KSR Gameday: Kentucky looks to get healthy in road matchup vs. Oklahoma

by:Zack Geoghegan•about 10 hours•

ZGeogheganKSR

Kentucky Wildcats guard Lamont Butler and forward Trent Noah (9) celebrate from the bench during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Good morning, folks! Mark Pope and the boys are in the Sooner State today for what will be the program’s fourth-ever matchup against Oklahoma.

We received some very good injury news last night as well to get us extra excited. Starting guards Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson were both listed as probable on the SEC’s Availability Report. Now that doesn’t mean they’ll for sure play tonight against the Sooners, but they’re certainly trending in the right direction. With only four regular season games remaining, getting both in the lineup sooner than later will be huge in building back that lost chemistry going into the postseason.

Kentucky is considered a 2.5-point favorite to beat Oklahoma, according to FanDuel. The fancy numbers at KenPom are in a similar boat, projecting an 83-81 win for the Wildcats. Despite coming off a must-have win over a ranked Mississippi State team, the Sooners are fighting for their NCAA Tournament hopes. Head coach Porter Moser is on the hot seat now in year four. They’ve gone 4-10 since a blistering 13-0 start to the season. Oklahoma needs this win more than Kentucky, but there will be less room for excuses for UK if Butler and/or Robinson step on the floor.

Star freshman guard Jeremiah Fears and senior wing Jalon Moore are the keys to Oklahoma’s success. In SEC play, Fears is averaging 13.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per outing while Moore is averaging 16.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per outing on 47.5 percent shooting. Former Sooner turned Kentucky’s leading scorer, Otega Oweh, is close friends with Moore and will likely spend the bulk of his night defending Fears. It’s not a true homecoming for the New Jersey native, but Oweh will have something to prove against his old team after failing to score more than 10 points for the first time all season in his last game out.

It’s going to be a late one, but it should be a fun one. Since we’ve got plenty of time until the 9:00 p.m. EST tipoff, dive into some of our pregame reading below, along with the rest of this morning’s news and notes. Let’s have a great day, BBN.

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Kentucky vs. Oklahoma: How to Watch, Listen

Date, Time: Wednesday, Feb 26, 9:00 p.m. EST
Television: SEC Network (Roy Philpott, Richard Hendrix)
Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
Online Radio: iHeart
Satellite Radio: Sirius 119 or 191
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow the game via our new LIVE BLOG on the website, which will begin an hour before tip-off, or join the conversation on KSBoard.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

Mark Stoops spoke with the media Tuesday

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to ask Mark Stoops questions in person, but that finally changed Tuesday when the head coach spoke with reporters for about 30 minutes as we head into the spring. Kentucky football has welcomed 31 new additions since the end of the 2024 season, 20 via the portal. KSR’s Nick Roush and Adam Luckett were in the room to hear from Stoops, who talked about what’s in store for the Spring Game, the status of transfer wide receiver Tru Edwards, Revenue Sharing/NIL concerns, and much, much more.

After Stoops wrapped up, the media was given an hour to chat with the newest Wildcats. Our main takeaway? Shiyazh Pete, UK’s new left tackle transfer from New Mexico State, is quite the interesting fellow. I have a feeling we’re all going to like him. Calling Stoops a “statesman” in his first media opportunity is a good way to perk our ears up.

“Coach Stoops is a statesman, a very genuine man,” Pete said. “I placed a lot of my trust in him and my final decision with him.”

The Bat Cats home-opener was a football game

And you’ll know what I mean when I say the final score. Kentucky baseball’s home opener (on a beautiful day for it, I should add) couldn’t have gone any better. The Bat Cats smacked Evansville 24-3 — a three-touchdown victory for the good guys. Nearly 3,000 fans flooded Kentucky Proud Park to watch UK record the sixth-most runs in school history and the most in the stadium’s seven-year history. Pitchers Tristan Hunter and Tommy Skelding each added scoreless innings of work in their debuts for the ‘Cats.

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For more, dive into Daniel Hager’s full recap here. UK will return to KPP this afternoon for another picture-perfect day of baseball. First pitch against Hofstra is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network+.

Nate Ament down to 5, schedules commitment

Five-star wing Nate Ament is down to five finalists: Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisville. He also has a commitment date locked in for Tuesday, April 1 at the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Ament is coming off an official visit to UK earlier this month, which was quickly followed by an in-person visit by Pope. Kentucky is getting in on this recruitment a bit later than the likes of Duke, Tennessee, and Louisville, but the staff has made up ground quickly and has plenty of time left to convince him to be a ‘Cat.

“Kentucky, I actually just came back from a visit from there but again, Coach Pope, high-character coach,” Ament said on The Youngins Sports Podcast with Jordan Richard. “Not just talking about Xs and Os, but as a person, he’s a high-character guy. That’s something you like to see as a player. But also his offense is one of the best in the nation. He gets up and down the floor, shoots the three very well, seeing that as a versatile player who does all those things is very tempting for sure.”

Five more years of KSR Radio!

Kentucky Sports Radio’s morning radio show locked in another five years with iHeartRadio. Matt Jones announced on Tuesday’s show that he signed a five-year extension to keep hosting KSR through the end of 2029, meaning more KSR each weekday morning from 10-12, more pregame and postgame shows, more Friday remotes, more cross-country road trips, and more UK sports (and other things) in the most ridiculous manner possible.

“Our fifteenth anniversary was in September, so this will basically take us to our twentieth,” Matt said at the beginning of Tuesday’s show. “I’m excited to continue going.”

I am excited to announce that I have signed a new 5 year deal with iHeart Media to extend Kentucky Sports Radio through the end of 2029!

As we approach our 15th anniversary of KSR Radio (and 20th of KSR) in Sept, I am thrilled to keep the train rolling for more years to come! pic.twitter.com/l1ro2fwc8p
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 25, 2025

CBB Top 25 Schedule (Wednesday, Feb. 26)

TIME (EST)/TV	MATCHUP
6:30 PM (BTN)	No. 8 Michigan State @ No. 16 Maryland
7:00 PM (ESPN2)	Ole Miss @ No. 1 Auburn
7:00 PM (SEC Network)	Vanderbilt @ No. 12 Texas A&M
7:00 PM (ACC Network)	Notre Dame @ No. 13 Clemson
8:00 PM (ESPN+)	Rice @ No. 18 Memphis
9:00 PM (SEC Network)	No. 17 Kentucky @ Oklahoma
9:00 PM (CBSSN)	No. 7 St. John’s @ Butler
9:00 PM (ESPN+)	Utah @ No. 22 Arizona
9:30 PM (ESPN+)	No. 25 BYU @ Arizona State