Kentucky
Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Storylines: Northern Kentucky Norse
CINCINNATI — The Bearcats hit the road for the first time this season on Tuesday night at Northern Kentucky. Cincinnati lost in this exact scenario two years ago amidst a brutal offensive showing in the second half, but they are ready to avenge that performance with the best UC roster Wes Miller’s had.
UC enters with a 92.9% chance to win the game on ESPN’s Matchup Predictor. The Bearcats are ranked 11th on KenPom, while Northern Kentucky is 186th (highest-ranked UC opponent yet).
“I was pleased with the defensive effort to start the game,” Miller said about his team following Friday’s 86-49 win over Nicholls State. “I was pleased with the defensive effort to start the second half. And there was some good stuff going on.”
Cincinnati is 2-1 all-time against NKU ahead of the 7 p.m. ET Tuesday tip-off on ESPN+.
Will Simas Lukošius keep shooting over 70% from three-point land? Probably not, but Cincinnati is going to be a firm national title contender if he does.
So far, he’s hit 10-14 triple tries to rank tied for third nationally at 71.4% overall. The stroke looks as clean as any shot I’ve seen in person, mixed with the best shape Lukošius has been in during his college career. History says he can’t shoot this well on this type of volume, but above 40% over the full season is very plausible at this rate.
“I don’t feel like he’s forcing the shot at all,” Miller said about his top shooter. “I can’t think of one time when he forced a shot. In fact, early in the game, as he was coming off the floor for the first media timeout, I told him to shoot more. I thought he passed a couple of shots up. He had one he passed up in the corner drove in and turned it over by trying to get a lob to Aziz [Bandaogo]. Those are the turnovers that I can live with because they are aggressive, but he is such a damn good shooter.
“He hasn’t been forcing them, and I think he’s taking the right shots. I believe you have to give credit to the other guys as well because the ball is popping around. You look down tonight and we have 18 assists. The ball is moving around, and there are a lot of other good players on the floor as well. Simas [Lukosius] is not going to shoot 80% this year, because nobody’s ever done that. I want him to do that but that won’t happen. He is going to have a great year, because he’s a really good player, and he continues to improve.”
Off the catch, dribble, and in transition, Lukošius is hitting every type of deep shot through three games, all while he and Jizzle James lead the offense with 5.3 assists per game each.
He’s been the second-most efficient offensive player in the Big 12 so far, posting a whopping 40.3 Player Efficiency Rating and a scorching 92.9% effective field goal rate (fifth nationally). Now, he gets to test that shot outside the friendly confines of Fifth Third Arena. A place where UC shot 28.6% from deep two years ago.
The Lithuanian is showing the end of last season wasn’t just some hot streak—it’s who he can consistently be as a college player. We’ll see if the full-season cement can set on this trajectory.
Time will ultimately tell who takes over the top perimeter guarding role on this Bearcats roster, but Jizzle James has led the way so far.
John Newman III looks like he’s rubbed off on the stout young guard. He’s notched an 82.4 defensive rating this season (16th-best in the Big 12), a big improvement from his 104.6 freshman mark. That’s been showcased with strong footwork on defense and complete control of his on-ball physicality (zero fouls committed in three games).
NKU doesn’t boast any daunting guard matchups like Nicholls’ Rob Brown. The Norse’s leading scorers are both guards, but neither are shooting over 42% from the floor.
“Jizzle James is really improved, and I think that’s so obvious guys,” Miller said on Friday. “He was really, really good on defense tonight. I mean, not only did he defeat ball screens, but I don’t think anybody hit him with the ball screen all night. I mean, he was special, so I was pleased with that, and I could keep going down the line, but I thought Jizzle had a really nice night.”
NKU is bottom-10 nationally in scoring average (57 PPG) and has KenPom’s 300th-ranked offense by efficiency. It should be a clamping field day for James and his teammates.
If healthy, Cincinnati has a few different avenues to hit a high ceiling this coming spring, and these early signs from James are great indicators they can keep climbing up the CBB hierarchy.
Bookmark Bearcats Talk for the latest news, exclusive interviews, and so much more. Check out our YouTube page as well, starting with the video below.
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Kentucky’s Mark Pope says Cats are in ‘a hard space’ after Missouri loss
UK men’s basketball is 0-2 in the SEC after the Cats fell to Missouri on Wednesday. “Grieve quickly as possible and move on,” coach Mark Pope said.
LEXINGTON — Two days after Kentucky basketball gave up a game-ending 15-2 run in a 73-68 loss to Missouri, Mark Pope was asked to explain what went wrong.
In a sense, Pope answered it with another question: What didn’t go wrong for his club in those final 4 ½ minutes?
“It was everything, actually,” Pope said during a news conference Friday. “It was so much misfortune. It was so much stuff in our wheelhouse that we inexplicably didn’t execute the way we normally do. It was some poor communication. It was some poor internalization of the scout. It was some missed shots. It was some coaching error.
“… (All) of those things lead to that terrible, terrible 4 ½ minutes.”
Stream Kentucky vs. Mississippi State
After falling to 0-2 in SEC play for the first time in two decades (2005-06), the Wildcats have no time to feel sorry for themselves. And Pope won’t allow it.
“I think everybody has mental fatigue everywhere right now — if you’re putting your whole heart and soul into it,” he said of his team (9-6). “But that’s our job: to not let that have any impact on today or yesterday or tomorrow. One of the things I love about sports is it teaches you that you have to. It doesn’t matter how bad things get. You can’t go back and rewrite what happened.”
Kentucky only can look forward, which begins with tonight’s matchup with Mississippi State at Rupp Arena. The Bulldogs (10-5, 2-0) enter on a six-game win streak.
Courier Journal sports reporter Ryan Black is at Rupp Arena and will have live updates throughout the game — here and on X, formerly known as Twitter — and complete coverage after. You can follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
Follow along with live updates from today’s game between the Wildcats and Bulldogs below:
- TV channel: SEC Network
- Livestream: Fubo (free trial)
The game between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will air nationally on SEC Network.
Authenticated subscribers can access SEC Network via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app.
Those without cable can access SEC Network via streaming services, with Fubo offering a free trial.
Stream Kentucky vs. Mississippi State on SEC Network
Betting odds: Kentucky is a 10 ⅟₂-point favorite (-112) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 153 ⅟₂ points (-112/-108).
Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the UK radio network call on 840 AM in Louisville and both 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington.
You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.
- Oct. 17: Blue-White game (Click here to read takeaways from the intrasquad scrimmage.)
- Oct. 24: exhibition vs. Purdue (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Purdue 65
- Oct. 30: exhibition vs. Georgetown University (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Georgetown 84, Kentucky 70
- Nov. 4: Nicholls (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Nicholls 51
- Nov. 7: Valparaiso (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 107, Valparaiso 59
- Nov. 11: at Louisville (KFC Yum! Center) | SCORE: Louisville 96, Kentucky 88
- Nov. 14: Eastern Illinois (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 99, Eastern Illinois 53
- Nov. 18: vs. Michigan State (Champions Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York) | SCORE: Michigan State 83, Kentucky 66
- Nov. 21: Loyola University Maryland (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 88, Loyola Maryland 46
- Nov. 26: Tennessee Tech (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 104, Tennessee Tech 54
- Dec. 2: North Carolina (Rupp Arena; ACC/SEC Challenge) | SCORE: North Carolina 67, Kentucky 64
- Dec. 5: vs. Gonzaga (Bridgestone Arena; Nashville) | SCORE: Gonzaga 94, Kentucky 59
- Dec. 9: North Carolina Central (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 103, North Carolina Central 67
- Dec. 13: Indiana (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 72, Indiana 60
- Dec. 20: vs. St. John’s (CBS Sports Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) | SCORE: Kentucky 78, St. John’s 66
- Dec. 23: Bellarmine (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 99, Bellarmine 85
- Jan. 3: at Alabama | SCORE: Alabama 89, Kentucky 74
- Jan. 7: Missouri (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Missouri 73, Kentucky 68
- Jan. 10: Mississippi State (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
- Jan. 14: at LSU, 7 p.m.
- Jan. 17: at Tennessee, noon
- Jan. 21: Texas (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Jan. 24: Ole Miss (Rupp Arena), noon
- Jan. 27: at Vanderbilt, 9 p.m.
- Jan. 31: at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m.
- Feb. 4: Oklahoma (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m.
- Feb. 7: Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
- Feb. 14: at Florida, 3 p.m.
- Feb. 17: Georgia (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m.
- Feb. 21: at Auburn, 8:30 p.m.
- Feb. 24: at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
- Feb. 28: Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m.
- March 3: at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.
- March 7: Florida (Rupp Arena), 4 p.m.
Record: 9-6 (0-2 SEC)
- Denzel Aberdeen (guard, senior)
- Collin Chandler (guard, sophomore)
- Mouhamed Dioubate (forward, junior)
- Brandon Garrison (forward, junior)
- Braydon Hawthorne (forward, freshman)
- Walker Horn (guard, senior)
- Andrija Jelavić (forward, sophomore)
- Jasper Johnson (guard, freshman)
- Jaland Lowe (guard, junior)
- Malachi Moreno (center, freshman)
- Trent Noah (forward, sophomore)
- Otega Oweh (guard, senior)
- Reece Potter (forward, junior)
- Jayden Quaintance (forward, sophomore)
- Zach Tow (forward, senior)
- Kam Williams (guard, sophomore)
Click here to view the Bulldogs’ complete schedule.
Want to learn the Bulldogs’ roster?
Click here for player bios and more.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
Milwaukee coach Bart Lundy on state of mid-major college basketball
NIL and the transfer portal challenge mid-major basketball teams, Panthers coach Bart Lundy says, but things are tough all over.
That was rough.
An ugly first half from the Milwaukee Panthers led way to one of the most disheartening showings at home in recent memory Jan. 9, an 85-67 loss to the Northern Kentucky Norse.
Forward Kael Robinson poured in nine 3-pointers and a game-high 29 points as he and the Norse buried the Panthers with an onslaught of offense, especially early.
“We’ve got to have two things,” Panthers head coach Bart Lundy said. “We’ve got to make less mistakes and have more toughness.”
BOX SCORE: Northern Kentucky 85, UW-Milwaukee 67
No amount of positive moments from true freshmen Josh Dixon and Stevie Elam – they combined for 18 points in the second half and 30 on the night – could wash away the overall feeling of the night.
The Norse led by as many as 20 in the first half, which they ended with a 55-37 lead to ultimately handle the Panthers their worst home loss since coming up 36 points short against Northern Kentucky on Feb. 9, 2022.
Treacherous first half spells doom
The first 20 minutes may have been the worst half of the Lundy era.
Only once in the past four seasons were the Panthers outscored more in a half than the 18-point deficit they faced against the Norse – and that came on the road against the second-place finisher in the Horizon League. Their previous worst home loss under Lundy was a 13-point defeat to Longwood on Dec. 13, 2023.
Northern Kentucky had only four empty possessions in the first 11 minutes of the game, making six threes and grabbing six offensive rebounds. A putback dunk by x Dozier made it a 40-25 game and forced Lundy to use his second timeout of the game.
The Norse lead the nation in fastbreak points, averaging 18 per game and Milwaukee simply could not get back in transition, even after a made basket. The Norse had a whopping 20 points on the fastbreak in the first 20 minutes alone – and that doesn’t even include free throws courtesy of run-outs. Two of those transition trips to the foul line came in succession by Donovan Oday after made baskets for the Panthers, a rather inexcusable effort.
“A complete breakdown in our systems,” Lundy called it.
Oday had 16 points in the half – which wasn’t even a team-high as big man Kael Robinson had 17 and went 4 for 5 from three.
The Panthers went into the break down 18, but the largest lead was 20 on a Robinson triple to cap an 8-0 spurt across 59 seconds, forcing Lundy to take his third timeout.
The Norse finished with 11 offensive rebounds and generated 19 second-chance points. They scored on 23 of 34 possessions, averaging 1.618 points per possession.
“Give them all the credit,” Lundy said. “They were physical and tough and came up with every ball and outran us down the floor.”
Panthers slipping in Horizon
Milwaukee’s defense the rest of the way was solid – perhaps even good; Northern Kentucky shot 38.5% from the field percent as it scored 30 points in the final 20 minutes. It still wasn’t nearly enough to erase the disaster of the first half.
The Panthers now sit tied for sixth in the Horizon League having dropped three in a row after a 3-0 start.
Danilo Jovanovich exits game
Milwaukee’s active leading scorer Danilo Jovanovich played nearly 16 minutes in the first half, scoring only two points while appearing visibly hampered, but came out of the locker room in his warm-ups.
He continues to be bothered by a balky right shoulder, an injury that limited him to no contact in practice this week.
Jovanovich is day-to-day going forward, which could leave the Panthers without four projected senior starters at the beginning of the season: Jovanovich, Faizon Fields, John Lovelace and Seth Hubbard.
“I look down on that bench and I see all them dudes on crutches that are older and wish they were pretty available,” Lundy said. “…If you have Johnny Lovelace or Seth, that’s a whole different story. You’ve got length, athleticism, Faizon corrects a lot of things. What we have now on the floor, they’re talented but most of those guys have never seen Division-I basketball.”
(This story was updated to change or add a photo or video.)
More than three decades after a newborn’s remains were discovered in a Kentucky landfill, investigators say advances in forensic science have finally led to an arrest.
Jennifer Cummins of Fairfax County, Virginia, was taken into custody on January 6 in connection with the death of an infant known for decades only as “Baby Jane Doe,” Kentucky State Police announced this week.
The case dates to 1991, when a sanitation worker discovered the remains of a baby girl at the former Richmond Landfill in Madison County, near Eastern Kentucky University.
Despite early investigative efforts, authorities were unable to identify the baby or determine who was responsible, and the case eventually went cold.
Kentucky State Police detectives recently reopened the investigation using modern forensic tools and updated investigative techniques. With assistance from the State Medical Examiner, it was determined that the infant was born alive and healthy before being placed in a dumpster on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.
The new information ultimately identified Cummins as a person of interest. In late 2025, the case was presented to a Madison County grand jury, which returned an indictment charging Cummins with murder.
“Even after decades of time that has passed, with the collaboration of new technologies, advancements, and persistence, we’ve been able to discover new leads in this case,” said Kentucky State Police Trooper Justin Kearney. “That’s why it’s so important for people to know these cases never go cold to us.”
Authorities have not released details about Cummins’ relationship to the child or the specific circumstances surrounding the infant’s death.
Kentucky State Police say the investigation remains active, and that investigators say they are still seeking the public’s help to resolve some unanswered questions.
Cummins is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center while awaiting extradition to Kentucky.
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