John Calipari will coach against one of his former managers Sunday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)
The Griffons of Missouri Western will be traveling from St. Joseph, Missouri to play Kentucky Sunday night in UK’s first exhibition game of the season.
It will be the first time head coach Will Martin will be present in Rupp Arena since being a student manager for the Cats from 2009-12. His last appearance at Rupp was the year of the national championship 2012 season. When Martin was at Kentucky, the program went to three Elite Eights, two Final Fours and won the 2012 national title.
Two of Martin’s assistant coaches are Jon Hood and Perry Stevenson, both familiar faces to the BBN since both played at Kentucky.
The Griffons are predicted to finish in the top half of the Mid-America conference this year and are relying on help from three Division I transfers from the portal.
— Ethan Kilgore- transfer from University of Idaho, shooting guard, Missouri native.
— Julius Dison-transfer from Morehead state, small forward, redshirted last season.
— Matthew Nunez-transfer from East Tennessee State, center.
The team went to Costa Rica this past summer and arrived home with a 3-0 record after defeating two Costa Rica all-star teams and the Costa Rica National team.
The biggest question might be: What is a Griffon? A griffon is a legendary creature with a body, tail and back legs of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle.
Game Day
Time/Date: 7:00 p.m. Sunday
Location: Rupp Arena
TV Channel: SEC Network
Online Stream: WatchESPN, ESPN+, or the ESPN app
Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the UK radio network call on WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1, and the UK Sports Network.
