One year ago today, we were getting our first glimpses of Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team on the practice court and celebrating a July 4th football commitment, three-star offensive tackle Jermiel Atkins. Since then, it feels like the two teams have headed in different directions, with Pope and his squad of scrappy underdogs pumping new life into the basketball program and the football team sliding toward the SEC cellar in Year 12 of the Mark Stoops era.
That said, both teams provided some explosive moments in 2024-25; let’s look back at the best of them while we wait for the real fireworks to begin tonight — and continue on Sunday if four-star quarterback Matt Ponatoski picks the Cats.
Otega Oweh’s buzzer-beaters vs. Oklahoma
When you think of fireworks, these are by far the biggest in my mind. Oweh broke his former team’s heart not once but twice last season. In his first trip back to Norman after transferring from Oklahoma to Kentucky, Oweh, formerly the Sooners’ leading scorer, was the enemy. With the crowd booing him and chanting “traitor” during his free throws, Oweh kept his cool, scoring 28 points, including an off-balance game-winner with six seconds remaining. One Sooner fan was so mad that they chucked a beer can at Brandon Garrison as the team left the court.
Two weeks later, Oweh did it again, hitting a baseline jumper with 0.5 seconds left to give Kentucky the 85-84 win in the second round of the SEC Tournament. It was an incredible moment, one so great that you probably don’t even remember that it saved the Cats from blowing a 10-point lead with 1:20 to go.
Kentucky’s win over Duke in the Champions Classic
There was no bigger pop to start Mark Pope’s first season than the win over Duke in the Champions Classic. Oweh played a heroic role in that one, too, hitting four free throws in the final 10.3 seconds to seal the 77-72 victory; that said, the moment you probably remember most is Oweh stripping and stealing the ball from Cooper Flagg as he spun toward the hoop with the score tied at 72 with 14 seconds remaining. It was a play beautifully dialed up by Mark Pope during a timeout that Oweh executed to perfection with a little help from Andrew Carr. That was the night Pope’s coaching genius first blew our minds.
Kentucky’s comeback vs. Gonzaga
Less than a month later, Kentucky thrilled us again, coming back from an 18-point second-half deficit to beat No. 7 Gonzaga in overtime in Seattle. Amazingly, they did it without Lamont Butler, who missed the game with an ankle injury, and Kerr Kriisa, who went down with a leg injury of his own in the second half. Jaxson Robinson and Andrew Carr stepped up to lead the way, with Mark Pope turning in another brilliant coaching performance by switching to a zone to spark Kentucky’s run in the second half.
Watching the Cats claw back to beat another top-ten team was exactly what BBN needed to erase the memory of the loss to Clemson in the game prior.
Barion Brown’s 63-yard catch on 4th down vs. Ole Miss
It’s still wild to me that Kentucky Football’s lone SEC win last season was over a top ten Ole Miss team in Oxford. Even wilder is that it was the result of the most uncharacteristic Mark Stoops call ever, a 63-yard catch and run by Barion Brown on 4th and 7 to put the Cats inside Ole Miss’ 20-yard line late in the game. Lane Kiffin even complimented Mark Stoops for the “out of character” playcall, which paved the way for the upset. There weren’t a ton of football fireworks in the past year; this one easily stands out above the rest.
Rick Pitino at Big Blue Madness
There were a lot of remarkable moments in Mark Pope’s first season at Kentucky. The most surprising may have been when his old coach Rick Pitino stepped onto the court with the rest of the 1995-96 team at the end of Big Blue Madness. Tensions had thawed since Pitino left Louisville — a heel turn that some in BBN vowed never to forgive — but seeing the Rupp crowd get to their feet to welcome him back was still stunning. In an interview with Matt Jones on the football pregame show the next day (also surreal), Pitino admitted that the ovation he received brought tears to his eyes. If this past year was a fireworks show, this moment would surely be near the grand finale.
John Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena
Another highly-charged entrance: John Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena as Arkansas’ coach. There’s no need to discuss the result of that game, but the build-up to it was right up there with Pitino’s first trip back to Rupp as Louisville’s coach. In fact, Pitino took to social media in the days before the game to urge Kentucky fans not to boo Calipari when he walked in. Still, a lot of Kentucky fans did, prompting a hilarious expression on Calipari’s face. The rest of that night sucked; however, I’ll never forget the energy coursing through the arena in the hours and minutes leading to tip-off.
Men’s and Women’s Basketball wins over Louisville
No list of thrilling moments is complete without wins over Kentucky’s biggest rival. Both Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks notched victories over Louisville in their first seasons. Lamont Butler scored 33 points to lead the men’s team to a 93-85 win over Pat Kelsey’s Cards in Rupp Arena, a game that included a scuffle between Brandon Garrison and Reyne Smith over a loose ball that Mark Pope stepped in to help break up. I cannot wait to see Garrison further embrace the rivalry this season.
On the women’s side, No. 20 Kentucky outlasted No. 18 Louisville in overtime 71-61, the Cats’ first victory in the series since 2015. It was only the fourth game of the Brooks era and the first against a ranked opponent. What better way to send a statement than snapping a seven-game losing streak against the Cards?
Jaxson Robinson’s seven threes vs. Mississippi State
Unfortunately, injuries prevented us from seeing Jaxson Robinson reach his potential at Kentucky; however, there were still some bright moments. One of the most satisfying for Robinson had to be scoring 27 points, including seven threes, to lead No. 6 Kentucky to a thrilling 95-90 win over No. 14 Mississippi State. The performance came on the heels of Robinson going 1-5 from the floor and scoring only five points in Kentucky’s loss to Georgia. Koby Brea was most known for lighting it up from the outside last season, but Robinson’s three-point barrage vs. the Bulldogs was a reminder of what he had in the arsenal.
Trent Noah’s threes vs. Tennessee
Is there anything more American than Kentucky beating Tennessee? Not to Trent Noah, who grew up a stone’s throw from the state line. The freshman from Harlan County did the mountains proud with his performance in Kentucky’s regular-season wins over Tennessee. In the first game in Knoxville, he hit a three to push Kentucky’s lead to 11 with 12:25 to go. In the rematch at Rupp Arena, he scored 11 points, including a 3-4 mark from the three-point line. It was the only game in which he scored in double figures. To Kentucky boys like Noah, beating Tennessee just means more.
Koby Brea’s kill-shot vs. Illinois
Kentucky came into the 2025 NCAA Tournament having not made the second weekend since 2019. Thanks to Koby Brea, the Cats once again punched their ticket to the Sweet 16. With 12 minutes to go in the second half, Brea went on a personal 10-0 run, scoring on four consecutive possessions to push Kentucky’s lead to 16. Afterward, Mark Pope quipped, “I don’t know if any of us ever at the rec league have felt what he felt tonight in the second half.”
Honorable Mention: Gerald Mincey at the Concession Stand
This moment did not happen on the field, but was one of the most talked-about of the 2024 football season. While Kentucky was getting humiliated by Louisville, offensive lineman Gerald Mincey was spotted at a concession stand in the concourse. Mincey didn’t play in that game, his final as a Wildcat, but he broke an unwritten rule by leaving the sideline, which surely prompted some postgame fireworks as the clip went viral.
We still don’t know what Mincey got at the concession stand, but if it was a hot dog, this truly deserves mention on July 4th.
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