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KSR Today: Volleyball falls in thriller and John Calipari has jokes

Zack Geogheganby:Zack Geoghegan•09/15/22•

ZGeogheganKSR

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Photo by Aaron Perkins | Kentucky Sports Radio

Good morning, folks! The volleyball ‘Cats lost a thriller late last night to the in-state rival Louisville Cardinals. The match came down to a decisive fifth set with a roaring Memorial Coliseum crowd cheering on Kentucky, but the No. 3 ranked Cards mustered up just enough points down the stretch to lock in the win.

Kentucky cruised in the first set but UL handily won set two before taking set three in a nailbiter. UK would bounce back in a crucial fourth set only to have its hearts broken in the fifth.

It was a pretty impressive crowd too for a random Wednesday night match. The ESPN broadcast announced that it was a top 10 crowd in program history at Memorial Coliseum. If you were one of the few thousand in attendance, you got one hell of a show. You can do it all again this weekend, too. Kentucky will face its third top 10 opponent in 10 days on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST (ESPN2) when No. 2 Nebraska comes to Lexington.

If you want a full breakdown of yesterday’s match against UL, you can check out the recap here from KSR intern Ian Alvano, who was at the match from start to finish.

Aaron Perkins was also at Memorial to capture the scene for us:

John Calipari has jokes

John Calipari and Kenny Payne made their first public appearance together since the latter took over as the head basketball coach at the University of Louisville, serving as keynote speakers at the Kentucky Chamber’s 76th Annual Dinner in Louisville on Wednesday.

During a back-and-forth about recruiting, Payne nearly made the same grave mistake Calipari did back in the Bahamas.

“(NIL) should be the cherry on top,” Payne said. “But to have an even playing field, what better state than this one? This is a basketball state. It’s the best of the best.”

“Careful!” Calipari quickly jumped in.

“I just said state!” Payne joked back. “I said state, I didn’t say program!”

“All I’m saying is, our football program is — they’re seventh in the country, so let’s be fair,” Calipari said. “Thank you Kenny!”

“I said state!” Payne added. “I don’t want to get in that!”

Football or basketball fan, that’s hilarious.

Relive the win over Florida

The talented people over at Kentucky Wildcats TV dropped the perfect recap video highlighting Kentucky football’s Week 2 win over Florida in Gainesville. Go ahead and prepare yourself for some of those classic Ryan Lemond “chilly bumps”.

Set aside seven minutes of your morning to watch it. You’ll be a better person for it.

Coach Rich loves the ‘Cats

Kentucky fans are all hoping that Mark Stoops can keep offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello around in Lexington for at least two years. Bringing in NFL quality assistants has clearly changed how the football program is perceived, but some continuity is still needed. Well, so far, Scangarello is loving every second of his time at UK.

“I’m in no hurry to be a head coach,” he said just a few days after the Florida win. “My favorite thing in the world is coordinating. It’s fun, the strategy of it, getting guys to buy in and see them go, make it come alive. The euphoria after the game, it was probably as good a feeling as I’ve had coaching that I can remember. Quite honestly, it’s different in the SEC than the NFL. It was a cool feeling. It really was a special feeling. I was really happy for Coach (Stoops), the situation, the players, it was fun to be a part of.”

The plan from the beginning of Scangarello’s tenure in Lexington was to have him here for multiple seasons. If you ask him, that’s still the current plan.

“I work for a really good man and a really good program,” Scangarello added. “I will tell you, we coach guys like they’re pro players. They’re in college, but I feel like we’re going to be able to recruit who we want because they want to play in the NFL, they’re going to see that and it’s going to make us better too. I can’t wait to be a part of this for a long time.”

Hear from the Kentucky defense ahead of Youngstown State

Following Wednesday’s practice, members of the Kentucky football defense spoke with the media to talk about this weekend’s showdown against Youngstown State. You can find all of the videos below or by visiting the KSR YouTube page, which you should already be subscribed to at this point.

Brad White

Mike Stoops

Frank Buffano

Jordan Lovett

Carrington Valentine

Devin Booker gets up shots at Jack Harlow concert

Louisville rapper Jack Harlow, who has boomed into superstardom over the last year, was in Phoenix this week for a concert. So who decided to show up? None other than multi-time NBA All-Star and former Kentucky Wildcat Devin Booker, now with the Phoenix Suns.

Kentucky MBB Unity Series continues

After a successful launch to the series in 2021, the Unity Series returns on Dec. 21 with the Kentucky men’s basketball team hosting Florida A&M. The Unity Series is a five-year partnership with the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s to play an annual game between Kentucky and one of the SWAC’s member institutions inside of Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

Karmello English is back on the market

This is significant.

A top Kentucky football recruiting target is back on the open market. Four-star wide receiver Karmello English announced he has reopened his recruitment after decommiting from Auburn on Wednesday.

The Wildcats put in serious leg-work in his recruit this offseason, hosting English for a visit in the spring and an official visit in June. However, proximity was always a hurdle for Scott Woodward and the Kentucky football coaching staff. Playing for powerhouse Phenix City-Central, it’s a short drive to Auburn’s campus. A frequent visitor on the Plains, he was pushed to commit to the Tigers over the summer.

That’s all the news and notes I have for you this morning. We’ve got the KSR Pre-Show starting right now followed by KSR at 10:00 a.m. EST. See you then!

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2025-01-02