Kentucky
Freshman Justin Edwards scores 28, leading No. 17 Kentucky past No. 13 Alabama 117-95
LEXINGTON, Ky (AP) — Kentucky coach John Calipari kept telling Justin Edwards he believed in him, even as the freshman struggled through an inconsistent season.
That belief paid off Saturday as Edwards scored a season-high 28 points, leading No. 17 Kentucky to a 117-95 win over No. 13 Alabama.
Edwards scored his previous high against Vanderbilt on Feb. 6, when he finished with 17 points.
“I kept saying you’re going to break through. I believe in you,” Calipari said. “He said ‘Coach, I believe in you.’ And I said, you just got to stay the course.”
Against Alabama, Edwards was 10 for 10 from the field and 4 for 4 from 3-point distance. His only miss came at the free throw line, where he finished 4 for 5.
“It felt good to go out and show I can play like I did,” Edwards said. “It means a lot because (my teammates) believe in me. I knew I hadn’t missed (a shot), but I knocked on wood.”
Antonio Reeves scored 24 points, and Zvonimir Ivisic came off the bench to score 18 points for the Wildcats (19-8, 9-5 SEC). Kentucky shot 63% from the field, 54% from 3-point distance and finished a point short of its highest scoring game of the season, a 118-82 win over Marshall on Nov. 25. It was the second-most points Kentucky has scored in an SEC game in Rupp Arena since posting 127 against LSU in 1995.
Rylan Griffen scored 21 points and Mark Sears added 20 for Alabama (19-8, 11-3), which shot 56% from the field and turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 29 points by Kentucky.
“Kentucky was ready to play tonight and we weren’t. They were great and we looked awful,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “I told our guys we have had question marks about our defense all year.”
The conference showdown between the pair of highly ranked teams and the two top scoring offenses in the nation got off to a quick start. Alabama held a 29-28 lead with 9:39 left in the first half before Kentucky went on a 20-2 run over the next six minutes, seizing control of the game and carrying a 58-42 lead into halftime.
Alabama got within 14 in the second half at 68-54 with 16:45 left, but Kentucky shut down any hopes of rally with 12 unanswered points in less than 90 seconds, with Edwards accounting for seven of those points, including a four-point play.
BIG PICTURE
Alabama: The Tide lost their tenuous hold on first-place in the SEC as No. 5 Tennessee beat Texas A&M 86-51 on Saturday night and moved into a tie atop the conference standings.
Kentucky: The Wildcats sorely needed a dominating home win after dropping three of their last four games in Rupp Arena. Kentucky kept alive a path to a double-bye in the conference tournament.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Alabama: The Tide should not be hurt too much by another road loss, although they did need overtime to beat Florida 98-93 on Wednesday.
Kentucky: The Wildcats should stay about where they are in the polls, despite blowing a 15-point lead on the road to LSU on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Alabama: At Mississippi on Wednesday.
Kentucky: At Mississippi State on Tuesday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Kentucky
Social media companies pay $27 million to settle Kentucky school district’s lawsuit over social media harms, records show
The Brooklyn Nets have developed their teams through a number of strategies over the decades, and their front office has put together considerable success through the NBA draft. Many of the franchise’s best players have joined the Nets either by being selected directly in the annual draft or through trades made on that day.
Moreover, it is not only the star players who have been acquired by the Nets through the draft. Several prominent alumni have been selected by the team each offseason during this annual event, with certain colleges being more prominently represented than others. An analysis of the players from different schools reveals that both prestigious programs and smaller institutions have contributed top talent to the Nets’ roster over the years.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at every player who has been drafted by the Nets out of Kentucky State University.
Gerald Cunningham – forward
Draft year and position: fifth round (first pick, 89th overall), 1977 NBA Draft
Seasons at Kentucky State University:
Seasons played with Nets: did not make the team
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
The best shooter in college basketball will, in fact, stay in college basketball — and Kentucky is ready to make its final push.
Iowa State star Milan Momcilovic has withdrawn from the 2026 NBA Draft and will play somewhere at his current level in 2026-27. That’s not expected to be back in Ames, as Cyclone coach T.J. Otzelberger made clear, saying that if the 6-8 forward doesn’t make the jump to the pros, “it’s important that he’s able to find a landing spot at a college that fits what he’s looking for.”
Could Lexington be that final destination? The perimeter sniper already said he’s got respect for the Wildcats and Mark Pope, watching his programs closely since his time at BYU when they competed against each other in the Big 12.
In his eyes, he could be the piece Kentucky was missing this past season in the program’s Round of 32 exit, led by Momcilovic’s 20 points and five rebounds in the Cyclones’ 82-63 victory in St. Louis.
“I think Kentucky would be a good fit,” Momcilovic told the Herald-Leader’s Ben Roberts last week at the NBA Draft Combine. “I obviously went against Pope at BYU his first year (in the Big 12), and I loved how his team played. I think we went 1-1 against them, but they killed us at their place, because they fly the ball up the court and shoot 3s. I really like the way they play.
“And obviously, Kentucky last year, he didn’t have enough shooters around him to really coach, I feel like, the way he wanted. But I think — if I were to choose Kentucky — that would be a good fit for me. I feel like I’d be a great player for him, and he’d be a good coach for me.”
Momcilovic averaged a career-high 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 30.5 minutes per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the field, 48.7 percent from three and 87.8 percent at the line. He knocked down 260 3-pointers, good for 3.7 makes on 7.5 attempts per contest.
The former four-star recruit has been Kentucky’s dream portal target all offseason. Now, he’s officially a free agent, pulling out of the draft ahead of the withdrawal deadline.
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