La Familia has added another weapon. Nate Sestina is the latest former Cat to join Kentucky’s alumni team for The Basketball Tournament, which tips off next month.
After four years at Bucknell, Sestina transferred to Kentucky in 2019 for his graduate season. The 6’9″ 234 lbs. forward played in 28 games, starting seven, and averaged 5.8 points per contest on 46.3% shooting from the field and 40.7% from three, and 3.8 rebounds. He played a key role in Kentucky’s 18-point comeback win at Florida, scoring nine points and grabbing six rebounds, and helped the Cats win the SEC regular season title with 11 points vs. No. 15 Auburn. Sestina is also engaged to former Kentucky Volleyball star turned assistant coach Madison Lilley.
Sestina has mostly played overseas since his time at Kentucky, most recently with Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahçe. This season, he’s averaging 9.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Fenerbahçe is still competing in the Super League playoffs, facing Anadolu Efes later today.
La Familia’s Roster
Sestina is the tenth member of La Familia, which will host a TBT regional at Rupp Arena July 19-23. Twany Beckham, who played for UK from 2011-13, is the team’s general manager. Here’s the roster so far:
- Eric Bledsoe (2009-10)
- Daniel Orton (2009-10)
- Doron Lamb (2010-12)
- Marquis Teague (2011-12)
- Willie Cauley-Stein (2012-15)
- James Young (2013-14)
- Andrew Harrison (2013-15)
- Reid Travis (2018-19)
- Nate Sestina (2019-20)
- Kellan Grady (2021-22)
Tickets for the Lexington Regional are now on sale at thetournament.com/tbt/tickets. As Kellan Grady said yesterday, the team is ready to put on a show for BBN at Rupp Arena and make a run at the grand prize of $1 million.
“There’s no college basketball in the summer and I imagine a lot of people in Lexington miss watching Kentucky Basketball. And like I’ve said already, I think we’re going to provide a really good product. You’re going to see a lot of people who really cared about representing Kentucky playing together and competing for a championship.
“I don’t think there’s really anything else we have to say. I think we’ll be exciting to watch. There’s a brotherhood that lives within playing for Kentucky. I know we’re all really excited about this and that’s why we signed up to do it. So I hope we can pack Rupp out as well as we can.”
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