Kentucky prepares for 'history in the making' with rivalry battle vs. Louisville

Walker Horn and Grant Darbyshire are the only players on the roster with personal experience in the program’s bitter in-state rivalry. Travis Perry and Trent Noah know of the hatred directed toward the Louisville Cardinals — they felt it as fans of the blue and white growing up in Kentucky — but that was just on the outside looking in, not as Wildcats themselves.

This is a first for essentially everyone, starting up top with Mark Pope as head coach. He was a participant back in the 90s, so he has that going for him, at least. Leading the program into battle, though, is a new one. The same can be said for his staff with assistants coming from BYU, Baylor, the G League Ignite, Georgetown and Lamar. His players come from farther and wider, stretching from the Big 12 to the CAA to the Mountain West to the A-10 to the NEC to the ACC.

No matter how new this is for everyone, they’re undoubtedly learning on the fly, combining past experiences and tense matchups in college at various levels with the expectation Big Blue Nation has set from day one about the importance of this rivalry.

“I think we get it more from the people, like BBN, I would say, you know?” Koby Brea said of what he’s learned bout Kentucky vs. Louisville since arriving on campus. “The fans, the people that we talk to every single day walking to class, even in the summer when we would do the little meet-and-greets. You kind of just see it, everybody throwing the Ls down and stuff like that. You start to see how serious it is, how serious it is to the people out here.

“As a player, you want to be a part of it. We know how big of a rivalry this is, it’s one of the biggest rivalries in history of sports. For us, that’s something that we really want to be a part of. The only way to do it right is to be all in on it, you know what I mean? That’s something that we’re super excited for, and honestly, we can’t wait for it.”

“Of course, a lot of us being in college basketball have been a part of other rivalry games before, but nothing quite like the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry game,” Andrew Carr added. “… It’s going to be a super special game on Saturday, we’re super excited. To really get the first feel in person, us actually being able to play in that game will be awesome.”

The Wildcats got their first taste of the rivalry this past summer when La Familia took on The Ville in The Basketball Tournament at Freedom Hall. The entire team traveled to Louisville to soak it all in, an experience that ended with a big win for the good guys and an all-out brawl between the two sides thanks to Chinanu Onuaku inexplicably spitting in Nate Sestina’s face.

Needless to say, the hatred is real. That moment helped the new players realize it pretty quickly.

“I think it’s gonna be huge. Just like we’ve all seen with them and their battle scars — you know the famous picture of Tyler Ulis with his face bleeding and all that. We’re pretty aware of the history,” Brea said. “Going to TBT and seeing how that game compared to all the other ones was a little bit different, you know what I mean? That’s something that we just want to be a part of. We know it’s going to be history in the making. We definitely want to be all in on that.”

“The TBT game was a great for us to get the first feel for the rivalry,” Carr added. “… We saw that with a bunch of older guys trying to go at it. … In terms of the rivalry, I’m super excited to be a part of it for the first time. I’ve heard so much and have been able to kind of experience it in a lot of different ways. This will be the best test and the best feeling I can get, actually being a part of it.”

“I know it’s a big thing in the state of Kentucky. Just seeing the TBT team this summer, that kind of opened our eyes,” Amari Williams continued. “It really explained how much it means to the city and everyone. I remember it was sold out, wild from the beginning to the end. I just remember at the end it got a little feisty afterward — that shows the standard of the rivalry.”

Pope played in two rivalry matchups vs. Louisville, coming away with one loss in January of the 1994-95 season and one win the following December during the 1995-96 title season. You can watch it all you want and tell stories about the fire that comes in the heat of battle, but you never know what it’s like until you feel it on the court yourself.

That’s something these Wildcats will get to experience on Saturday when the Cardinals come to town.

“You probably have to experience it to do it,” Pope said. “I’m also blessed with guys, I have seasoned guys. I have guys that have played in big-time rivalry games, so it’s not foreign concept to them. It’s just a little level up, right? It will not be unfamiliar to our guys. It’s exciting, it’s awesome. We love it and we hate it and all of those things.”

Will it be unfamiliar to Pope transitioning from player to head coach?

“No, no, no,” he added. “I’m well aware of the beauty of this rivalry.”