Kentucky’s ‘La Familia’ TBT squad is coming together for another run this summer
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- La Familia returns to TBT with ex-Wildcats aiming for $1 million prize run.
- Opening round tips July 18 in Memorial Coliseum against Stroh’s Squad.
- Team features key UK alumni, including Cauley-Stein and Harrison twins.
The bracket is set and the schedule has been finalized.
The Basketball Tournament (better known as TBT) is coming back to Lexington this summer, and — after falling two victories shy of $1 million last year — the University of Kentucky-affiliated “La Familia” team will once again feature a roster packed with former Wildcats looking to cash in on the court.
La Familia general manager Twany Beckham and head coach Sean Woods presided over the TBT bracket reveal Tuesday morning in Memorial Coliseum, where the UK-themed team will play its opening-round games next month.
The 2025 roster will feature former Kentucky standouts Willie Cauley-Stein, Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison — all returnees from last summer’s squad — as well as several other additions who will be familiar to UK fans.
La Familia will tip off the 64-team, single-elimination, $1 million winner-take-all tournament against Stroh’s Squad — a team of former Bowling Green University players — on Friday, July 18, at 9 p.m. EDT in Memorial Coliseum. That game will be televised on FS1.
If La Familia wins that one, they could play War Ready — a squad affiliated with Auburn — in the second round at 2:30 p.m. EDT on July 20.
The finals of the Lexington regional will be played at 6 p.m. EDT on July 22.
If La Familia wins all three of those home games, they’ll advance to the TBT quarterfinals. The UK squad would be on track to meet The Ville — a team of former Louisville Cardinals — at that stage in the tournament.
The Ville earned the right to host the TBT quarterfinals, semifinals and finals through a ticket-sales contest earlier this year, so the possibility of a La Familia vs. The Ville rematch in Louisville is on the table.
That pairing happened in the TBT quarterfinals last summer, with La Familia winning a testy game in Freedom Hall that nearly devolved into an on-court brawl after the UK team’s victory.
Woods, who was an assistant coach for La Familia last year, said the environment during that game was unlike anything he’d seen since his own UK playing career wrapped up in 1992.
“And I think that’s when it clicked that we had something from a pride standpoint,” he said. “Because it was nothing but pride from them and us. And as you see how it ended — very, very chippy — but that was just the competitive U of L-UK situation. And there was nothing like it in all my years … since I’ve been gone. But this is fun. This is fun.”
Woods, a veteran college head coach who was introduced earlier this spring as the new head coach at Scott County High School, praised Beckham for the job he did putting together last summer’s roster — which advanced to the TBT semifinals before losing to a team with Ohio State ties — as well as his work with this one, predicting that La Familia will play at a faster pace this summer.
Along with a new-look roster, La Familia will have a new home for this event.
Last summer, the games were played in Rupp Arena, which drew thousands of fans but still had a bit of a cavernous atmosphere. Next month’s games will be played inside the renovated Memorial Coliseum, which should provide an even better atmosphere.
“I’m excited,” Beckham said. “I know there’s been a ton of new energy around that place, and just to have the fans be on top of you this year — I think it’s gonna be an exciting moment for us.”
Beckham also pointed out that La Familia could still technically earn hosting rights for the latter stages of the tournament. If The Ville loses, the team that has the next-best rate of ticket sales for its home games will get to host.
Fans can purchase tickets to the Lexington regional at TBTHoops.com.
Kentucky’s TBT basketball team
The La Familia roster for this summer is nearly complete, with only a few more additions expected to be announced over the next couple of weeks.
Returning from last summer will be 2015 national defensive player of the year Willie Cauley-Stein, as well as Aaron and Andrew Harrison, the twin guards who formed UK’s starting backcourt during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.
Cauley-Stein and the Harrison twins were Kentucky teammates for both of those Final Four campaigns and played key roles in La Familia’s run to the TBT semifinals last summer.
Already confirmed to be joining that trio on this year’s TBT squad are Ansley Almonor, Archie Goodwin, Doron Lamb, DeAndre Liggins and Kahlil Whitney.
Almonor, of course, just completed his first and only season with the Wildcats, a late addition to Mark Pope’s first UK roster and a reserve forward for the 2024-25 squad. Almonor averaged 5.3 points per game and shot 42.4% from 3-point range, ranking 19th on the Wildcats’s all-time list in that single-season stat.
Lamb is one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in program history, with his 47.5% career mark from 3-point range ranking first among all former Wildcats that played more than one season at the school. He was the leading scorer in UK’s 2012 national championship game victory.
Liggins was teammates with Lamb on the Cats’ 2010-2011 team and a key defensive player on that squad, which ended UK’s 13-year Final Four drought, the longest in school history.
Goodwin, who played this past season in China’s top league, was the leading scorer on Kentucky’s 2012-13 team, which struggled to an NIT berth following a season-ending injury to star center Nerlens Noel.
Whitney was a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 11 recruit nationally in the 2019 class, but he played just 12.8 minutes per game as a freshman and abruptly left the program during the middle of the 2019-20 season. He went undrafted in 2020 and — after a few stints in the G League — most recently played professionally in New Zealand last summer.
Beckham said one other player has already committed to play for La Familia, and he anticipated one or two more roster additions between now and the start of the tournament.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 11:20 AM.
