Jack Givens, Cameron Mills join Kentucky MBB radio coverage

Two NCAA champions will be joining the Kentucky men’s basketball radio team in 2022-23 for both pregame and in-game coverage.

Jack “Goose” Givens is set to join Tom Leach on game broadcasts, while Cameron Mills will appear on the pregame show as an analyst.

Givens is one of the greatest players in Kentucky basketball history, scoring 41 points in the 1978 national championship game before being named to the UK Athletics Hall of Fame. The Lexington native is set to take over for the late Mike Pratt, who passed away in June. Pratt and Leach teamed up for more than 20 years for the UK Sports Network and called the 2012 National Championship victory together.

“My basketball career started in Lexington, and it is thrilling that it has come full circle,” Givens said. “I look forward to working with a professional like Tom Leach and I’m excited to share my passion for Kentucky basketball with the Big Blue Nation on my hometown team’s network.”

The duo will also host the Ruoff Mortgage Wildcat Wrap-Up postgame show, where they are joined each game by a UK player and head coach John Calipari. Andrew Kappes will serve as the studio host.

Givens and Leach called Kentucky’s four-game foreign tour in The Bahamas this summer. The duo broadcasted victories in all four contests as UK won by an average margin of 50.0 points per game. 

As for Mills, a two-time National Champion at UK, will appear on the Don Franklin Auto Countdown to Tipoff pregame radio show. Mills, also a Lexington native, hit one of the biggest shots in program history to help the Cats down Duke during the 1998 title run. He will sit alongside Dave Baker, who returns for his 36th season with the UK Sports Network.

Givens and Mills will also provide analysis on television for the UK Sports Network as a featured guest on BBN Gameday and BBN Tonight airing in Lexington on LEX18.

The Don Franklin Auto Countdown to Tipoff pregame show airs 90 minutes prior to all Kentucky men’s basketball games on UK Sports Network affiliates and is also available through the UK Athletics app. A stream of the show is also available on UKathletics.com and on the Kentucky Basketball Facebook page, where fans can ask questions and interact with Baker and Mills.

“After more than 20 years in radio, joining the UK Sports Network has always been a dream,” Mills said. “I’d like to thank, Dick Gabriel who has been a mentor since I started in media. I’m looking forward to working with Dave Baker to further learn the craft. Being able to sit in the same seat as legends like Sam Bowie, Rex Chapman, Jack Givens and Mike Pratt is an honor and I will do my best to entertain and inform Kentucky fans.”

It all starts in the coming weeks.