KSR Today: A feel-good win for MBB; WBB heads down to No. 1 South Carolina

Saturday’s game was a complete 180 from what happened earlier this week down in Baton Rouge. No. 16 Kentucky Men’s Basketball collapsed upon itself when it lost to the LSU Tigers on Tuesday. Down Sahvir Wheeler for the final 36 minutes and TyTy Washington for the most important stretch of the game, Kentucky fought as much as it could to keep the game close. But as we all know, the effort just wasn’t enough.

The effort on Saturday, however, was more than enough. It was the feel-good type of blowout win that makes prior losses a lot easier to forget. Kentucky let Georgia hang around in the first half before smacking the Bulldogs 92-77 by the final buzzer. The individual performances were eye-popping.

17 points and 17 assists for TyTy Washington, which set a new program record for most dimes in a single game, passing John Wall’s previous record of 16 set back in 2009. Davion Mintz played his best outing of the season and maybe of his entire Kentucky career, dropping 19 points on 7-10 shooting including a 5-7 clip from deep. The third biggest headline from the night was Oscar Tshiebwe, who exploded for a career-high 29 points and 17 rebounds.

Kentucky players were setting records left and right against UGA.

My favorite stat from the win, thanks to @coreyp08.

Tonight was the first time in UK history that two different Wildcats have recorded at least 15 points AND 15 rebounds/assists in the same game.

Washington: 17 points, 17 assists
Tshiebwe: 29 points, 17 rebounds

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) January 9, 2022

The next phase is to get Sahvir Wheeler healthy and build on this performance. Had he not gone out against LSU, that outcome might have turned out differently. That’s unfortunately not how it panned out, but Kentucky will have plenty of opportunities to rebound and collect a big win over a ranked squad.

Now let’s dive into the news, notes, and quotes from the Georgia victory.

Links Galore!

• FINAL: Kentucky’s second-half run powers ‘Cats past Georgia 92-77
• TyTy Washington broke Kentucky’s single-game assist record
• Oscar Tshiebwe’s dominance now a regular occurence for Kentucky
• Sahvir Wheeler still day-to-day after awkward Tom Crean hug
• Davion Mintz’s recent hot streak a result of rediscovered confidence
• KSR’s takeaways from Kentucky’s impressive win over Georgia
• The Numbers Behind Kentucky-Georgia
• Shaedon Sharpe gets shots up at Rupp Arena for the first time
• 10 impressive statistics from Kentucky’s home win vs. Georgia
• Everything John Calipari said after Kentucky beat Georgia
• Sources Say: TyTy Washington makes history in Kentucky’s win vs. Georgia
• Top Plays: Rewatch the best moments from Kentucky’s win over Georgia
• Postgame notes and stats from Kentucky’s impressive win vs. Georgia

WBB travels to face No. 1 South Carolina

Coming off its biggest win of the season earlier this week against No. 15 Georgia, the schedule doesn’t get any easier for Kentucky Women’s Basketball. Up next is the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks where the ‘Cats will travel down to Columbia for a Sunday afternoon showdown.

South Carolina is led by Aliyah Boston, who is arguably Rhyne Howard’s top threat for SEC Player of the Year, along with several other All-American caliber talents. The Gamecocks also start a 6-foot-7 center. But South Carolina did drop its lone game of the season to an unranked Missouri squad over a week ago. Kentucky will need a repeat of whatever was working for the Tigers.

The game will tipoff at 1 p.m. EST on ESPN. Check out Grant Grubbs’ preview article on the matchup right here.

Big Football recruit on campus

Kentucky is searching for another large defensive end to fill the void left by Josh Paschal. Darrion Henry-Young might just be that answer to the Wildcats’ problem.

On the first weekend following the conclusion of the 2021 Kentucky football season, Darrion Henry-Young is visiting UK’s campus. KSR’s Matt Jones confirmed the news first reported by Cats Illustrated’s Justin Rowland.

A 6-foot-5, 279-pound defensive end, Henry-Young was a four-star recruit in the class of 2020, ranked as the No. 126 player in America according to the On3 Consensus. He entered the transfer portal in December after recording one tackle in just four games over his first two college football seasons. Henry-Young has four years of eligibility remaining.

‘Cats in the NFL: Week 18

1:00 (FOX): Bengals @ Browns
1:00 (FOX): Packers @ Lions
1:00 (FOX): Bears @ Vikings
1:00 (FOX): Washington (J. Davis, J. Toth) @ Giants
1:00 (CBS): Colts @ Jaguars (J. Allen)
1:00 (CBS): Steelers (B. Snell Jr.) @ Ravens (C. Westry)
1:00 (CBS): Titans (B. Dupree) @ Texans (L. Johnson Jr.)
4:25 (CBS): Jets (B. Echols) @ Bills
4:25 (FOX): 49ers @ Rams
4:25 (CBS): Patrios @ Dolphins (L. Bowden Jr.)
4:25 (FOX): Seahawks @ Cardinals (C. Peters)
4:25 (CBS): Panthers @ Buccaneers (M. Edwards)
8:20 (NBC): Chargers @ Raiders

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Attention Big Blue Nation! We want to see your smiling faces. KSR and our good friends at Justice Dental are on the lookout for your best fan photos. We want to see you in your best blue and white apparel cheering on the ‘Cats. You can also include any stories of how you first became a fan. Do you have any funny game-day superstitions? We’d love to hear about those as well. 

The best entries will be featured on KSR in our Justice Dental Smile Spotlight series. You can submit your entries by tagging @ksr_ig and @justicedental on Instagram. You can direct message your entries to @ksr_ig on Instagram as well. You can also use the hashtag #KSRSmileSpotlight on Twitter. We look forward to seeing your Justice Dental Smile Spotlight fan photos. Go Cats!