Most basketball players have a superstition, something that mentally or physically prepares them for a game, whether it’s stretching a certain way, listening to certain music, shooting in a certain spot first, whatever it may be; there is normally something that goes on behind the scenes before tipoff.

For returning Kentucky center Malachi Moreno, his superstition stems from the help of someone else: his mother, Sarah, who regularly cooks lasagna for him before his games.

BBN Tonight, an official partner of UK Athletics, talked with Malachi and Sarah about the superstition, how it started, what goes into this special lasagna, etc. Watch their one-on-one feature with Kentucky’s returning star center.

The ritual dates back to when Malachi was in high school, playing high-end public school basketball just down the road from Lexington with the Great Crossing Warhawks (in Georgetown).

“He wanted me to make lasagna one night; we usually did some sort of pasta or whatnot before a game, just a carb overload, that kind of stuff for fuel,” Sarah said. “I didn’t have the lasagna noodles, and I’m like, ‘Oh no, I can’t make lasagna.’ But that’s what he really wanted, so I was like, ‘ok I have to come up with something.’ I ended up having some rotini noodles, and then I was like, ‘Oh, let me try this.’ It was kind of just this made-up concoction of, let’s see if this works, but it worked out really well. He really loves it; it’s full of cheese, it’s full of love, I think that’s probably the most important part.”

The night Moreno first tried the lasagna concoction, he recorded his first career triple-double in an 88-44 win over Frankfort’s Western Hills High School, accumulating 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Obviously, from there, it had to become a recurring ritual on game days, which it did, and now with UK’s campus sitting so close to the Moreno household, his mother continues the tradition and finds a way to get it to Malachi before every Kentucky game.

“Now it’s ‘I’m (Malachi) going to come home and get it’ or, five minutes before he’s supposed to be here, ‘Mom, can you just bring it to me? I’m studying, or I can’t get there,’ and I’m like, ‘Sure, Malachi,’” Sarah joked.

I’m no lasagna enthusiast, but the lasagna that Sarah prepares must truly be one of a kind, as Moreno told BBN Tonight that he made a trip back to Georgetown after the Wildcats’ 99-85 victory over Bellarmine to acquire more of it.

“I came here (to his house) the night we played Bellarmine; right after the game I had my car packed and ready to go, came right back here, had this same exact meal, went right to bed,” Malachi said.

If lasagna works for Malachi, then let it work, but Big Blue Nation has to hope that each lasagna dish that Sarah prepares is truly spectacular as Malachi gears up for a big sophomore season, one that will have heavy implications on his 2027 NBA Draft stock.

Following a freshman campaign where he earned a spot on the All-SEC Freshman Team, Malachi is now the projected starting center, so the lasagna needs to be flawless.

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