Kentucky
Boston, Cooke lead No. 1 South Carolina in rout of Kentucky
Estimated learn time: 3-4 minutes
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Aliyah Boston had 21 factors and 11 rebounds, Zia Cooke scored 10 of her 20 factors throughout a 16-0 second-quarter rally and top-ranked South Carolina pulled away within the fourth quarter to rout Kentucky 95-66 on Thursday evening.
After battling again to win at Mississippi State on Sunday, the Gamecocks (17-0, 5-0 Southeastern Convention) overcame one other highway problem from the Wildcats to retain a share of first place within the convention.
Kentucky’s 16-1 run over the primary and second quarters offered a 31-21 lead with 5:27 left within the half and an enormous dose of confidence towards the reigning nationwide champions. However South Carolina shortly seized momentum. Boston, who was 9-of-11 taking pictures, responded with a jumper and Cooke added a 3-pointer, a three-point play and two layups in the course of the surge to steer 37-33 on the break.
“It was simply me taking part in my function and letting the sport come to me and simply being prepared when the ball does come to me,” mentioned Cooke, who made 8-of-14 photographs from the sphere with 5 layups. “We have been down earlier than, the sport is filled with highs and lows at instances. We simply continued to maintain our tempo and do what we do.”
The Gamecocks maintained a small cushion after three quarters earlier than going 13 of 17 from the ground within the fourth to drag away.
Maddie Scherr scored a career-high 25 factors with 5 3s for the Wildcats (8-9, 0-4), who fell to their second top-10 opponent this week. Kentucky misplaced 67-48 to now-No. 5 LSU on Sunday at Rupp Area.
Jada Walker added 17 factors and Robyn Benton 10 for Kentucky, which shot 42% however was outrebounded simply 35-29 by the taller Gamecocks.
“I simply went in and tried to speak to them concerning the positives,” Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy mentioned. “For 3 quarters towards the No. 1 crew within the nation, you confirmed what you had been made from. They made the run within the fourth, we will be taught from that.”
South Carolina practically doubled Kentucky in scoring within the paint (62-32) on the way in which to taking pictures a season-high 64% (35 of 55). Kamilla Cardoso added 12 factors and Laeticia Amihere 11 because the Gamecocks additionally dominated bench scoring 39-10.
Thursday was the groups’ first assembly since Kentucky upset the top-seeded Gamecocks 64-62 to win the SEC Event title. South Carolina went on to win its second nationwide title and hasn’t regarded again, although it entered the competition in a four-way tie atop the league.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: A double-digit deficit did not faze the Gamecocks, who had loads of time to regroup and use their dimension and velocity to reclaim the lead. Cooke sparked the rally and contributed key performs each time wanted to assist her crew survive one other highway check. Crimson-hot taking pictures additionally helped, as they surpassed their 63% accuracy towards Auburn.
“Generally you’ve got simply received to let issues play out,” coach Daybreak Staley mentioned of the pivotal run. “I simply needed to take Kentucky’s finest punch and see how we might reply to it. …. We will really feel that. A very powerful factor is to not panic.”
Kentucky: The Wildcats stayed inside attain however simply could not cease Boston or Cooke, who discovered a whole lot of room inside for layups. Scherr made 10 of 15 from the sphere and 5 of seven from deep to surpass her earlier finest of twenty-two factors on Sunday. Inside scoring was one other story towards the nation’s prime shot-blocking crew, which averages 9.6 blocks; South Carolina rejected 11 makes an attempt.
“I do know they had been going to fall finally,” Scherr mentioned. “I had all of the encouragement from my teammates and coaches, and that is what received me there.”
UP NEXT
South Carolina: Hosts Missouri on Sunday.
Kentucky: Visits Florida on Sunday to start a two-game highway swing.
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AP girls’s school basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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Kentucky
Kentucky State Police asking for help to find suspect in Breckinridge County ‘domestic incident’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Kentucky State Police and the Breckinridge County Sheriff’s Office are asking for the public’s help in finding a suspect from a domestic incident that happened Saturday night.
KSP spokesperson Scotty Sharp said they’ve been looking for Julio Morales throughout the night and into Sunday.
They describe Morales as a 186-pound, 5′ 8′’ man with gray hair and brown eyes. He’s 53 years old and was last seen wearing dark clothing. Police said he is considered armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (270) 756-2361 or KSP at (270) 766-5078.
This is a developing story.
Copyright 2025 WAVE. All rights reserved.
Kentucky
Kentucky has more Top 15 wins than any team in the country
The start of Mark Pope‘s head coaching career at Kentucky couldn’t be off to a better start.
Sure, the Wildcats have taken some lumps as we’re roughly halfway through the 2024-25 season. But when the moment is the brightest or when Kentucky desperately needs a bounce-back win, Pope’s team continues to find ways to pull out massive victories.
Following Saturday night’s 95-90 road win in Starkville over No. 14 Mississippi State, Kentucky is up to a 13-3 record (2-1 SEC). Four of those 13 wins have come against teams that were (and still are) ranked among the AP Poll’s Top 15 in the country at the time. UK has taken down No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 6 Florida, and now the 14th-ranked Bulldogs. The wins over Duke and Gonzaga required huge halftime comebacks, as well.
Kentucky’s 4-0 mark against Top 15 teams is best in the country. UK is also now 4-3 in Quad 1 opportunities. After all three of the Wildcats’ losses this season, Pope has coached his team to bounce back wins in all of them. Two of those were against the aforementioned Top 15 opponents: Gonzaga and Mississippi State.
The schedule (somehow) only gets tougher from here too. Up next? Two more Top 15 matchups next week at Rupp Arena. Kentucky will host No. 10 Texas A&M on Tuesday and then No. 5 Alabama on Saturday. The ‘Cats also have to take on top-ranked Tennessee twice, Alabama a second time, and No. 2 Auburn later in conference play. Not to mention showdowns with No. 23 Ole Miss and No. 17 Oklahoma.
But if we’ve learned anything from the first 16 games of the Pope era, it’s to never count out this group of Wildcats.
Kentucky
Kentucky vs Mississippi State score today: Updates, highlights from UK basketball game
Kentucky’s Mark Pope on recruiting players through transfer portal
Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball coach Mark Pope discusses recruiting players through the transfer portal.
Mississippi State, Mark Pope joked, has “the bio” of seemingly every team in the SEC.
The Bulldogs are aggressive, offensively and defensively. They induce turnovers at a high rate. And they excel at offensive rebounds.
But they have two individuals that are hard to approximate elsewhere in guard Josh Hubbard and forward Cameron Matthews.
A 5-foot-11, 190-pound sophomore, Hubbard was one of the league’s best players as a freshman last season. He’s only built off that in 2024-25. He leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.90). And he ranks among the top 10 in the conference in multiple categories, including 3-point percentage (38.2) and 3-point makes per game (3.13) entering tonight’s game versus Pope’s Kentucky squad.
“He is a real talent,” Pope said. “He’s been doing it for a while. He’s really, really dangerous.”
Matthews, meanwhile, reminds Pope of one of the NBA’s most well-known players of the past decade.
“He’s very much a Draymond Green vibe,” Pope said. “He’s a really terrific, creative passer. He’s got an unbelievable sense of space and time away from the ball. He can see cutters. He can pass off the bounce. He can be really aggressive to the rim. He plays like a really, really big point guard. So he’s a unique piece for them.”
It’ll be a matchup of ranked squads tonight at Humphrey Coliseum: The Wildcats are No. 7 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25, while the Bulldogs are 13th and 14th, respectively.
Here’s what you need to know to follow today’s game from home:
The contest between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will air on SEC Network. Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will have the call.
Authenticated subscribers can access SEC Network via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com, the WatchESPN app or ESPN+.
You also can stream SEC Network on Fubo, which offers a free trial.
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.
Betting odds: Kentucky is a 5⅟₂-point road underdog (-110) on DraftKings, which set the over/under at 161 points (-110). The money line odds are Kentucky +190, Mississippi State -230.
- Oct. 23: exhibition vs. Kentucky Wesleyan ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 123, Kentucky Wesleyan 52
- Oct. 29: exhibition vs. Minnesota State Mankato ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 98, Minnesota State Mankato 67
- Nov. 4: vs. Wright State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 103, Wright State 62
- Nov. 9: vs. Bucknell (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 100, Bucknell 72
- Nov. 12: vs. Duke (Champions Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Duke 72
- Nov. 19: vs. Lipscomb, (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 97, Lipscomb 68
- Nov. 22: vs. Jackson State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 108, Jackson State 59
- Nov. 26: vs. Western Kentucky (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 87, Western Kentucky 68
- Nov. 29: vs. Georgia State (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 105, Georgia State 76
- Dec. 3: at Clemson (ACC/SEC Challenge) ∣ SCORE: Clemson 70, Kentucky 66
- Dec. 7: vs. Gonzaga (Climate Pledge Arena; Seattle) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 90, Gonzaga 89 (OT)
- Dec. 11: vs. Colgate (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Colgate 67
- Dec. 14: vs. Louisville (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 93, Louisville 85
- Dec. 21: vs. Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York) | SCORE: Ohio State 85, Kentucky 65
- Dec. 31: vs. Brown (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 88, Brown 54
- Jan. 4: vs. Florida (Rupp Arena) | SCORE: Kentucky 106, Florida 100
- Jan. 7: at Georgia | SCORE: Georgia 82, Kentucky 69
- Jan. 11: at Mississippi State, 8:30 p.m., SEC Network
- Jan. 14: vs. Texas A&M (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN2
- Jan. 18: vs. Alabama (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN
- Jan. 25: at Vanderbilt, 2:30 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2
- Jan. 28: at Tennessee, 7 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 1: vs. Arkansas (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 4: at Ole Miss, 7 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 8: vs. South Carolina (Rupp Arena), noon, ESPN/ESPN2
- Feb. 11: vs. Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 15: at Texas, 8 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 19: vs. Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
- Feb. 22: at Alabama, 6 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 26: at Oklahoma, 9 p.m., SEC Network
- March 1: vs. Auburn (Rupp Arena), 1/4 p.m., ABC/ESPN
- March 4: vs. LSU (Rupp Arena), 7/9 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU
- March 8: at Missouri, noon, ESPN/SEC Network
Record: 12-3 (1-1 SEC)
- Ansley Almonor (forward, senior)
- Koby Brea (guard, graduate)
- Lamont Butler (guard, graduate)
- Andrew Carr (forward, graduate)
- Collin Chandler (guard, freshman)
- Grant Darbyshire (guard, junior)
- Brandon Garrison (forward, sophomore)
- Walker Horn (guard, junior)
- Kerr Kriisa (guard, senior)
- Trent Noah (forward, freshman)
- Otega Oweh (guard, junior)
- Travis Perry (guard, freshman)
- Jaxson Robinson (guard, graduate)
- Zach Tow (forward, junior)
- Amari Williams (center, graduate)
Mississippi State went 21-14 overall last season, posting an 8-10 mark in SEC play. Its season ended in an 69-51 loss to Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs are 14-1 this season. Their lone loss was an 87-77 setback to Butler on Nov. 29 at the Arizona Tip-Off event in Tempe, Arizona. MSU is 2-0 in conference competition, routing South Carolina by 35 points (85-50) at home last week and topping Vanderbilt on the road, 76-64, on Tuesday.
Though UK has beaten Mississippi State nine straight times at Humphrey Coliseum, the Bulldogs haven’t lost at home this season, sporting a 7-0 record entering tonight’s game.
Click here to see the Bulldogs’ full 2024-25 schedule.
Want to learn the Bulldogs’ roster?
Click here for player bios and more.
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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
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