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Coverage from the game:
Kentucky basketball can score. Mark Pope, Wildcats can beat teams with more than just 3s
Coverage during the game:
LEXINGTON — Just one more outing separates Kentucky basketball from the 2024-25 regular season.
UK and first-year coach Mark Pope host their second Division II team in as many weeks at 7 p.m. today. The opponent for tonight’s exhibition: Minnesota State Mankato. The Mavericks went 35-2 last season, capped by the first national championship in program history.
In their exhibition opener week, the Wildcats walloped Kentucky Wesleyan, winning by 71 points at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky’s new roster was on full display in the dominant outing, as every scholarship player who saw minutes finished with at least two points. Senior guard Kerr Kriisa didn’t play against Kentucky Wesleyan as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
Minnesota State Mankato was picked to win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in the league’s preseason coaches poll.
Senior Kyreese Willingham, the NSIC preseason player of the year, leads the way for the Mavericks. Willingham returns after appearing in all 37 games last season, averaging 14.5 points and 5.3 rebounds. He sank the go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining in last season’s national title game against Nova Southeastern.
The Mavericks also have a coach with decades of experience in Matt Margenthaler. In 23 years at the helm, Margenthaler has compiled a 488-211 record (.698 winning percentage), collecting eight conference titles and earning 14 NCAA Tournament bids to go along with last season’s national championship.
Follow along below with live updates from Rupp Arena:
Kentucky coach Mark Pope shows off custom Nike ‘Book 1’ shoes
At the end of his news conference Tuesday night, UK coach Mark Pope took off one of his shoes to showcase how much he loved them.
The shoes: custom-made Nike “Book 1s,” the signature line from former Kentucky star Devin Booker.
Watch Pope discuss the shoes in the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kentucky-basketball-exhibition-score-uk-210005641.html
Author : The Courier Journal
Publish date : 2024-10-29 21:00:00
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