The Kentucky-Louisville rivalry rarely needs much help getting heated, and this time the fire started early. Former UK pledge Karter Knox stepped into the trash-talk lane first, making it clear he expects the Cardinals to walk out of Lexington with a win.
Knox, who once looked set to follow his brother Kevin Knox to Kentucky before Kevin’s path went from Lexington to Arkansas, has now landed back in the Bluegrass as a Louisville player under Pat Kelsey. After two seasons with the Razorbacks, he entered the portal and came home - just in a different shade of red.
He told Louisville TV reporter Kendrick Haskins that the family conversations have already turned competitive, and he was blunt about how he sees the matchup going.
“We do, and we’ve had a lot of talks about it,” Knox told Louisville TV reporter Kendrick Haskins. “I told him, ‘You already know we’re gonna come out on top.’ We haven’t beat them in 10 years at Kentucky, but this year’s gonna be a different outcome.”
He didn’t stop there either, pointing to what he believes is Louisville’s biggest strength.
“This is probably-not even probably. This is the best team,” he continued.
“This is the best team in the nation right here, man. We’ve got all dogs on the floor.
It’s hard to play against a team with all dogs on the floor.”
The numbers, at least in Lexington, don’t exactly back up the bravado. Louisville’s last win over Kentucky in Lexington came in 2008, an 89-75 result. That’s 19 years ago.
Kentucky freshman Malachi Moreno heard the talk, and he wasn’t about to let it slide. Moreno, a seven-footer who already took one on the chin at the KFC Yum! Center, made it clear he’s looking forward to the next meeting.
“People can say what they want to say, but we’ll see,” he told Haskins. “We’ll see them in December. That’s all I gotta say.”
The teams split last season’s series, with Kentucky winning 93-85 in Rupp Arena to open the Mark Pope era before Louisville answered with a 96-88 win at home. Now the rivalry gets its next chapter in December.
In Other News...
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Kentucky Suddenly Has Two Injury Concerns Fans Cant Ignore
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One of the bigger concerns now is on the football side, where CJ Baxter was listed as questionable for the next game, and on the basketball side, where Otega Owehs rookie NBA season has already been cut short after the Oklahoma City Thunder confirmed an Achilles injury. For a fan base trying to track the health of multiple programs at once, it is the sort of update that changes the tone of the week, and there is more context and interview reaction available on the KSR YouTube channel. [Read more 🡒]