Darbyshire spent three seasons at Kentucky as a walk-on, the final two seasons of Calipari’s coaching tenure and the first season of Pope’s. Darbyshire appeared in six games for the Wildcats and graduated from UK in May after only three years.

So Lee K. Howard, WKYT’s sports director and anchor Kristen Kennedy’s husband, took their kids out of school to watch the team work at Rupp. Lee K said at the end of practice, Coach Pope picked two kids to come onto the floor to try to make a basket. If they did, the players wouldn’t have to run lines.

Jasper Johnson got the cheat code to playing in Mark Pope's Kentucky basketball system while playing for Overtime Elite. What that could mean for UK.

In an exhibition loss, Kentucky basketball sophomore experiences growing pains while making first college start.

McLaughlin-Levrone was one of six inductees in the UK Athletics Hall of Fame 's 2024 class. The other members included Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (women’s track and field; 2016-18), John Cropp (administration and coach; 1991-2013), Henrik Larsen (rifle; 2018), Jodie Meeks (men’s basketball; 2007-09) and Corey Peters (football; 2006-09).

Where fans can watch, listen to & follow Tuesday’s 2025-26 season opener between Mark Pope’s No. 9 Wildcats & Tevon Saddler’s Colonels.

The expectations around this Kentucky basketball team were already high.They always are, of course. | Published October 25, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ben Roberts Mark Pope and Cody Fueger came to Kentucky last year with a reputation for relying on the numbers,