From spurned to burned: Tyran Stokes powers Kansas past Kentucky basketball

Brett Dawson, The Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov 11, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Mark Pope and his Kentucky basketball program spent considerable time and offered ample money in recruiting Tyran Stokes.

There was never any doubt how much the Wildcats wanted the 6-foot-8 wing originally from Louisville.

Tuesday night at the United Center was a fresh and unkind reminder of what they’d missed.

Stokes boosted No. 15 Kansas — the team he chose over the Wildcats — to an 89-69 win in the Champions Classic, providing the kind of singular talent the 24th-ranked Cats lack and the shot creation Kentucky will have to prove it can find against quality competition.

Stokes finished with 21 points on 8 of 19 shooting. He had 10 rebounds and four assists.

For good measure, Stokes — who’d made 1 of 4 3-pointers combined in KU’s first four games — hit 4 of 8 against the Cats.

The prolonged KU/UK recruiting battle made Stokes the story of the night, but he wasn’t the only Jayhawk giving Kentucky fits.

Tre White scored 30 points for KU; Trey Kaufman-Renn added 12.

But it wasn’t just the balanced offense that gave Kentucky problems.

The Cats shot 46.4% from the floor, but they struggled to find scoring opportunities. Kansas had 10 more field-goal attempts — including a 13-shot advantage in the first half — thanks to strong offensive rebounding and Kentucky turnovers.

UK couldn’t get sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic involved. Power forwards Ousmane N’Diaye and Justin McBride combined for six shot attempts and four rebounds. Guard Mason Williams, an early surprise this season, had four points in 17 minutes and was 0 for 3 from the floor.

And though point guard Zoom Diallo had the best game in his young Kentucky career — the Washington transfer had 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting — he didn’t have an assist on a night when the Cats had only 13 as a team.

It didn’t help that UK battled early foul trouble.

Center Malachi Moreno committed his second foul 3 minutes and 23 seconds into the game. Less than a minute later, forward Ousmane N’Diaye picked up two fouls on the same play – one a technical that counted as a personal – and picked up his third at the 15:40 mark of the first half on a moving screen.

That forced Pope into some unorthodox rotations in his frontcourt.

Franck Kepnang entered the game at the 16:37 mark after Moreno’s second foul, and Kentucky force-fed him the ball in the paint without scoring success. Reece Potter, who entered the game having played six minutes in a season-opening blowout of Manhattan and not seeing the floor in a win over James Madison, checked in with 12:35 to play in the first half and played three minutes during which KU outscored the Cats by 10 points.

But Moreno came back to score 19 points, many of them after the game was decided, and UK’s problems ran deeper than frontcourt fouls.

The Cats committed 15 turnovers, giving up the ball on more than 20% of their possessions in the game. KU outscored UK 22-0 in points off turnovers.

Turning point

A pair of Mason Williams free throws put Kentucky in front 15-11 with 12:32 to play. KU answered with a 15-2 run with 10 of the points coming from Stokes. His 3-pointer with 11:11 to play put Kansas in front 20-17. His dunk at the 9:09 mark gave the Jayhawks a 26-17 lead, and the Cats didn’t get closer than five the rest of the half.

Kansas led 46-36 at halftime and UK never got within single digits in the second half.

Player of the game

As good as Tre White was with his game-high 30 points, Stokes made Kansas go with his production, effort and the attention he drew from Kentucky defenders. Except for a few first-half possessions of defensive success from UK wing Braydon Hawthorne, Stokes looked comfortable in the Kansas offense all night.

Key stat

Momcilovic, the nation’s best 3-point shooter a season ago at Iowa State, didn’t get his first 3-point attempt of the game until the 15:31 mark of the second half. His first make came with 6:53 to play. Momcilovic finished 1 of 3 from 3-point range.