Kentucky basketball was alive in well, in the form of alumni basketball. Big Blue Nation packed Historic Memorial Coliseum to watch La Familia open the 2025 TBT with a 105-52 victory over Stroh’s Squad.
La Familia overwhelmed the Bowling Green alumni from the jump. The Harrison Twins got hot from three early to give the former Cats a double-digit advantage. La Familia closed the first quarter on a 16-2 run, setting the table for a dominant win.
Archie Goodwin starred for La Familia, flirting with a triple-double by leading all scorers with 19 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. Aaron Harrison and Kahlil Whitney scored 14 points apiece. It felt like 2012 when Doron Lamb pulled out the three goggles after sinking three three-pointers.
Even though he is the youngest player on the team, it took time for Ansley Almonor to shake off the rust. Needing a three for the Elam Ender, Sean Woods called Almonor’s number, and he delivered.
“Almonor was a little nervous today…” Woods said postgame. “But I was trying to get him a good one, and that last one from three, I was gonna make sure no one else shot that ball but him. And finally he made one, so hopefully that can get him going for the next one, because we’re gonna need him.”
La Familia advances to play Auburn’s War Ready alumni team on Sunday. The action at Historic Memorial Coliseum begins at 2:30 PM ET on Fox.
Blowouts can be boring. This one was not. The former Kentucky Wildcats played with an intensity and tenacity required to win at a high level in the TBT. Yes, there’s sloppy play at times and it took a while for a few guys to find their shot, but as you’ll see, La Familia gave BBN plenty of reasons to cheer.
The biggest moment? When Kahlil Whitney got his first bucket by throwing down a thunderous dunk. Kentucky fans are throwing their weight behind The Dragon during his redemption tour.
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It was a solid crowd for a late Friday night in Lexington. Fans in the stands didn’t have to listen to the crackling Fox Sports audio, either. Łukasz Obrzut, Twany Beckham, and Rajon Rondo were among the former Cats who made the trip to watch the game, while most of the current team spent time watching the team they scrimmaged earlier in the week. They weren’t the biggest stars in the building, though. That was Zack and Mario.
Not every former Kentucky Wildcat is suiting up in The Basketball Tournament. There are still quite a few in Las Vegas competing in the NBA Summer League. You can catch four former Cats in action today.
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Nobody expects Kentucky to make some noise in the SEC this year. In the preseason media poll, the Wildcats were picked to finish 15th out of 16 teams.
You can look at it two different ways. The easy out is to write these Cats off as a terrible team at the bottom of the league. An optimist might say that this Kentucky football team has an opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. After all, Mark Stoops is at his best when he’s an underdog.
When you’re picked to finish near the bottom of the SEC, you’re not going to have a lot of preseason All-SEC players. Punter Aidan Laros was the only one who made the cut, earning a spot on the third-team.
Laros made some headlines this month when folks noticed that he was the only player on EA Sports College Football ’26 with a toughness rating of zero. He’s had some fun with it, creating a Happy Gilmore spoof and joining KSR on Friday to talk about the snub.
It is clearly a snub. After all, the South African grew up playing rugby. “I reckon I’m one of the tougher punters in the nation, for sure.”
Uncle Rico wishes he could throw a ball as far as Ronald Acuna Jr. I am not a Baseball Benny, so I cannot say this definitively, but this might be the furthest a baseball has ever been thrown, and it was right on the money.
Horse racing suffers from a lack of star power because horses take such long breaks between races. Journalism is an old soul, proving that he’s willing to take on any and every challenger in the biggest races in North America.
Despite a close loss in the Kentucky Derby, Journalism won the Preakness on short rest, then traveled to Saratoga where he lost a rematch to Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes. Most of the top three-year-olds are pointing toward the Travers Stakes in late August. Rather than waiting around, Journalism is back in action today at Monmouth Park. He’ll be the heavy favorite in the Haskell Stakes.
Gosger nearly took down Journalism in the Preakness. Burnham Square is a closer who got blocked in before finishing sixth in the Derby, but this is Journalism’s race to lose. You’ll want to tune in at 5:45 PM ET to see if he can once again look like the best three-year-old in the country.
The best golfer in the world looked like it on Friday. He shot a scintillating 64 to soar to the top of the leaderboard at Portrush. Scottie Scheffler is all by himself at 10-under, with Matthew Fitzpatrick one shot back. Brian Harman and Haotong Li are within reach at 8-under as they prepare to tee-off at The Open momentarily on NBC.
