KSR Gameday: Kentucky vs. Team Africa in game three of GLOBL Jam

Good morning, folks! It’s time for more mid-July basketball. I’ll never get tired of saying that.

This afternoon at 1:30 p.m. EST, Kentucky will play its third game of the 2023 GLOBL Jam Tournament up in Toronto, Canada with a showdown against Team Africa (BAL Select). There’s no tape delay for this one, so no need to hunt down any of those totally legal streams we were all searching for on Thursday night. Nope. All you need today is a login for CBS Sports Network.

If you’re unable to be in front of a TV or computer, you can also listen live on the UK Sports Network (630 WLAP, 840 WHAS, affiliates throughout the state, iHeart Radio).

Kentucky is 2-0 so far in this event, taking down Team Germany 81-73 on Wednesday afternoon before beating the brakes off Team Canada 93-69 on Thursday night. Those two wins locked up the Wildcats’ spot in Sunday’s gold medal game, which is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST on the CBS Sports Network. But before we look ahead, Team Africa stands in the way as today’s opponent.

What do we know about Team Africa? Well for starters, we know that they were the team Kentucky played in a closed scrimmage to begin the week on Tuesday, which is when sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso suffered his ankle injury that quickly leaked out to the public. The results of that matchup are unknown, but Africa has dropped both of its pool play games since then.

Team Africa opened GLOBL Jam with an 88-62 loss to Team Canada. They shot only 32 percent (21-64) from the floor and 12 percent (3-25) from three-point range. Canada outrebounded them by 12 and had 20 assists to Africa’s six. The Canadians dominated the paint, with 50 points to Africa’s 28.

On Thursday, Africa lost to Germany by nine, 88-79. It was a much more even affair, with Africa shooting 40 percent (28-70) to Germany’s 42 percent (31-73). Africa more than doubled their threes from the first game, hitting 8-32 (25 percent), and only lost the rebounding battle by five, 47-42.

As for the roster, Africa features a handful of American college players (and one Canadian school), including guys from Western Kentucky (6-8 F Babacar Faye) and Louisville (6-10 F Emmanuel Okorafor). The rest of the team plays professionally across countries such as France, Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria, and Mali.

It should be another excellent learning experience for this young group of Wildcats. Check out some of KSR’s content from Friday while you get ready for today’s game.

• John Calipari says Kentucky has the personnel to space the floor
• Video games pushed Antonio Reeves back to Kentucky
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander courtside to watch Kentucky beat Canada: “(UK) changed the course of my career”
• John Calipari happy with vintage roster makeup: “We have really good basketball players”
• The story behind Kentucky Basketball’s stolen shoes in Toronto

Team Africa Roster

NO.	PLAYER	POS	HT	WT	BIRTHDATE	TEAM
2	Mathias M’madi	G	6-4	175	6/2/2005	Elans Chalons
7	Babacar Faye	F	6-8	209	1/28/2002	Western Kentucky
11	Dhieu Deing	PG	6-5	180	8/28/2001	Cape Town Tigers
15	Amr Zahran	SG	6-3	191	10/6/2001	Al Ahly Sporting Club
34	Emmanuel Okorafor	PF	6-10	220	6/8/2004	Louisville
4	Majok Deng	PF	6-4	190		Laurier
5	Jean Jacques Boissy	PG	6-2	176	1/28/2001	As Douanes
6	Ali Ragab	C	7-0	263	2/5/2002	Gannon University
10	Victor Ezeh	SG	6-5	171	2/12/2003	Kwara Falcons
14	Abdullah Ahmed	PF	6-10	242	11/2/2003	Al Ahly Sporting Club
23	Souleymane Berthe	G	6-4	182	10/5/2000	Stade Malien
24	Nelly Junior Joseph	C	6-10	242	11/20/2001	New Mexico

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Kentucky partied at Drake’s house

I still can’t believe this is a real story that actually happened.

Head coach John Calipari teased the idea of practicing and hanging out at Drake’s house (no, not the popular food joint in Lexington), but I’m not sure everyone totally believed that even he had that kind of hookup with the world-renowned rap artist. That was until the team showed up at the $100 million mansion and was welcomed with balloons and a pool party.

The “blue” carpet was rolled out for the Wildcats. They were greeted with a banner that read “Welcome University of Kentucky,” with blue and white balloons decorating the front of the Grammy Award-winning rapper’s home. Drake is currently touring America as part of his “It’s All a Blur” tour, so he wasn’t present. Calipari revealed in his June 30th presser that Drake gave him the keys to his house.

“I do have keys to his house, so I may drop the team by his house,” he said. “I want to see the court because he has Toronto Raptors, Leafs, and Kentucky stuff there. But believe me, ‘I already called and said I need you to coach my team’.”

But the best part of the day was Calipari’s massive flex — a video from Drake’s backyard in front of the pool where he basically made one giant recruiting pitch.

Thanks to my friend @Drake for opening his home to our team today!! pic.twitter.com/lBBMUOkPad

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) July 14, 2023

Calipari has got his mojo back, baby.

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Meemaw Mic’d Up (x2)

Everyone’s favorite Kentucky fan was Mic’d Up once again for game two of the GLOBL Jam Tournament.

Now famously known as Meemaw Gene, the 92-year-old, die-hard Wildcat fan was back sitting courtside to check out Kentucky’s dominant 93-69 win over Team Canada on Thursday night. After providing the Big Blue Nation with her thoughts on the team during Wednesday’s win, she settled back in a day later for another Mic’d Up segment with KSR. As always, it’s a must-watch/listen.

KSR predicts 2023 SEC football

This week is all about the hardwood, but we have to sprinkle in some football with SEC Media Days beginning next week. The KSR team is traveling to Nashville in bunches to cover this year’s event, where Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops and players Eli Cox, Octavious Oxendine, and JJ Weaver, will take the podium on Wednesday, July 19 at the Grand Hyatt.

The KSR football guys — Nick Roush, Adam Luckett, and Freddie Maggard — are already coming in hot with the content. The gang rolled out some predictions, giving their takes on what the SEC standings will look like at the end of the season along with their All-SEC Team picks. Kentucky is projected by all three to finish among the top half of the SEC East. The ‘Cats also expect to have multiple All-SEC performers.

While you’re here, go ahead and check out the most recent episode of 11 Personnel as Roush and Luckett go in-depth on what to expect at SEC Media Days.

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