Meet the Fighting Ryan Lemonds of Kentucky Wesleyan, UKMBB's first exhibition opponent

The Mark Pope era of Kentucky Basketball has already had many firsts. We all remember his first press conference in April, a standing-room-only event on a Sunday afternoon in Rupp Arena. If things go well for Pope, that will be a day that will live forever in Kentucky’s storybooks.

Pope’s first Madness was another memorable event for its resetting of the program and the reunion with Rick Pitino, a former national champion head coach in Lexington. A week later, Pope’s new players and offensive system debuted in their first public scrimmage at the Blue-White Preseason Event. Pope also won his first Media Day as Kentucky’s head coach earlier this month.

Tonight, Pope and the Wildcats have another first: their first game against somebody else. Kentucky will play its first preseason exhibition game in Rupp Arena at 7 p.m., hosting the Panthers of Kentucky Wesleyan out of Owensboro, Kentucky.

A fun one for KSR, Wesleyan is the alma mater of KSR’s own Ryan Lemond, who still holds the stolen base records in Wesleyan’s baseball record books. Our lovable Lemond ranks first all-time in stolen bases for a career and a single season nearly forty years after he hung up his cleats to begin a career in sports media.

For more on Kentucky Wesleyan, its basketball team, and maybe Ryan Lemond, continue reading for information on Kentucky’s first exhibition opponent.

Five Kentucky Wesleyan College Facts

1. Founded in 1858 by the Kentucky Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Kentucky Wesleyan College orginated as a training school for preachers before adding to its curriculum.
2. Millersburg and then Winchester were home to KWC before the campus moved to Owensboro in 1951.
3. Kentucky Wesleyan’s Panther mascot dates back to at least 1888, when the campus was still in Millersburg. Its true origins are still unknown.
4. KWC’s overall enrollment for the 2024-25 academic year is 864 students, including a freshman class of 269 new Panthers. The 2024 student population comes from 31 states and 29 countries.
5. Kentucky Wesleyan ranks T-22 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Regional Colleges South Rankings. It shares the 22nd spot with Belmont Abbey College (NC), Lees-McRae College (NC), and the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (AR).

NCAA Division II Powerhouse

KWC has eight NCAA Division II national championships in its trophy case, from 1966 to 2001. Former head coach Ray Harper, a seven-time DII Coach of the Year, coached two of those championship teams in 1999 and 2001. The Panthers played in the championship game the other four years in a six-year span from 1998 to 2003. KWC never lost more than three games in a season during Harper’s six consecutive seasons with championship appearances.

Guy R. Strong (1966), Bob Daniels (1968, 1969), Bob Jones (1973), and Wayne Chapman (1987, 1990) also coached championship teams. Wayne Chapman is Rex’s dad. KWC went 129-45 under his five-year watch. He went out on top in 1990 with a 31-2 record and the NCAA DII trophy.

Drew Cooper, Head Coach

Entering his seventh season as head coach of the Panthers, Drew Cooper is the 23rd head coach in school history. Last season, Cooper was awarded the 2024 NABC All-Midwest District and Great Midwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. The Louisville, KY native came from Thomas More, in addition to assistant coaching gigs at Bellarmine, Northern Kentucky, and Babson College in Massachusettes.

Defending Co-Great Midwest Athletic Regular Season Champs

The Panthers are coming off a 21-9 season in which they were named co-champions of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. It was KWC’s first 20-win season since 2016-17.

Ls Down

Last season, Kentucky Wesleyan upset the University of Louisville in a preseason exhibition game in the KFC Yum Center. The Panthers gave the Big Blue Nation a good laugh, beating the Cards 71-68 on Halloween Eve. The win was the second ever for Wesleyan over a DI opponent.

Six of the top eight scores are back

Eligibility expired on fifth-year senior Borja “Beezy” Fernandez and his team-leading 16.7 points per game. The 6-7 Spaniard was an All-Conference player last season. Besides him, Wesleyan returns a lot of production and experience from its G-MAC championship season, including six of its top eight scorers. Kennedy Miles, a 6-1 guard, is the top returning scorer at 12.8 ppg in 2023-24. Edward Jones Jr. and Logan McIntire also scored in double figures a year ago. Miles is also the team’s leading returning rebounder.

International size

KWC’s roster has two international players, both new to the team: Fatih Huyuk from Turkey and Alex Tsynkevich from Belarus. They stand 6-7 and 6-10, and 230 and 235 pounds. Huyuk averaged 12 points and seven rounds per game for Southwestern Iowa last season. Tsynkevich made two JUCO stops at Blinn College and Alcorn State University before moving to Owensboro. He was named Honorable Mention to the NJCAA Region XIV.

Four Kentuckians on the roster

Drew Cooper has only four Kentuckians on his Kentucky Wesleyan roster:

1. Boden Bates | G | 6-2 | 170 | So. | Brownsville, Ky. (Edmonson)
2. Carter Bischoff | G | 6-0 | 165 | Jr. | Louisville, Ky. (DeSales)
3. Alex Gray | F | 6-3 | 185 | 5th | Owensboro, Ky. (Apollo / Friends University)
4. Kaveon Mitchell | G | 6-3 | 180 | Sr. | Irvington, Ky. (Breckinridge County)

Gray and Mitchell played significant minutes in all 30 games last year, starting in nearly all of them with averages of 8.1 and 7.9 points per game.

Kentucky is 2-0 against KWC in exhibition games

UK played Kentucky Wesleyan twice in exhibition contests, beating the Panthers prior to the 2004 and 2021 seasons. Before that, the teams met 11 times between 1910 and 1938. The Wildcats went 8-2-1 in that span.