Kentucky
With KHSAA basketball district tournament action underway, here are 16 numbers to know
For Kentucky high school basketball fans, it’s the best time of the year.
District tournaments are under way, tipping off four straight weeks of action that will culminate with the Sweet 16s.
The Mingua Beef Jerky Girls Sweet 16 is set for March 13-16, and the UK Healthcare Boys Sweet 16 is slated for March 20-23. Both will be held at the University of Kentucky’s Rupp Arena.
Here’s a postseason primer, with (Sweet) 16 numbers you need to know:
Boys
0 – Times Evangel Christian has reached a regional final. The Eagles (24-6) are ranked No. 8 in the state and considered by many to be the favorites to take the Sixth Region title. Evangel has one of the state’s top backcourts in seniors Kyran Tilley (17.5 ppg) and Christian Doerr (16.7 ppg).
5 – Seasons Great Crossing has been playing basketball after the school opened in 2019. The Warhawks have yet to reach an 11th Region final but have even higher goals this postseason as the state’s No. 1-ranked team. Great Crossing (29-1) will carry a 17-game winning streak into the 41st District Tournament and features one of the nation’s top junior recruits in 7-foot-1 Malachi Moreno (15.6 ppg, 13.3 rpg).
19 – Consecutive victories for Newport, the longest current winning streak in the state. The No. 3 Wildcats (27-3) haven’t lost since dropping a 76-71 overtime decision to Trinity on Dec. 23 in the fifth-place game of the King of the Bluegrass Holiday Classic at Fairdale. Newport returned four starters from last season’s team that won the Ninth Region and captured the All “A” Classic state title last month. Tay Kinney (18.7 ppg) is the No. 1-ranked sophomore in the state.
29 – Years since St. Xavier won its last Seventh Region championship in 1995, a team that included current head coach Kevin Klein. The No. 7 Tigers (27-3) are poised to end that drought this season behind an offense that ranks second in the state in scoring (83 ppg). All five starters are underclassmen, led by junior Chance Dillingham (18.2 ppg) and sophomore Jeremiah Jackson (14.3 ppg).
32.3 – Average points per game for Oldham County senior Max Green, the state’s leading scorer. The 6-foot-6 guard also ranks second in the state in 3-pointers made (136). The Holy Cross signee was named Eighth Region Player of the Year and is looking to make a deep postseason run with the Colonels (22-8), who will host rival South Oldham (16-12) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a 29th District semifinal.
42.6 – Points per game allowed by Danville Christian, the No. 1-ranked defense in the state. The Warriors (23-5) are in their sixth season of varsity play and are 16-0 against 12th Region opponents this season. Behind 6-4 senior Emmanuel Dut (13.6 ppg) and 6-10 sophomore Geu Ateny (10.5 ppg, 12.2 rpg), Danville Christian could make its first-ever trip to the Sweet 16.
1986 – The last year Ballard didn’t reach the Seventh Region Tournament. The Bruins (13-14) are in danger of finishing with a losing record for the first time in program history. They’ll face Christian Academy at 6 p.m. Monday in a win-or-go-home 28th District semifinal at Eastern. CAL is 2-0 against Ballard this season, winning 79-63 and 67-64.
5,260 – Career points for Lyon County senior Travis Perry, who passed “King” Kelly Coleman as Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer at last year’s Sweet 16. Perry ranks second in the state in scoring this season (30.0 ppg) and is looking to lead the No. 5 Lyons (state-best 87 ppg) to the state tournament for the third straight year. The University of Kentucky signee is the front-runner for the Mr. Basketball award that will be presented March 17.
Girls
3 – Consecutive Sweet 16 championships for Sacred Heart, which will try to become the first program in state history — boys or girls — to win four consecutive titles. The No. 1-ranked Valkyries (22-7) have won 64 straight games against Kentucky competition and feature one of the nation’s top juniors in ZaKiyah Johnson (19.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg).
5 – Consecutive Second Region titles for Henderson County, which has reached the Sweet 16 in 10 of the past 11 seasons. Jeff Haile retired as Henderson County’s head coach after last season — ranking second in state history with 821 victories — and turned the job over to his son, Stephen. The Colonels (21-7) are back on top of the Second Region and enter the postseason with an 11-1 record in their past 12 games.
7 – Years since Butler won its last Sixth Region title in 2017. The Bearettes have five state titles but have struggled in recent years as several coaches have come and gone. Enter Candyce Wheeler, the former Candyce Bingham, who starred as a player at the University of Louisville. Wheeler has helped put Butler (21-8) back on top of the Sixth Region behind a pair of senior stars — Mariah Knight (15.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg, Jacksonville commit) and Ramiya White (11.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, Kentucky signee).
15 – Years since Franklin-Simpson won its last Fourth Region championship in 2009. The Wildcats (27-1) have blitzed through their schedule and enter the postseason with an 11-game winning streak. Their only loss came to Boyd County, 70-61, on Jan. 14 in the final of the Kentucky 2A Championships. LaReesha Cawthorn, a 5-11 junior, leads the Wildcats in scoring (17.6 ppg) and rebounding (9.8 rpg).
21-1 – Cooper’s record since a 3-3 start, the only loss coming to Sacred Heart, 61-56, in the semifinals of the Louisville Invitational Tournament. The No. 2 Jaguars (24-4) may pose the biggest threat to Sacred Heart’s four-peat hopes. Four senior starters — Logan Palmer (Evansville), Liz Freihofer (Eastern Kentucky), Maleah Alexander (Liberty) and Bella Deere (Gannon) — have committed to colleges, and Haylee Noel (7.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg) is one of the state’s top freshmen.
29.0 – Average points per game for Hart County senior Dea Bradley, the state’s leading scorer and Fifth Region Player of the Year. The 5-5 guard scored her 3,000th career point earlier this season and has committed to Campbellsville University.
70.9 – Scoring average for Bethlehem, the highest-scoring team in the state. The Banshees (21-8) were ranked No. 3 in the state in The Courier Journal’s preseason coaches poll but fell off the radar a bit following a 4-5 start. Star junior Leah Macy (24.2 ppg, 13.3 rpg) missed 10 games with a knee injury but has returned to put Bethlehem back on top of the Fifth Region. The Banshees are 14-2 since the calendar flipped to 2024.
1998 – The last year Whitefield Academy — then called Highview Baptist — reached a regional tournament. The Wildcats (21-8) have the talent this season to make a run in the Sixth Region but must get past Bullitt East at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a 24th District semifinal at Mercy. Whitefield beat Bullitt East 61-48 on Dec. 5. Senior guard Allison Spieker (13.2 ppg) is Whitefield’s top scorer.
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.
Kentucky Mr. and Miss Basketball: Eight from Louisville area among finalists
Facts About the Kentucky General Assembly
Discover key facts about the Kentucky General Assembly, including its history, structure, and state government functions.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Another year, another push by state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, to pass legislation adding limitations to a Kentucky governor’s pardon powers.
McDaniel’s Senate Bill 10, with four cosponsors, passed out of the chamber’s State and Local Government Committee on Jan. 14 with unanimous approval. The four-term senator from Northern Kentucky said he’s “fairly optimistic” this is the year his legislation is approved in the House and Senate and put on the ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment.
“I think that just as people have seen pardons, both at the state and federal level, kind of flow through the process, they really for various reasons ultimately end up at the same place — which is an unchecked pardon power is simply not a good thing,” he said.
This isn’t McDaniel’s first attempt at passing the bill, which he crafted ahead of the 2020 session in the aftermath of former Gov. Matt Bevin’s flurry of controversial pardons in his final weeks in office the previous year. It’s passed in the full Senate in at least five separate legislative sessions but has never advanced in the House.
This year, though, McDaniel is confident his proposal has more support. It’s been designated “priority legislation” by Republican leaders in the Senate and was taken up in committee at its first meeting of the session, where it passed without issue after about five minutes of discussion.
The bill would prevent Kentucky governors from issuing pardons for a time period beginning in the final 60 days before a gubernatorial election and ending on the fifth Tuesday after an election, at which point the governor’s current term would end. Kentucky voters would have to approve the measure at the ballot box.
Bevin, a Republican, made waves in 2019 during the final two months of his term when he issued more than 400 pardons. While many were noncontroversial pardons for low-level drug offenders, some drew strong criticism, including one for a man convicted of homicide in 2017 whose family later hosted a political fundraiser for the governor and another for a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old child.
McDaniel, who is also a Republican, at the time said the “stunning” pardons exposed “an unbelievable weakness in our system which is the ability of a governor to override the entire justice system in the dark of night with no recourse.” He echoed those comments this week at the Capitol Annex after his bill was approved in the committee.
“This is just a straight-up weakness in the constitution,” he said. “I think I’ll have a lot of miles on my car in the fall trying to drum up support.”
Pardons should not be a partisan issue, he added. A number of pardons issued by former President Joe Biden in the final days of his term have drawn intense scrutiny over the past year as well, and current President Donald Trump drew criticism last year when he pardoned nearly every person convicted of a crime in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
SB 10 will now head to the full Senate and would need to be approved in the House. The legislature is in its second week and will remain in session into April.
“I’m optimistic that the House will see it my way this year and that the people of Kentucky will see it that way in the fall,” McDaniel said.
The proposal has never had an issue in McDaniel’s chamber, but the House has been a different story. The bill has never made it to the floor for a vote.
House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said McDaniel’s bill has “never quite met the threshold of being able to pass it over here.” But there could be more enthusiasm this year, he added after his chamber gaveled out on Jan. 14.
“He worked really hard in the interim talking to a lot of our members about it. I think he won some support for it,” Osborne said. “We will continue to have that conversation once it comes over here.”
Learn more about filed bills and follow their process at legislature.ky.gov.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.
If you purchase a product through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.
The LSU Tigers host the Kentucky Wildcats Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. LSU has lost three straight, while Kentucky has dropped two of its past three. The Tigers are still searching for their first SEC win of the season, while Kentucky tries to make its way back into contention after a bumpy start to the season.
Kentucky vs. LSU will air on SEC Network, and streams live on DIRECTV (free trial).
What: Men’s college basketball regular season
Who: Kentucky Wildcats vs. LSU Tigers
When: Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026
Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Time: 7 p.m. ET
TV: SEC Network
Live stream: DIRECTV (free trial), fuboTV (free trial)
Here’s a recent college basketball story via the Associated Press:
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Otega Oweh scored 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting and had five of Kentucky’s season-high 14 steals to help the Wildcats rally from a 12-point deficit and beat Mississippi State 92-68 on Saturday night.
Malachi Moreno made 8 of 10 from the field and finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals for Kentucky (10-6, 1-2 SEC). Denzel Aberdeen added 16 points and Kam Williams scored 14 points.
Mississippi State (10-6, 2-1) had its six-game win streak snapped. Josh Hubbard led the Bulldogs with 20 points and Achor Achor had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jayden Epps also scored 13 points but was 4-of-12 shooting, 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
Achor made a jumper and Hubbard followed with a layup to open the second half and cut the deficit to a point, but it was all Kentucky from there.
The Wildcats scored 27 points off 15 Mississippi State turnovers.
Epps hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer to spark a 14-2 run that gave the Bulldogs a 12-point lead 5 1/2 minutes into the game.
Mississippi State shot 57% in the first half, but Kentucky had a 12-4 advantage in points off turnovers and outscored the Bulldogs 10-2 in second-chance points to take a 44-39 lead into the intermission.
Projected lottery pick Jayden Quaintance (knee swelling) did not play for the Wildcats. Jaland Lowe and Jamarion Davis-Fleming (apparent ankle injury) each left the game and did not return. Lowe, a junior guard, stripped the ball from Hubbard less than three minutes into the game, but immediately grabbed at his right shoulder, which Lowe first injured during the Kentucky’s Blue-White game on Oct. 17 and it has been re-aggravated multiple times.
Kentucky leads the series with the Bulldogs 104-21, 52-5 at home.
Up next
Kentucky: Visits LSU on Wednesday.
Mississippi State: Hosts No. 13 Alabama on Tuesday.
Can I bet on the game?
Yes, you can bet on the game from your phone in New York State, and we’ve compiled some of the best introductory offers to help navigate your first bets from BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, Bet365 and more.
Oregon election system faces scrutiny as state moves to address 800,000 inactive voters: ‘Astounding’
Buddhist monks walking 2,300 miles from Texas to DC go viral with 1M+ social media followers
Inside the SCOTUS hearing bound to be a turning point in the culture war over trans athletes in women’s sports
Plaxico Burress’ wife launches GOP bid for longtime Democratic NJ House seat
Detroit, Ann Arbor snow totals: When the next round of snow will hit
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Hochul endorses legislation to allow New Yorkers to sue ICE agents: ‘Power does not justify abuse’
Iran reopens airspace after closure to most flights amid US attack threats
Trump says he’s been assured Tehran has stopped killing protesters as Iran reopens its airspace – live
Republicans light cigars, cigarettes on burning photos of Khamenei to show support for Iranian protesters
EU Parliament questions defence loan’s ‘€17 billion gift’ to Hungary
-
Montana5 days agoService door of Crans-Montana bar where 40 died in fire was locked from inside, owner says
-
Technology1 week agoPower bank feature creep is out of control
-
Delaware6 days agoMERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach
-
Dallas, TX7 days agoAnti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis
-
Education1 week agoVideo: This Organizer Reclaims Counter Space
-
Virginia5 days agoVirginia Tech gains commitment from ACC transfer QB
-
Iowa1 week agoPat McAfee praises Audi Crooks, plays hype song for Iowa State star
-
Montana5 days ago‘It was apocalyptic’, woman tells Crans-Montana memorial service, as bar owner detained