After Monday’s exciting season-opener, it’s finally time to watch Kentucky Basketball again. KSR’s new and improved LIVE BLOG will bring you all the sights and sounds from Rupp Arena as the Cats host the Bucknell Bison (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
Kentucky started the Mark Pope era in thrilling fashion with a 103-62 win over Wright State. Today, they’ll play a Bucknell team that is 2-0, with wins at Delaware and Southern Indiana, the latter coming in overtime. The Bison are led by 7-foot center Noah Williamson, who scored 32 points vs. USI. This will be the first-ever meeting between Kentucky and Bucknell, who both have boasted Nate Sestina on their rosters. For more on the Bison, click here.
Today’s game streams exclusively on SEC Network+, so if you’re unable to watch, we’ve got you covered. Refresh the feed below for updates and our takes on the game, from both Rupp Arena and the couch. You can also join the conversation on the KSBoard Game Thread or by texting your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
That’ll do it! The Cats move to 2-0 with a 100-72 win over Bucknell, marking their second game in a row crossing the century mark. Five Wildcats finished in double figures, led by Koby Brea, who hit six threes, bringing his two-game total to 10. Amari Williams got his second double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Kentucky won the battle of the boards 57-35 and finished with 21 offensive rebounds, which has to make Mark Pope happy. That was his primary focus heading into today’s game after the Cats only got seven offensive boards vs. Wright State.
Lots to like in this box score. Check it out below and bring on Duke.
Amari Williams gets a technical but Rupp Arena gets FREE CHICKEN
11/09/2024 04:48:59 PM
Amari Williams was issued a technical for something that was not shown on the broadcast (maybe saying a bad word?) but the Bucknell played missed both of his free throws, which means ball don’t lie and the Rupp Arena crowd will get Free Chick’n from Chick-fil-A.
A layup by Lamont Butler puts Kentucky up by 25, 86-61, with 4:17 to go. Freshman Trent Noah is about to check in for the Cats, much to the student section’s glee.
Amari Williams is up to 11 points and 10 rebounds, marking his second double-double in as many games as a Wildcat. Kerr Kriisa also has 12 assists, which matches his career high from his days at Arizona.
After injuring his arm earlier in the game, Otega Oweh is back and just pulled off an impressive and-one. He’ll head to the line after this timeout. Cats are cruising.
I’m running out of adjectives for Koby Brea. He just hit his sixth three to put Kentucky up by 25, 75-50, with 8:39 to go. Kerr Kriisa is up to TEN assists in just 18 minutes. Just getting ready to face the Blue Devils on Tuesday night.
Koby Brea now leads all scorers with 15 points off five threes, with Jaxson Robinson close behind with 14. Amari Williams is on double-double watch with seven points and nine rounds. Kerr Kriisa has eight assists. After a sloppy first half, the Cats have seven assists on eight made baskets. That’s more like it.
The threes are starting to fall for the Cats. Back-to-back treys be Koby Brea and Kerr Kriisa pushed the Cats’ lead to 17, 58-41 with 15:08 to go. Brea is now 4-6 from three, bringing his season total to 8-10.
Kentucky leads Bucknell 47-31 at half despite shooting only 45% from the floor. As someone wrote to the KSR Text Machine, that’s not too shabby (859-587-3828).
Kentucky gets sloppy, but plenty to like at the break
11/09/2024 03:51:59 PM
We saw some of the best and worst of the Cats in the first 20 minutes with some big-time offense and shot-making, but also some sloppy moments with seven turnovers and bad shot selection, particularly with too many long twos. You have to love the team responding to Pope’s challenge of attacking the offensive glass, though, picking up 12 in the first half and leading the overall rebounding battle 32-14 at the break (+10 OREB). That came after entering the matchup with a -7 on offensive rebounds through both exhibitions and the opener.
Other quick takeaways: – Koby Brea off the bench is unfair, quite the luxury in that second scoring wave to add the best shooter in college basketball after the opening segment – Andrew Carr hadn’t been playing very sure of himself the last couple of outings, so it was nice to see him finish and make plays with confidence around the rim. He’s such a dynamic talent that you never have to worry about him contributing, but his production takes a huge jump when he asserts himself. – Otega Oweh with two quick steals by just ripping the ball away from the defender. Shot isn’t falling the way it did in the opener and selection isn’t great, but he’s still producing. – Our first quiet game from Lamont Butler — he’s only got two points with no rebounds, assists, blocks or steals in 13 minutes. Interested to see how he wraps this one up.
After 20 minutes of play, Kentucky leads Bucknell 47-31. Eight Wildcats have scored, but only one is in double figures, Jaxson Robinson, with 11 points. Kentucky is shooting 45% from the floor but “just” 32% from three-point range. Koby Brea is doing his best to heat things up, going 3-4 from beyond the arc thus far.
Koby Brea is ready to break the Cats out of this slump. After going a perfect 4-4 from three in Kentucky’s season-opener, he just hit his third three off another no-look assist from Kerr Kriisa.
A layup by Amari Williams breaks Kentucky’s scoring drought. The Cats lead Bucknell by 14 with just under 4 minutes to go in the half. They’ve only hit one of their last seven shots. Let’s get a run going, please.
Mark Pope calls a timeout amid Kentucky’s scoring drought
11/09/2024 03:35:56 PM
Mark Pope is not happy with his squad. After Lamont Butler turned the ball over, which led to a Bucknell layup, Pope called a timeout. Kentucky hasn’t scored in almost three minutes but leads Bucknell 35-21 with 4:54 to go in the first half.
The Cats’ lead is up to 19, 35-16 at the 6:35 mark of the 1st half. Bucknell star Noah Williamson got poked in the eye and is back on the bench.
Kentucky is dominating the glass 25-9, with nine offensive rebounds to Bucknell’s 1. On the flip side, the Cats are only 4-14 from the three-point line.
Earth-shattering analysis, I know. Robinson had back-to-back baskets to cap off a 9-0 run. He’s up to 11 points on 5-8 shooting so far, surpassing his Game 1 total of eight points.
At the Under-12 timeout, Kentucky leads Bucknell 22-9. Since our last update, they’ve added three more offensive rebounds to take the total to eight. Mark Pope has to be happy with that. This Brandon Garrison block was pretty cool too.
Kerr Kriisa just hit a three to cap off a 6-0 run for the Cats. Kentucky leads 20-7 with 13:08 to go in the first half. They have five offensive rebounds thus far, heeding Mark Pope’s challenge to own the offensive glass. This play by Otega Oweh is one of my favorite thus far:
Bucknell’s coach poses in Nate Sestina’s old jersey
11/09/2024 03:15:59 PM
If you haven’t checked this website or read any pregame content, this is the Nate Sestina Bowl. Before transferring to Kentucky for his graduate season, the former Cat played four seasons at Bucknell. His old coach John Griffin III posed in Sestina’s old jersey prior to the game. He seems like a good sport.
Big-time development here at Rupp Arena: Bucknell’s star is no longer on the floor due to foul trouble. Noah Williamson picked up two fouls in two minutes, leading to a quick substitution for Bucknell.
Cats have to take advantage inside now — heavy talent advantage for the guys in blue and white for the time being.
Kentucky has used a 9-0 run to take a 10-3 lead here at the first media timeout. Jaxson Robinson has hit a couple of pretty pull-up jumpers en route to five quick points while Amari Williams has three points and three rebounds in four minutes. Otega Oweh has added a couple of free throws, as well.
The Cats are shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 25 percent from three here in the first segment.
Pope on Noah Williamson, Bucknell’s “lethal scorers”
11/09/2024 02:38:22 PM
In his pregame conversation with Tom Leach, Mark Pope gave a pretty thorough breakdown of Bucknell, including Bison star Noah Williamson. Pope said the seven-footer is a three-level scorer who will present the biggest challenge tonight, but gave praise to the entire roster, which he said is chock full of “lethal scorers.”
As for his own team, Pope said offensive rebounding will be a big focus today. The Cats surrendered 11 offensive rebounds to Wright State while grabbing just seven of their own. Pope said two of his seven keys to the game were about owning the offensive glass.
“I think we’re fully capable. It’s not a matter of desire or care, it’s just a matter of focus, and focus on exactly the job at that moment, not the next job or the last job. And so we’re looking to make some real progress there…It’s a massive, massive, important piece of the puzzle for us.”
Do you remember your ESPN app login? You might want to pull it up because today’s game is only on SEC Network+, which you can access on the ESPN app if you have SEC Network with your cable subscription. Andrew Kappes and Ravi Moss will be on the call, or you can listen to Tom Leach and Goose Givens on the radio. Of course, we’ll be providing score updates and highlights on this here live blog.
Streaming: SEC Network+ (Andrew Kappes, Ravi Moss) Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens) Online Radio: iHeart Satellite Radio: Sirius 137 or 192 Live Stats: StatBroadcast
KSR has arrived at Rupp. It was a beautiful walk down High Street with Jacob and Steven. Did y’all see Jack pop in at the last minute? Couldn’t have timed it better. Lots of fans pouring into the gym. Vibes are high on this fine Saturday. Go Cats.
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