KSR Today: Ugonna is BACK; Bat 'Cats head to No. 1 LSU
Good morning, folks! Ugonna Onyenso announced his return to Kentucky late Wednesday night, not long after freshman forward Chris Livingston announced his intentions to do the opposite. Who says the offseason is boring?
Onyenso, the program’s prized long-term project piece with unlimited defensive upside, is returning to Lexington for his sophomore campaign. The decision comes after he entered the transfer portal back on April 5, ultimately deciding to withdraw a week later on April 12.
“BBN, I’m back and looking forward to chasing my dream of winning a national championship with my brothers! Go Cats!” Onyenso wrote. Significant, significant news for next season’s ‘Cats. While Onyenso didn’t have the most impactful freshman run, his potential (and the simple fact that he wanted to come back) is what has us excited for year two of Ugo.
But it wasn’t all good news on Wednesday. Chris Livingston announced that he would put his name in the NBA Draft. It wasn’t immediately known whether or not he would retain his college eligibility, but UK confirmed that to be the case shortly after the announcement. Livingston joins Antonio Reeves and Oscar Tshiebwe as other Wildcats testing the waters. Jacob Toppin and Cason Wallace have already fully declared for the NBA Draft.
Players can submit paperwork to receive evaluations from the NBA and participate – if invited – in the NBA Draft Combine which is slated to take place May 15-21. The deadline to return to school is May 31.
Bat ‘Cats facing No. 1 Tigers in Baton Rouge
No. 11 Kentucky baseball will start this week’s SEC series a day earlier than usual. A three-game setup against the top-ranked team in the entire country, the LSU Tigers, begins Thursday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.
After winning 23 out of 24 games, Nick Mingione’s squad hit its first hiccup of the season last weekend in Athens. Kentucky took easy care of Georgia in game one on Friday, but poor weather on Saturday forced a doubleheader on Sunday that must have shocked the ‘Cats. Georgia won both Sunday games by a combined score of 9-2 — the first SEC series loss of the season for UK.
Taking at least one game off of LSU won’t be easy, but it might be necessary to keep the momentum rolling. The schedule is only going to get tougher down the stretch. Kentucky has done an excellent job of building its resume up to this point, but now it’s time to prove they belong in the upper echelon of a loaded SEC.
KSR’s baseball expert Daniel Hager will have a full preview of this important series coming to the site later in the morning.
Game 1: Thursday, April 13th, 2023 (Alex Box Stadium – 7:00 PM)
UK: TBD vs LSU: RHP Paul Skenes (5-1, 1.14 ERA, 47.1 IP)
Game 2: Friday, April 14th, 2023 (Alex Box Stadium – 7:30 PM)
UK: RHP Logan Martin (1-1, 3.32 ERA, 19.0 IP) vs LSU: RHP Ty Floyd (5-0, 3.67 ERA, 34.1 IP)
Game 3: Saturday, April 15th, 2023 (Alex Box Stadium – 2:00 PM)
UK: LHP Tyler Bosma (4-2, 4.33 ERA, 35.1 IP) vs LSU: RHP Christian Little (2-1, 4.05 ERA, 20.0 IP)
Mark Stoops speaks after final spring practice
Kentucky football spring practice has come to a close. Wednesday morning, head coach Mark Stoops wrapped up six weeks of action at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility with an optimistic outlook on his 2023 football team.
“It’s been a good spring. It feels good to wrap it up to be quite honest with you,” Stoops admitted. “It gets a bit long as I mentioned before, but players that really bought in had a really good winter and the spring went good. No major injuries, which always is important to get through that.”
KSR’s Freddie Maggard broke down all of Stoops’ post-spring practice thoughts, which you can read here. You can hear everything Stoops had to say below.
Watch the latest Mark Stoops press conference on the KSR YouTube Channel.
Softball ‘Cats take down Bellarmine
Fueled by Jenna Blanton’s first career home run and a grand slam from star hitter Erin Coffel, No. 17 Kentucky softball bounced back from a Sunday loss to smash the Bellarmine Knights in Louisville, 13-4.
Kentucky’s offense exploded for 13 runs on 11 hits, with every UK starter in Wednesday’s contest reaching base in the game. The Wildcats had runs in the first, second, third and seventh innings to complete the win, as UK won the first-ever meeting against the Knights as a Power 5 team.
With Wednesday’s win, Kentucky improves to 25-10-1 on the year. Bellarmine falls to 4-32 with the loss. Kentucky will host No. 7/8 Tennessee this weekend at John Cropp Stadium beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app. UK is expecting tickets to sell fast, so make sure to get ahead of the curve.
You can read a full recap of the win from KSR’s Katelyn Perkins here.
UK Gymnastics begins national championship run
No. 7 Kentucky gymnastics will begin its hopeful run for a national championship later tonight at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas at 9:00 p.m. EST.
The ‘Cats punched its ticket to the Championships for the second time in program history after advancing out of the Norman (OK) Regional earlier this month. Kentucky is making its first appearance at the Championships in 2018.
Kentucky has not been a stranger to rewriting the record books this season setting numerous program bests and breaking many highs both individually and as a team. The 197.850 scored by Kentucky in the regional finals was the second highest in program history and highest ever in regional competition. In addition to the overall meet score, the ‘Cats set a new record on the balance beam with 49.575. UK found top-10 marks on every apparatus except the floor exercise.
UK will compete in Session II of the Championships with No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Utah, and No. 5 UCLA. Session I will take place at 3 p.m. featuring No. 3 Florida, No. 4 California, No. 6 LSU, and No. 8 Denver. The two top teams out of each session will advance to Saturday’s NCAA Championship finals where the 2023 National Champion will be crowned at 4 p.m.
SGA leads OKC to final Play-In round
Playoff hopes for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder are still alive.
In a win-or-go-home scenario as part of the NBA’s Play-In Tournament on Wednesday night, SGA casually dropped 32 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals as the Thunder took down the New Orleans Pelicans 123-118. The win for OKC knocks the Pelicans out of the postseason picture entirely and sets up the Thunder with a chance to earn the Western Conference’s eight-seed. OKC will play again on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. EST (ESPN) against Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The winner will take on the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in round one of the Playoffs while the loser begins its offseason. If SGA continues to play like he did against the Pelicans, Minnesota should be terrified.
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