KSR Today: The Madness has arrived in Kentucky

ZGeogheganKSR

On3 image — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sport Radio

Good morning, folks! It’s shaping up to be another beautiful day across the state of Kentucky, but more importantly, postseason basketball is officially upon us. March Madness has arrived. Let’s dive right in.

Kentucky WBB begins SEC Tournament run

We’ll start with the ladies in the blue and white. Tipping off around 7:00 p.m. EST later this evening, Kentucky Women’s Basketball will look to extend its six-game winning streak as it takes on Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament. The Wildcats enter as a seven-seed while the Bulldogs check-in as the 10-seed. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

KSR’s Grant Grubbs will be in Nashville to provide all the coverage you need. He’ll be by very soon with a full preview of the matchup, but here are a few of the bullet points. For starters, a win for UK would all but solidify a spot in the upcoming 2022 NCAA Tournament. There’s a chance the ‘Cats can sneak in even in the event of a loss tonight, but a win would make it tough to keep them out. Survive and advance, as they say…

The last time these two teams met, Kentucky made history, but only because of how poorly the team played early on. UK beat MSU 81-74 a little over two weeks ago after trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half. It was the ninth-largest comeback in program history and the second win of the current six-game winning streak.

ʙʙɴ 🔵@KentuckyWBB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/QcY9eatsfW
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 3, 2022

Kentucky will obviously lean heavily on Rhyne Howard, who was named to the All-SEC First Team for the fourth straight year earlier this week, but she’ll need help. Dre’Una Edwards has stepped up in a major way over the last couple of weeks, including back-to-back performances of 30 and 25 points against Missouri and Auburn, respectively. Also make sure to keep an eye on rookie point guard Jada Walker, who was tabbed to the SEC’s All-Freshman Team.

On the other end of the court, Kentucky will have to focus on MSU’s Anastasia Hayes, who’s second in the SEC in scoring at 18.8 points per outing. She dropped 21 points in the first meeting with UK and has scored fewer than 15 points in only four games this season.

Reed Sheppard, North Laurel begin 13th Region run

With district tournaments already behind us, regional action is fully underway. 2023 Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard will begin his run for the 13th Region crown, and the Sweet 16 title, later tonight with KSR’s own Ryan Lemond on the call for WYMT.

Sheppard will take his No. 6 North Laurel (25-5) squad down to Corbin Arena for a first-round matchup against Lynn Camp. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EST and will immediately follow the game right before: Bell County vs. Corbin. Both South Laurel and Knox Central won their games on Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. This will be the first meeting of the season between North Laurel and Lynn Camp, with the victor taking on the winner of Bell County-Corbin in the semifinals.

North Laurel is terrific shape to reach the Boy’s Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena this year, which would be Sheppard’s first appearance. Now a junior and future Kentucky Wildcat, he might as well get used to the rims at Rupp anyways. But he has to take care of business in the 13th Region first. Sheppard and North Laurel made easy work of Oneida Baptist Institute and Jackson County to clear through the 49th District Tournament. Now Sheppard is just three games from making it to Rupp.

Kentucky MBB preparing for regular-season finale

We’re now two days out from the Kentucky Men’s Basketball regular-season finale against Florida, which is set for Saturday at 2:00 p.m. EST on CBS down in Gainesville. UK is coming off a feel-good Senior Night victory over Ole Miss on Tuesday, which was admittedly a bit closer on the scoreboard than fans might have liked. But a win is still a win. Facing Florida will be another chance to iron out any pressing issues before we roll right into the SEC Tournament next week.

The season sure has flown by, huh?

Florida is no slouch, either. The Gators will host its Senior Day against the ‘Cats with an overall record of 19-11 and a 9-8 mark in league play. UF recently upset a then-No. 2 ranked Auburn team at home and sits on a two-game winning streak over Georgia and Vanderbilt. An eight-point loss at home to a red-hot Arkansas squad mixed in between proved this team is in the mood to compete against the best. Considering Florida is one of Joe Lunardi’s “Next Four Out” of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, this might be considered a must-win for the Gators.

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We’ll hear from head coach John Calipari and select players on Friday morning, so you might as well watch my new favorite video of all time to quench your March Madness thirst. Seriously, I watch this every hour on the hour to boost my serotonin levels and it has worked every single time. I suggest you do the same.

Starting March with the dub.@tytywashington3 x @KentuckyDance pic.twitter.com/griq3v21gx
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 2, 2022

Various UK Football notes

Mark Stoops called into KSR near the end of Wednesday’s show to talk a bit about the new offensive coordinator (Rich Scangarello) and offensive line coach (Zach Yesner). You could almost sense the smile plastered across the Kentucky head coach’s face when he was talking about these two.

If you’re interested in everything Stoops had to say, you can check that out right here.

Also, KSR’s Nick Roush and Adam Luckett are up in Indianapolis for the 2022 NFL Draft Combine, where they’ve been covering the hell out of everything slightly Kentucky-related. Here’s just a taste of what they’ve provided for us so far. Expect some Darian Kinnard #content to hit the site later today.

More Cal love for IQ and Maxey

For the second time in under a week, the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers went head to head. And for the second time in a week, John Calipari was feeling extra proud of Immanuel Quickley and Tyrese Maxey.

The two former Kentucky guards battled it out on Wednesday night with their former head coach in attendance at the Philly-based arena. The 76ers came out on top, 123-108, as did Maxey, who finished with 25 points, four rebounds, and three assists on 7-12 shooting. Turns out playing next to Joel Embiid and James Harden makes basketball a bit easier. Who knew!

Quickley, on the other hand, posted 11 points on 4-7 shooting as his Knicks squad continues to plummet in the standings. But Calipari made sure to recognize them both.