Kentucky officially tips the 2024-25 season off vs. Wright State tonight (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU). KSR’s new and improved LIVE BLOG will bring you all the sights and sounds from Mark Pope’s first real game as the Wildcats’ head coach.
The No. 23 Cats cruised through their two exhibitions, beating Kentucky Wesleyan 123-52 and Minnesota State 98-67. Wright State also has a new coach, Clint Sargent. Sargent was an assistant on the Raiders’ staff under Scott Nagy since the 2016-17 season and spent the last three seasons as associate head coach before being promoted to head coach. Wright State returns several members from last year’s squad that went 18-14, including junior forward Brandon Noel, who averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds last season and was tabbed as Horizon League Player of the Year.
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).
11/4/2024, 6:19:59 PM
Cats are on an 8-0 run over the last 2:22, shooting 10-16 from the floor and 3-6 from three. Already eight assists, three by Amari Williams. A seven-footer who can run, shoot, and pass? Goodness.
11/4/2024, 6:15:59 PM
Brea didn’t take long to make an impact, swishing a wide-open three, his first shot attempt (and make) as a Wildcat. He quickly followed it up with another one to make it 25-11 Kentucky with 11:11 left. You can’t leave him open!
11/4/2024, 6:11:11 PM
If you predicted that Koby Brea and Brandon Garrison would be the first players off the bench, you would be correct. They’re checking in for Otega Oweh and Amari Williams coming out of the media timeout.
11/4/2024, 6:20:08 PM
Kentucky is off to a hot start so far, leading Wright State 15-8 at the first media timeout. This team may have been hyped for its three-point shooting ability but the twos have been impressive as well. We’ve had back-to-back dunks by Otega Oweh and Amari Williams, two sweet drives by Lamont Butler, and a three by Jaxson Robinson that brought the Rupp Arena crowd to its feet. The Cats have hit six of their first nine shots.
Here’s that dunk by Oweh. I yelled from my couch.
11/4/2024, 6:55:09 PM
After a lovely national anthem by Samantha Goette and a light dance routine by Lamont Butler and Koby Brea in the hallway, Kentucky took the floor for Game 1 to “Big Blue Nation, here come your Cats!” Here’s a shot of the crowd as the team entered for anyone missing Jerry Tipton’s pregame photos.
11/4/2024, 5:51:16 PM
The first starting lineup of the 2024-25 season:
No. 1 Lamont Butler
No. 00 Otega Oweh
No. 2 Jaxson Robinson
No. 7 Andrew Carr
No. 22 Amari Williams
11/4/2024, 5:44:05 PM
Kentucky will close as a 20.5-point favorite, with the total set at 160.5 points. Kentucky’s total is currently 91.5 points. I’ll take the over on that, thank you very much.
11/4/2024, 6:25:51 PM
Mark Pope caught up with Tom Leach ahead of his first official game as Kentucky head coach. Almost exactly 30 years ago he made his debut as a Wildcat player. “It’s the most special thing you get to do in basketball. There’s nothing quite like it.”
11/4/2024, 6:20:34 PM
How about some breaking news to get this live blog rolling? Amari Williams, who went down with a leg injury vs. Minnesota State and was described as day-to-day by Mark Pope, is expected to play in Kentucky’s opener vs. Wright State, sources tell KSR.
Williams was full-go in pregame warmups and is in full uniform with tip-off less than an hour away. Massive news to get the Drexel transfer back in the lineup after the injury scare last week.
11/4/2024, 6:00:49 PM
Tonight’s a Tom Hart game! Hopefully, that means we will get some KSR nuggets. Here’s how you can watch or listen live. Of course, we’ll have score updates and highlights for you here too. Zack Geoghegan and Jack Pilgrim shared the scene outside an hour before tipoff in our Pregame Walk video series (we’re still workshopping the name).
Television: ESPNU (Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes)
Streaming: WatchESPN
Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
Online Radio: iHeart
Satellite Radio: Sirius 383
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
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