Archie Goodwin, Kahlil Whitney deliver again as La Familia wins a TBT nail-biter

Kahlil Whitney has made quite the return to the Big Blue Nation.

A five-star recruit for the 2019-20 season, Whitney left Lexington abruptly in the middle of that campaign to pursue professional basketball. He played in only 18 games for UK, averaging 3.3 points while starting eight contests — not exactly living up to his recruiting hype.

After five years away from the program and the fan base, Whitney made his return via La Familia, a team comprised mostly of former UK players that competes in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). He made his debut with the team on Friday, scoring 14 points.

“It’s amazing, they’ve (UK fans) welcomed me with open arms,” Whitney said about his return to Big Blue Nation at a media day last Monday. “It’s a great feeling just to have people that support you and back you. I’m just using it as motivation.”

Whitney returned the support to the fans on Sunday.

Early in the second quarter of La Familia’s second-round matchup against Auburn-affiliated War Ready, a skirmish started between War Ready guard Wendell Green Jr. and the La Familia bench.

With all eyes in the arena on the scuffle, Whitney stepped into the scene, not with his focus on the fight, but on the fans. He waved his arms up and down, instructing those who hadn’t already to leave their seats. Whitney brought Wildcats fans, the fans he had unexpectedly left five years ago, to their feet.

And he did it a lot in La Familia’s thrilling 80-76 win. Whitney was one of four players on La Familia to score in double figures. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field.

His most important on-court impact came while sprawled out on the floor. War Ready had the ball, in need of a 3-pointer to reach 79 points, Sunday’s winning score in TBT’s pickup-esque Elam ending rule. War Ready missed two 3s during the possession but gathered the offensive rebound both times, panicking La Familia and leading to sporadic defense on the perimeter.

In an attempt to split La Familia defenders, War Ready guard and Eastern Kentucky University and Coastal Carolina product Jomaru Brown lost possession of the ball. Whitney reacted, diving on top of the basketball and dishing it to guard Archie Goodwin, who took it to the rim for the game-winner.

“It started with Kahlil,” Goodwin said. “He made a great defensive play.”

Goodwin, whose time at UK, along with Whitney, might not be the most beloved by UK faithful as his 2012-13 squad was one of two John Calipari-led teams to miss the NCAA Tournament, has been nothing short of stellar in this TBT run.

Goodwin is La Familia’s leading scorer over two games. He followed Friday’s 19-point outing with 16 points, four rebounds and six assists against War Ready. He scored the last four La Familia points, clinching the win.

“It wasn’t just me. We did a great job together, and it was an ugly game,” Goodwin said. “We need those tests.”

Even with the win and the team-leading mark in both points and assists, Goodwin seemed more dejected than elated after the game. He shot 2-for-9 from the free-throw line Sunday and 2-for-5 from the line Friday for what he said has been the worst stretch of free-throw shooting he’s suffered.

“I’ve been absolutely terrible from the free-throw line,” Goodwin said. “I figured out what adjustments I need to make, so I don’t anticipate shooting like that again.”

As a team, La Familia attempted 34 free throws, shooting just 53% from the line, and amassed 21 personal fouls. There were a combined seven technical fouls between the squads.

“You got one man on this side, one man on this side and a million dollars in the middle, what (do) you think it’s going to be like?” La Familia head coach Sean Woods said. “It was just a chippy game … but (it was) two teams that were battling and fighting for their lives.”

The intense contest against War Ready was a far cry from La Familia’s first-round, 105-52 shellacking of Bowling Green State-affiliated Stroh’s Squad.

“You gotta know that this team is much better than the team we played before,” Woods said. “Coming down the stretch, we just gotta do a better job from an offensive standpoint.”

With the win, La Familia advanced to the final 16 of the TBT. They’ll host Eberlein Drive, Goodwin’s former team, at 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday at Memorial Coliseum.

“I know a lot of those guys pretty well,” Goodwin said. “I think that we’ll do a great job preparing for them, because I know they’ll prepare for us well.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2025 at 7:33 PM.