Kentucky
Highlights, MVP, and Twitter reactions to Wildcats’ bounce-back win at Arkansas
The Kentucky Wildcats came into Saturday’s matchup with 10-9 Arkansas needing a strong showing against an inferior team.
After laying a complete dud on the road at South Carolina earlier in the week, it would have been ideal for UK to see a quick start against Razorbacks in what we all know is a tough place to play.
Whew. That didn’t happen.
Kentucky had a whopping four points on the board with 11 minutes to play in the first half.
Finally, Antonio Reeves’ buckets broke the drought, but the first half was anything but palatable.
Whatever the Kentucky offense once was seemingly had just vanished.
UK would somehow only trail 26-24 at the break. Both teams would shoot just 9/31 from the field in an ugly contest that lacked any flow.
Antonio Reeves picked up where he left off the last time he was in Bud Walton Arena and went nuclear in the second half. The super senior torched the Razorbacks and finished with 24 points in what turned into a 63-57 victory for the Cats!
It was important to get out of this complete mess without a loss, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. At least the defense is better, though the Hogs are ranked 119th in KenPom offensive efficiency, so how much better it really is remains to be seen.
Kentucky is now 15-4 on the season and will host Florida on Wednesday night in Lexington.
Highlights
Box Score
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MVP
The MVP race was really never in doubt in this one with Antonio Reeves providing the only real offensive punch the UK had for most of the night.
Reeves would pour in 24 tough points on 9/20 shooting with four boards, two steals, and one assist.
It’s difficult to imagine what this offense would look like at times without Reeves’ ability to get a craft bucket. A week ago, that would have sounded crazy, but unfortunately, things have veered off course offensively.
Antonio owns the Razorbacks.
Twitter Reactions
Least amount of blue that Kentucky will see in the stands this season, as expected.
Bud Walton Arena is fired up, as always. https://t.co/F506BpWi8I
— Ben Roberts (@BenRobertsHL) January 27, 2024
Arkansas guard Devo Davis was kicked off the team like seven minutes before the opening tip. Not sure I’ve seen that before.
— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) January 27, 2024
Kentucky’s defense has looked much better…but we have 3 points in over 5 minutes. Can’t finish inside. That’s becoming a problem.
— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) January 27, 2024
We are playing better defense and would be winning by 15 rn, 1 for 13 shooting is killing us. What is happening?
— Mike Willis (@michael_willis1) January 27, 2024
Remember when Kentucky scored points? That was fun.
— Nick Roush (@RoushKSR) January 27, 2024
I understand SEC road games are hard, but this offensive showing is confusing. Going from a team two games ago that was averaging 92 points to 4 points in 9 minutes against a team coming off a 26-point loss to Ole Miss………………….
— David Sisk (@CoachDavidSisk) January 27, 2024
I’d get thrown out of every game if I was a coach.
If Mitchell’s foul last game was a cylinder foul, so is that.
— Josh Poole (@josh72484) January 27, 2024
The Antonio Reeves, All-American, movement needs to be louder. This dude has been incredible this season. He’s shooting 50-43-89 while averaging 19 points for a top ten team.
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) January 28, 2024
Always a lot of talk about Antonio Reeves not making big shots when Kentucky needs it in a tight game. #12 is delivering tonight.
— Shawn Smith (@gbbcountry) January 28, 2024
After scoring a career-high 37 at Arkansas last season, Antonio Reeves with 24 more tonight.
— TheCatsPause247 (@TheCatsPause247) January 28, 2024
That was an insane play by Sheppard. To make that steal and pinpoint that outlet was one of the biggest plays of the year for them.
— Justin Rowland (@RowlandRIVALS) January 28, 2024
Reed Sheppard dagger. Kentucky leads 61-52 with 1:10 left.
— Ben Roberts (@BenRobertsHL) January 28, 2024
Sheppard with a dagger. Huge to get out of this mess with a win.
— Anthony Wireman (@awireman) January 28, 2024
Reed-Reeves-Mitchell all hit massive Threes down the stretch. Not sure there are many teams that have better outside shooters
Ugo was great tonight. Probably his best game at Kentucky
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 28, 2024
Haha, Ugonna Onyenso starts his postgame conversation with Goose Givens by apologizing for saying a bad word in his last postgame radio appearance.
“I really apologize for that. It’s not gonna happen again.”
I think all is forgiven, especially after his performance tonight.
— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) January 28, 2024
Calipari says Edwards got hit during a scrimmage Friday and is a little hobbled.
— Aaron Gershon (@agershon99) January 28, 2024
There are no bad road wins in 2024 college basketball. Overcoming a horrible start and delivering clutch plays to win at Arkansas — even when the Hogs are now 1-6 SEC — has value for Kentucky. Sheppard, Reeves and Mitchell delivered. pic.twitter.com/7tZVvTv20U
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) January 28, 2024
The game changed with this lineup for Kentucky:
DJ Wagner
Reed Sheppard
Antonio Reeves
Tre Mitchell
Ugonna OnyensoI believe the five can change depending on matchup, but the first four are the foundation.
— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) January 28, 2024
College basketball games are played in a vacuum. What happened tonight won’t necessarily happen in the next game. Kentucky won on the road. That is a positive result.
I’m not worried about how it looked. We can addressed than between now and Wednesday.
Big week coming up.
— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) January 28, 2024
Want more A Sea Of Blue coverage? Follow our Twitter page and like us on Facebook for more Kentucky Wildcats news and views. Go CATS!
Kentucky
Several people hurt in Western Kentucky Parkway multi-car accident, officials say
MUHLENBERG, Ky. (WFIE) – Kentucky officials says there are multiple people injured in a three-car accident on Western Kentucky Parkway.
According to a post made by the Central City Fire Department, three vehicles were involved in a crash between the 64 and 65 mile markers eastbound of the parkway.
They say both the eastbound and westbound lanes are closed at this time. The closure should last around 3 hours.
Two people were extricated from a vehicle. Four adults and three juveniles are being taken to the hospital. No update has been given on their conditions.
They say a mass casualty incident was declared, and Ohio County Fire and EMS were called to the scene due to the number of patients.
We will update you when we learn more.
Copyright 2025 WFIE. All rights reserved.
Kentucky
2027 top in-state prospect talks about his Kentucky unofficial visit on Tuesday
Kentucky’s recruiting efforts in the 2026 class have hit a current rough patch, but things are looking promising in the 2027 class, as the staff has already casted a very wide net in the class, with a number of top targets in the fold. As they’re continuing to pursue mostly national targets, a local star is now on the staff’s radar.
2027 in-state guard Braxton Keathley, one of the state’s top prospects even regardless of class, took an unofficial visit to Kentucky on Tuesday for the game against NC Central. Keathley is native of Martin County, KY, and has took the state by storm as he has really stuffed the stat sheet. Just recently, he dropped a triple-double of 34 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds last weekend.
The Kentucky staff has certainly seemed to take notice really quickly. He’s also getting plenty of other interest, too, including having frequent contact with Louisville, LSU, Purdue, South Carolina, and Florida State, plus offers from Eastern Kentucky, UT Martin, Ohio, and Bowling Green, among others. Keathley sat down with Kentucky Wildcats on SI to talk about his recent visit to Kentucky. What were his impressions of the staff? He shared a conversation he had with them before Tuesday’s game. He also had some interactions with others, too.
“They really talked about how well I scored it and how they’ve been hearing about me for a long time,” Keathley said of his conversation with the Kentucky staff. “One of the (Kentucky) assistants mentioned he had a coaching friend tell them that they better jump on me quick cause I was really good. I had several fans come up to me and take pictures. Jack Givens welcomed me and talked to me for a little bit and said he’s highly impressed with my game and plans on coming to a game soon. A couple of other UK players came up, they were really nice and said they been keeping up with me.”
As a Kentucky kid, Keathley says he been a fan of the Wildcats since he was little, even getting to train with Tyrese Maxey this summer, and he also had some great things to say about what he saw from fellow Kentucky natives and current Wildcats Trent Noah, Jasper Johnson, and Malachi Moreno. “I looked up to players like Tyler Herro, SGA, Tyrese Maxey, Devin Booker, Malik Monk and Reed Sheppard. I got lucky that I got to train with Maxey for a week in August,” Keathley said. “I saw Trent Noah last night having great energy and keeping a smile on his face during warmups. You could tell he loved every minute wearing that Kentucky uniform. He cares and it shows. I saw Jasper and Moreno warming up hard. The one thing about it, and my dad always told me, it’s a different place. You got to be special to play there and be willing to accept everything that comes with wearing that jersey.”
Interestingly enough, Keathley’s dad coached former Kentucky greats Anthony Epps and Wayne Turner after their time at Kentucky, so Keathley has a family history of being around all that comes with the passion of Kentucky basketball. What did Keathley’s dad learn about the two former Wildcats he got the privilege to coach? “He said they carried a chip on their shoulder and were great leaders always humble but tough. and I have to do the same.” Now, for Keathley, it’s about climbing the ranks nationally. “A couple (recruiting services) don’t have me ranked yet and that’s ok. I’m going to walk in the gym every night and know I outworked you and I’m going to outplay you,” he said. “I’m going to compete like every game is a championship. I’m going to to play with the same passion that the fans have. I’m always all in there’s no going back or in-between.”
Keathley has so much passion for his community in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and he has plans of doing big things at Martin County. He also shared a message Trent Noah’s dad had for him during their interaction at Tuesday’s Kentucky game. “Something he said that really stuck out. ‘Us mountain people have got to stick together.’ He’s right, Eastern Kentucky has great people and basketball players. Kentucky basketball as whole, we got to stick together through the highs and lows. That’s what we do.”
That’s a great message from a parent of a current Wildcat who was in his shoes before, being a fellow native of that part of the state. The Kentucky staff is certainly going to keep an eye on him as he continues the impressive run he is on so far this season, because he just continues to catch more and more people’s attention with his play.
Kentucky
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduces legislation for U.S. to leave NATO – UPI.com
Dec. 10 (UPI) — U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican serving a House district in Kentucky, introduced legislation for the United States to pull out of NATO.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, posted on X that she would be a co-sponsor of the Not a Trusted Organization Act, or NATO Act. Utah Republican Mike Lee introduced the same legislation in the Senate earlier this year.
“NATO is a Cold War relic,” Massie said in a statement Tuesday. “We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries.
“NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed over 30 years ago. Since then, U.S. participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk U.S. involvement in foreign wars.”
He added: “Our Constitution did not authorize permanent foreign entanglements, something our Founding Fathers explicitly warned us against. America should not be the world’s security blanket – especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense.”
NATO was founded in 1949 by 12 members as a military alliance involving European nations, as well as the U.S. and Canada in North America. There are now 32 members, with Finland joining in 2023 and Sweden in 2024.
The NATO Act would prevent the use of U.S. taxpayer funds for NATO’s common budgets, including its civil budget, military budget and the Security Investment Program.
Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty allows nations to opt out.
“After the Treaty has been in force for 20 years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation,” the treaty reads.
During the last NATO summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, President Donald Trump told reporters he agrees with NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense treaty.
“I stand with it. That’s why I’m here,” Trump said. “If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here.”
Article 5 was invoked for the first time after the 9/11 attacks in the United States, leading to NATO’s involvement in Afghanistan.
The Kentucky Republican, who calls himself a “fiscal hawk” and a “constitutional conservative,” has been at odds with Trump on several issues, including fiscal spending, foreign policy/war powers, government surveillance and transparency.
Trump has also been critical of NATO.
During his 2016 election campaign, Trump called the alliance “obsolete.”
He urged nations to spend at least 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defense needs by 2035.
In June, NATO allies agreed to a new defense spending guideline to invest 5% of GDP annually in defense and security by 2035.
Five nations were above 3% in 2024: Poland at 4.12%, Estonia at 3.43%, U.S. at 3.38%, Latvia at 3.15% and Greece at 3.08%. In last is Spain with 1.28% though Iceland has no armed forces and Sweden wasn’t listed.
Some Republican senators want stronger involvement in the alliance, including Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Wicker is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
For passage, a House majority is needed, but 60 of 100 votes in the Senate to break the filibuster and then a majority vote. Trump could also veto the bill.
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