beat them. Yeah, no, it's much more important now because we have to bounce back and we've got to answer this. And like, we're supposed to just go in it. Thank you have a great night.

All right, I appreciate the call. Apparently there's people online saying, Billy, a G5 solar storm was reached tonight. it's the highest geomagnetic storm level that can be reached is that the northern light pictures that i've been seeing that people across the country or kentucky have been posting oh is that what that is something's going on right now yeah that may be it okay i don't know what those

words mean but uh sounds like pink in the sky okay gotcha pink in the sky who's next jamie jami go ahead jami Hey Matt, we were at the game, and to say it was electric was an understatement, that place was rocking. Yeah, it was. I mean, we had Garrett references. There was a guy named Garrett that did a golf shot, and someone said, Garrett, get your money up. It was great. What do you think about the rebounding?

Because we out-rebounded them on paper, but I just feel like at the times of the rebounds, they were just so critical. They came at the worst time. Yeah, they were. I mean, there were, but I actually thought we actually thought we were pretty good on the glass for most of the game. You are right that at the end they got some big ones. But as I said, I think it was in part because we kind of forced Louisville into bad shots, and then there'd be like a long rebound. There wasn't a lot I felt like we got out fought for.

It's just sometimes, you know, when guys are shooting long threes, the ball's just going to fall in weird spots. And so I actually thought they did a pretty good job rebounding most of the night. Yeah, and then earlier guys said something about paint touches. I agree. I mean, the free throw account was 31 to 16. I mean, I feel like that's got to be high. I know we're not a great shooting team.

If we're not a great shooting team, we've got to be a great driving team. I agree. Appreciate the call. I mean, we're, you know, everybody, I feel like it could be a good, really good shooting team. But Aberdeen can shoot. Lowe's going to be somewhat inconsistent, but he can shoot. Noah can shoot. Cam Williams made a couple shots tonight.

I don't know. I'm worried about O'way in shooting. Chandler obviously can shoot. But our bigs, you know, last year, Carr was a big that could shoot. I don't know. Can these, I mean, Yelovich can shoot, but I don't know how much he's going to get to play.

But like, I will tell you, every time Diabate shoots a three, I don't like it. I know he's made a couple in the early games, but that form, I mean, Louisville left him wide open. I think he took two, and they weren't even contemplating gardening. Let's do one more. We'll take a break. Speaking of shooters, it's time for our Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney,

moneymaker of the game, Matt. Who is that? Injured, get small town compassion with big city results. when you call the rocker at 270321 4429, and he didn't play till late, but I'm giving it to Cam Williams, five points, two or two from the field, four rebounds, one block, and 12 minutes. He had a team high plus 11. He is our moneymaker of the night.

All right, I like that. Jason Riley's listening. He's a Louisville fan that I sound sad like I know it's over. It's not over at all. I mean, the game's over. The season's not over. No. Now, if we had lost this game by 25, if we hadn't come back, I think I would have been pretty despondent. But I saw a lot of good things in the comeback.

So, no, I'm not sad. But I am a little concerned about the defense. The offense, I think, will be better. But the defense, I'm a little. How much of this does JQ solve? Very little. I don't think our problem. Yeah, I mean, I say very little. He will protect the rim. but we didn't lose to Louisville because we weren't protecting the rim. We lost because we gave him open shots and we couldn't guard guys. So he will help.

Don't get me wrong. If he plays, I'm assuming he will, he'll help against a lot of teams. I'm not sure this game was the game, that it would have made a huge difference. It'll make a huge difference. I think he would have helped against Georgetown, for instance. But this one, we'll see. I don't know. If we were to see them again in the tournament,

we're going to have to be, we're going to have to be a lot better defensively if we're going to win. 859-2-8027. We're going to take a break and be right back. It's the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. One person writes, Matt,

do you still, after this game, believe Jalen Lowe is the key to the season? Yes. Because when he was good, tonight, that's when we played our best. And when he was bad, we didn't. I mean, you go look at the moments where we were rolling the best. He was in there. Usually with Aberdeen. I mean, our big runs came with him and Aberdeen on the floor together and then other guys. But they were the two consistent ones in there most of the time.

So yes. Now, him being the most important doesn't mean he's always going to be good, right? I mean, he's good. But when he was good tonight, we were good. When he struggled, we kind of struggled. He played 29 minutes plus minus. I'm not sure what it was. Our worst plus minus, it looks like Billy was garrisoned. Is that right?

No, it was Oway at minus 16. See, O'A was minus 16? Yeah. See, I mean, if you're Otega Oway, you cannot. be the worst plus minus on the team. Second was Diabate minus 15. Yeah, so think about that. Those are supposed to be your two rocks.

Yeah. Right? Those are supposed to be your two rocks. And they are your two biggest plus minus. And I have to tell you, to be honest with you, it felt like to me they were the two worst plus minus. It really did. It felt like to me that when they were in there, we just looked,

lost whereas even though the other guys made mistakes we just felt a lot more free and like huh that's interesting let me get who is the best i mean is it cam i guess yeah it was our money maker cam and he was in during the comeback okay and who else then what maybe channel then it's a drop off to plus three and that's jasper yeah he only played like five minutes yeah so that doesn't six minutes yeah so that's not really and then it was out of Aberdeen with a plus one in 30 minutes. Okay, Aberdeen, that makes sense. All right, who's up next?

Tim. Tim. Go ahead, Tim. Hey, what's up, Mr. Matt? What's up, Mr. Billy? Thanks for having me. I was just thinking before I called in, I was talking to my buddy Hollywood. And I was like, it's funny how things are completely opposite from last season.

I called in last season about this time. And I was, you know, I think we had won. Everybody was excited. And I was kind of critiquing and kind of worried because I was just not used to it, you know, because we went from cows, a completely different. way we play. And anyway, so now, fast word to now, I'm talking to him, but I'm the one being like, it's going to be all right, man.

This is a completely different team than last year. Last year, we got one guy that can drive in four shooters. This year, we got four guys that can drive in one shooter, and they're just going to have to figure that out. So anyway, I just think that's funny. You're right about that in some ways. You're right about that, and they're going to have to figure it out. And I guess what I wonder is, I don't know if Mark Pope's ever coached a team like that.

And so he's going to have to figure that out because this team, I understand why he built the team. I know he, if you want to know why we have this roster, you go back and watch those three games against Alabama last year. We really didn't have a chance to win any of them. And I think Mark Pope was like, I got to produce a team that can win those games. Well, maybe he has, but now they actually have to play the defense. He recruited them to play. I totally agree with that. And I think that's the statement of the night.

I mean, I was saying last year, I mean, I love that team. How excited was it? But like, I don't think anybody really ever thought that was a national championship winning team because of the defense. And like this year, he built a team based because Mark Pope's smart. And he's like, we got to win a title. So I got to get some players. And I think they did that. So that's what I was telling.

Everybody in BVN just hang in there. I mean, I was you last year. And I didn't believe it. it. And I saw the team change and I understood. And it's just your own stuff. But anyways, I wanted to also say that I thought it was hilarious that ESPN announcers really emphasized how Louisville had only had one fell out in the last six years. They did that several times during the game.

It was very gratifying to me. Yeah, that really surprised me. I appreciate the call. I didn't know that stat until, I mean, you know, they've played us. They've played Duke. They've played North Carolina. and their only sellout was this game, which tells you how broken they were.

But this is going to reignite them. You can just feel it. You can just feel that, like, this is going to be what that program needed. They've needed a win like this for a while. Let's do four more. Who's next? Brennan.

Brennan. Brennan. Hey, Matt, first time, long time. Who are? What's up? So I have been losing to you since, I'm 29 years. old. I've been listening to you since I was 17.

And I have to say I'm from Northern Kentucky. So this one really stings because it's like half of every bit that I get into high school with either goes to the UK or U of L. And we've kind of owned them since I went to high school or since I went to college. but I do think with this, the McEl Brown Jr., you know, you can't allow him to score 20 points in the first half. I agree, but I don't know, like, sometimes dudes like that are just going to do that. You know what I mean? Like sometimes a guy that talented, I was less upset by the, but McHale Brown's 20 than the other dude's point. You know what I mean?

Like you can't let McGaub-Brown score 20 and then let all the other guys score too. That's the my thing. You got to stop somebody. Yeah, I 100% agree. And that leads to Denzel Aberdeen. You know, he had what, like 26 or something at the end of the game, 26 and 7 or something like that. But I don't know. do you think Jalen Lowe is that guy like for us?

Like is, is Pope's offense like is, is it a Tatego away? Is it Jalen Lowe? I don't think we have one. We don't have that guy. We don't have that guy. Yeah, we don't have that guy. And I appreciate the call. We don't have it.

That's the problem is we do not have him. So because we don't have him, we have to. you know, we're going to have to find other ways to win. Because, no, we don't have that guy. So, you know, there's not anybody as good as him. McHale Brown is the kind of dude. Louisville's not had a guy that good since Donovan Mitchell. So that's the way it is.

Who's next? Monk is next. Monk, three more. Go ahead, Monk. Hey, what's up, baby, Baines. What's up? Is this a Louisville fan? No, not at all, but Michael Brown is a real deal.

Like, he is. I don't know if we've had a guy like that recently at all. Yeah, I mean, the last guy, are you talking about Louisville or us? Louisville, like, McHale Brown. So you are a Louisville fan. You just said we to Louisville. You said, you said, we haven't had a guy like that, which means Louisville. Kentucky has to have a guy like that.

Billy? Billie. Billie. I think he told on himself. I think he told on yourself. You called me the nickname. You called me the nickname that Louisville fans like to do, especially old school Louisville fans. And you just said we about Louisville.

No, I said we as in Kentucky. Haven't had a guy like Mikel Brown. I got the baller. Like, he went off, like, for a reason, because he is a baller. He's real deal. Okay. No, I'm a YouTube. True and true.

Cal Macy is my favorite member number four. Just saying, though. like okay anyway Joe Brett and uh Jordan Lell he is our Jaden well okay I appreciate the call you don't even know the guy's name he's a Louisville fan and I listen it's been a while since you all have decided that you had the nerve to call the show but remember I sniff you all out like a disease I could tell when you said we first of all I could tell when you said Maddie Bagan nobody calls me except Louisville fans. I don't even have that hair anymore. Wish I did. And then when you say Jalen Lowell, come on. You're a Louisville fan. It's all right. You won. But we caught him before he was about to say something bad.

Yeah, we've done pretty good. I mean, this is the last segment. Two more. Who's next? Tate. Tate. What's up, Tate? I mean, I think these Louisville fans are bad liars, first off. Okay. I just want to call it. and say or ask you all what y'all think about the

Mark Pope kind of overthinking these big games because I mean we've seen last year like with the Arkansas game and now this year with the Louisville game feels like since he like used to kind of play for Kentucky he might kind of overthink these games like I'm a high school golfer myself and I feel like if I look forward to a tournament so much it feels like he kind of just makes me underperform a lot of times I used to say that Rick Petito wanted to win the game against Cal so much

that he would actually not do a good job. I think that's possible in games. And we don't have a huge sample size, right? We have the Arkansas game last year. We have this. But remember, he also beat Duke last year. He really wanted to win that. You know, he beat Illinois in the second round of the tournament,

which I think was a huge win for him. So, I mean, I can't say that's always the case. But tonight, I appreciate the call. They got out game plan. They did. And it took him too long to adjust. And I think he would say that. I think he would, I think he would completely acknowledge that.

You know, sometimes, sometimes you just get, you get out-thunk. I think he got out-thunk tonight by Kelsey, and then we just had guys who also played really poorly, especially on defense. Let's do one more. Who's next? Doing good. All right. Go ahead, doing good. Matt, I'm doing good.

I'm doing good. not real happy over the loss tonight. However, we'll remind a lot of Kentucky fans. We have a lot of good things to look forward to. Number one, we have an incredible top five NBA talent waiting in the wings. That if he was present tonight, let's say, you know, in March, a tournament scenario completely changes the outcome of this game. We did come back from a 20-point deficit on a very hostile. twice away court twice thank you yes yes yes made it very close so really happy about that so let's not get uh you know

give them some thoughts uh Louisville played really well they're a lot better than I thought they were um I don't want to really give them much more uh positive it's more than that and other than that I just sometimes it happens exactly the season is so early in the year, it was so early in the year, you couldn't really know about either team. I mean, Louisville had not played neither of us. It played anybody good. Both of us had had what turns out to maybe be misleading preseason games. There's against Kansas and ours against Purdue.

And so, like, you didn't really know anything about them. So part of what made it so weird is that it was so early in the year. If the game was in mid to late December, we'd know more about both teams. But that was kind of why it was such an awkward, odd thing is you didn't know what was going to happen and then we saw what happened. It was. And here's the thing. Going forward, who do you think will make the best adjustments for their team? Basically, who is the, who is the most intellectual coach? I'm putting my money on Pope. I think they're both pretty intellectual.

I think all, all day, every day, man. I think we're going to. I actually think oddly, I think Pope has more work to do, not just because, I appreciate the call, not just because Louisville's better. But I think Louisville is what they are. Louisville knows exactly how they want to play. They've got a superstar, young guy, they've got another sort of really good secondary player in Cromwell. Is that his name, Cromwell, the kid from Xavier?

I was seeing him all. Yeah, Conwell. Conwell. And then they've got a great shooter in McNeely, and then they've got some decent, that they know who they are. So I think Pat Kelsey, he's just going to be trying to make the most efficient version of his team possible.

For Mark Pope, I don't know that we still know what we are yet. And so I actually think Mark Pope has a lot more work to do, not just because we lost, but because he probably had a vision of this team that I kind of, I'm not sure is going to work. I don't know if you're going to be able to put O.A, Diabate, Garrison out there at the same time in crunch time and win games. So you're going to have to figure out a different way to do it.

and he likes the challenge. I think he's up for it, but I think we saw tonight that probably what we all thought this team was going to look like. They might not be elite doing that, so they're going to have to do something probably a little bit different.

Thank you all very much for staying up. We'll be back on the air here in just a few hours. So we'll see you then. We'll see you in at KS Bar at 10 a.m. tomorrow. This has been the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

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