Kentucky basketball just secured their fifth top 15 win of the season, the most of any team in college basketball this season. Not just that, but the Wildcats outrebounded #11 Texas A&M, who is the best defensive rebounding team in the country, and showed some fight against the very physical and chippy Aggie squad. Amari Williams led the Wildcats with 12 rebounds, and guard Jaxson Robinson added 8 boards as Kentucky’s leading rebounders.

The Wildcats have pounding improving rebounding into their heads in the last few weeks, and the hard work in practice to improve that and be tough enough to attack the glass against very physical teams is now paying off. Mark Pope has taken notice, and he is loving their improvement in that area. It all starts with every play doing his part.

“One of the things we’ve been talking about is our guards making a bigger impact. Otega (Oweh) had 8 last game. Jax(son) (Robinson) had seven this game. That is a massive difference maker for us on the glass. It’s pretty great. …When our guys dig into a focus, it might not be an immediate payoff in a day but over the course of a week or two weeks or a month, these guys every single time answered the bell, actually got better. For us to be 40, 30 (rebound totals) and we are going to out offensive rebound them by one and we are going to hold two of the best offensive rebounders in the entire country, their starting five and backup five to only one offensive rebound between them, that’s an epic effort by our guys and I’m really proud. I’m saying that because we have so much respect for what Texas A&M does on the glass. They are incredible on the glass. …They offensive rebound 44% of the opportunities. That’s an insane number, and they came in as number one in the country.”

– Pope on Kentucky’s rebounding.

After Kentucky got absolutely bulied on the glass, out-physicalled there and a lot of other areas in their 12-point loss to Georgia, they have really answered all of the “soft” comments from people and have became much more physical and putting up better rebounding numbers. They’ll face another top rebounding team in the country in #4 Alabama on Saturday in Rupp Arena.

Hard work has paid off for Travis Perry, starting as a summer legend knocking down 59 straight corner threes and 100 consecutive free throws on three days in a row — “I’ve never seen this at any level of basketball,” Mark Pope said of his freshman guard at the time. He hit a wall to open the regular season, starting with just seven points on 1-12 shooting overall through Christmas while struggling defensively and playing a bit rushed.

Then he shaved his mustache and it all clicked for him, scoring 18 points on 6-10 shooting in the five games since while adding four rebounds, two steals and one assist in 44 total minutes. His most recent effort was a career-high six points on 2-4 from three with a steal in 10 minutes. It was a performance that saw him miss his first three before drilling his next two, shots that helped push Kentucky’s lead from five to 12 and ultimately solidify the double-figure win over No. 11 Texas A&M.

Emerging as a strong backup point guard behind Lamont Butler, his head coach couldn’t have been more impressed in his performance against the Aggies among everything else we’ve seen from Perry since New Year’s Eve.

“TP, he’s terrific, isn’t he?  Again, really complicated defense. This is not a really easy defense to figure out,” Pope said. “What our guys are pretty good at is they are pretty good at figuring out what they are seeing we are pretty good about coaching them. Things change as much as they do with Texas A&M and that’s the next step for us to be able to really change with the changes. 

“But TP, you know I mean it was big shots, really big shots. Right? It made us feel a whole lot better. He’s got no fear. He’s just going out to play. It’s fun.”

It’s been slow, but sure progress since arriving on campus. What he’s doing now he couldn’t do then, just like what he’s doing now won’t compare to what we’ll see from him in the future.

The good news is the current product is enough to earn real minutes off the bench for the Cats.

“If you chart his trajectory you get to see these little steps that he’s taking, we all get to see it,” he continued. “It’s one of the great things about coaching and being fans that are really invested which is BBN is you get to actually see the beginning, the middle, and the growth that we get to prognosticate about where they are going and to see these guys grow is special and TP is definitely doing that. 

“This is a high-pressure game. It’s a top 10 game against one of the best defenses in the country and he was terrific.”

What’s been working for Perry to get to this point?

“It’s a little bit of a mixture: the reps from the beginning of the summer until now,” Perry said. “I’ve had a lot of reps against the best point guard in college basketball, against some of the best defenders in college basketball, so that goes a long way. But it’s also getting more comfortable with the college game, understanding the pace. That’s starting to come to me — the feel and the reads.”

Everything moved in fast-forward for Perry early on, the freshman guard happy to admit he was drowning a bit when he first got started in Lexington. As the reps have ramped up and the staff and his teammates have made it clear he belongs, he’s been able to experience mini breakthroughs.

If they can believe in his abilities to contribute now, he can too.

“The game is slowing down for me, and that’s something that’s big,” he said. “And the confidence side of it, guys are really showing a lot of confidence in each other, that’s something we’ve had all season. When you know the bench and the coaching staff has confidence in you, that goes a long way.”

He’s getting the clean looks, and to his credit, he’s making them.

“I definitely felt more comfortable tonight,” Perry continued. “I got a little bumped there early and had a couple open shots and hit them. [I’m] definitely getting more comfortable.”

FLORENCE, Ky. — The future of Northern Kentucky’s economic strength in later generations may depend on how seriously local leaders address the region’s housing shortage.

A study produced by the Northern Kentucky Area Development District in 2023 stated the following: “Communities need to plan for an additional 6,650 housing units (in the next five years) on top of new developments already in progress or planned.”

Those units break down to:

• 3,260 aligned with an income range of $15-25/hour (monthly housing costs between $500 and 1,500)
• 500 units aligned with very low-income households (monthly housing costs below $320)
• 4,220 units should be one- or two-bedroom

Read the full study here.

Local leaders from across the region on Tuesday unveiled a report full of solutions to address that shortage.

It outlines 50 diverse strategies aimed at “affordability, accessibility, and innovation, providing a framework for economic growth and community development,” NKADD wrote.

Campbell County Judge-Executive Steve Pendery said the stakes for the region’s economy are very high.

“Housing in particular is a huge roadblock that we are all committed to removing,” Pendery said.

Among the 50 solutions are 10 that are deemed most promising, including:

• Stakeholder idea sharing
• Proactive code enforcement
• Expedited permitting process
• Landlord property inventory
• Development agencies education
• Missing middle housing strategy
• Creative zoning approaches
• Regional housing trust fund
• Development cost support
• Small developer support

Read the full report here.

Some of the changes are fundamental shifts in the way housing has been historically planned, built and approved in Northern Kentucky.

Grant County Deputy Judge-Executive Colton Simpson suggested that the prospect of less expensive housing could encourage broader political support.

“If somebody said, ‘We are going to be able to decrease the price of housing,’ I think (government leaders are) more open to that than they have been in the last 10 or 15 years,” he said.

The need for income-aligned housing is about “offense” and “defense,” said Brent Cooper, president and CEO of the NKY Chamber of Commerce, utilizing a football analogy.

Communities that build more housing are not only able to attract more workers to support growing businesses (offense) but also keep individuals already living in the region from having to move (defense).

“I’ve got elderly parents, and they have to deal with steps,” Cooper said. “They want to downsize, but there’s no option for them to downsize that they can afford.”

The chamber president mentioned that companies often consider housing availability as a determining factor in their decision to remain or move to the area.

For companies based at or around the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, the demand for additional housing is real.

“As Amazon and DHL continue to hire folks, we need to really keep pace with that growth,” said Seth Cutter, Vice President of Public Affairs at CVG.

While there are several housing development projects in the works, he said it is insufficient to meet the rapid growth from the airport.

Leaders recognized that the report won’t provide instant fixes, but said they are optimistic about the potential conversations it may spark around change.

“This was about getting information to the decision maker,” said Judge-Executive Gary Moore of Boone County. “This isn’t just going to be solved by the large cities or the large counties. It’s really got to be a widespread effort.”

The Northern Kentucky Area Development District is encouraging its jurisdictions and local businesses to look at the resort and pick from the “menu of options” that best work for its communities.