KSR Today: Kentucky moves into national title discussion; WBB hits road again

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On3 image — Photo by Kyle Rivas | Getty Images

Good morning, folks! I won’t lie, these morning posts are a lot more fun to write after a big Kentucky win. I enjoyed writing about the blowout victory over Tennessee at home earlier this year, but taking down a Blue Blood program in such dominating fashion hits a bit differently…

Over at Allen Fieldhouse, No. 5 Kansas got molly whopped by No. 12 Kentucky on Saturday night in a game that was never truly close. UK, fully healthy, bounced out to a quick double-digit lead that it never relinquished, leading by 20 at the halftime break before cruising to an 80-62 win. It was a soul-crushing, come-to-earth type of loss for Kansas and an identity-finding win for Kentucky.

Oscar Tshiebwe wasn’t even the night’s biggest star, and he dropped 17 points and 14 rebounds. No, that would be Keion Brooks Jr., who picked apart Kansas all night long through mid-range jumpers while outhustling the entire Jayhawks frontcourt. The junior forward finished with a career-high 27 points and eight rebounds on 9-16 shooting.

Kentucky didn’t even need scoring help from its backcourt, as Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington shot a combined 4-16 from the field, but just having both of them playing and healthy was enough of a gravitational threat that Kansas had no choice but to focus its defensive effort on those two (along with Kellan Grady and Tshiebwe, of course). This created pockets of space for Brooks who took full advantage of the scoring opportunities.

With a full backcourt at its disposal, Kentucky ran Kansas into the ground in the first half before lulling the Jayhawks to sleep in the second. There are just so many threats across the court for this UK team: inside scorers, mid-range scorers, 3-point shooters, penetrators, rim-runners, cutters, all of the bases are fully covered on the offensive end. The defense hasn’t looked too shabby over recent weeks either. When John Calipari can roll out Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware, and Davion Mintz off his bench and not worry about a drop-off defensively, that’s a big deal.

The Kentucky team that played in Lawrence on Saturday night has as good a chance to win the national title as any program in the country.

Now let’s dive into the highlights and all of KSR’s postgame links, along with other news and notes you need to know for today.

Postgame links

Career Night for Keion Brooks Powers Kentucky Past Kansas 80-62
Kentucky makes Allen Fieldhouse its own in blue blood blowout
KSR’s top takeaways from Kentucky’s 80-62 blowout victory at Kansas
Against Kansas, it was Keion Brooks’ turn to take over for Kentucky
First half offense, team defense shine as Kentucky hammers Kansas
Bill Self on Kentucky: “That’s a team that could win it all”
Finally healthy, Kentucky proved it has national title hopes
SEC wins the Big 12/SEC Challenge (because it means more)
Sources Say Podcast: Kentucky blows out No. 5 Kansas in Lawrence

Hear from Cal, Tshiebwe, and Brooks

Kentucky WBB plays 4th game in 7 days

The final stretch of a long road trip will finally come to a close on Sunday afternoon. Kentucky Women’s Basketball is down in Baton Rouge for a showdown against the No. 12 LSU Tigers, which will tipoff at 2:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.

It’s been a struggle in recent weeks for the ladies and head coach Kyra Elzy. Kentucky is currently 9-8 on the season and just 2-5 in the SEC, with losses in five of its previous six outings. Granted, the schedule and injury timing has done the team zero favors. UK will play its fourth game in seven days on Sunday, the final three of which are road contests.

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Prepped and ready for another road test tomorrow. #CommitToIt pic.twitter.com/C7WSFT2Sx9
— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) January 30, 2022

The million-dollar question heading into Sunday’s game will be the status of a trio of important Wildcats: Dre’Una Edwards (suspended), Robyn Benton (ankle), and Treasure Hunt (undisclosed injury). Edwards has not played since the loss to Tennessee on Jan. 16 — four games ago — due to a suspension that has not been clarified and no indication that it’ll end soon. The team’s second-leading scorer has not been on the UK bench nor traveling with the team.

Benton, the team’s third-leading scorer, hasn’t played since injuring her ankle against Ole Miss and a timeline for her return is still unknown. The same can be said for Hunt, who was mysteriously ruled out prior to tipoff of Thursday’s loss to Vanderbilt. Facing the No. 12 team in the country, Kentucky is going to need a lot from Rhyne Howard…

For a full preview of the Tigers, check out Grant Grubbs’ breakdown right here.

UK offers DL Noah Matthews

Kentucky Football was hosting an important visitor over the weekend, who eventually picked up a scholarship offer from the ‘Cats when it was all said and done.

Noah Matthews, a class of 2022 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive lineman, was in Lexington to check out the campus. A recent decommit of Weber State, Matthews is an under-the-radar 3-star recruit from the state of Delaware who is reportedly down to UK and Illinois.

Brad White has already secured one commitment from a Delaware defensive lineman, Tomiwa Durojaiye. The UK signee was Delaware’s 3A Defensive Player of the Year, while Matthews was an all-state selection and the 2A Defensive Lineman of the Year in class 2A for Woodbridge.

#AG2G Very blessed to receive an offer from the University of Kentucky!! @RowlandRIVALS @EdwardsCBS @adamgorney @RivalsFriedman @BrianDohn247 pic.twitter.com/bDGKRFeazR
— ɴᴏᴀʜ ᴍᴀᴛᴛʜᴇᴡꜱ (@LightsOutNoah) January 29, 2022

Come on down, Noah.

DJ Wagner gets the best of Bronny James

Wanna see a potential future Kentucky Basketball player embarrass the son of the greatest basketball player of this generation? Of course you do! Watch below as 5-star class of 2023 guard DJ Wagner, who is a top UK target, put the moves on class of 2023 4-star guard Bronny James, the son of LeBron James.