Kentucky
Kentucky basketball: 5-star 2025 Indiana sharpshooter no longer considering Wildcats
Kentucky coach Mark Pope on how team can find the joys in basketball
Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope discusses how players should care about something more than themselves to find the joys in basketball with their team.
LEXINGTON — Cross one potential candidate off the list for coach Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball’s 2025 recruiting class.
Braylon Mullins, one of the top shooters in the 2025 cycle, cut his list of finalists to three Tuesday. UK was not among that trio.
Mullins will choose among Indiana, North Carolina and UConn.
The Wildcats once were considered one of the leading contenders — if not the odds-on favorites — to land Mullins. Instead, he’ll play his college ball elsewhere.
When Mullins trimmed his list to 10 schools, Kentucky was one of them along with Alabama, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Purdue, Tennessee and UConn. An official visit to UK had been planned for the weekend of Oct. 26; the trip would have coincided with the football team’s home game versus Auburn. Now, that OV is off Mullins’ itinerary.
Per the 247Sports Composite, Mullins is a five-star recruit, ranked No. 23 in the 2025 class. His ranking among the major recruiting databases has been on a meteoric rise after superlative showings in AAU play this past summer. Earlier this year, Mullins was No. 73 nationally in the 247Sports Composite rankings — 50 spots below his current placing.
Mullins is viewed as one of the best pure shooters in the 2025 cycle.
Per Kentucky Sports Radio, Mullins connected on “47.3% of his shots from deep across 17 games played during the spring/summer.” And he achieved that efficient percentage while averaging 7.7 3-point attempts per game for Indiana Elite, which plays on the Adidas 3SSB circuit.
One of his Indiana Elite teammates is Malachi Moreno, a five-star center who on Aug. 16 became Kentucky’s first 2025 commitment. After Moreno’s pledge, he made a spirited pitch for Mullins to join him in Lexington.
“We did have that in mind,” Moreno told KSR. “I knew he was going to be great after — I mean he blew up the last three summers, I just knew he was going to be great. Once we had similar offers I was like, ‘Yo, we actually have an opportunity to be college teammates.’ … I’m gonna make sure he puts this (Kentucky shirt) on.”
Moreno’s dream will remain just that.
The Wildcats have numerous offers out to 2025 prospects. Only one has committed elsewhere (point guard Darius Acuff Jr. to Arkansas), while others (Mullins, AJ Dybantsa, Koa Peat, Darryn Peterson, Eric Reibe, Meleek Thomas and Tounde Yessoufou) don’t have UK as a finalist.
But Pope and his staff have begun to focus their energy on a select group.
Five-star power forward Caleb Wilson was in Lexington earlier this month for an official visit. After that, the Wildcats’ staff visited Wilson at his school, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal in Atlanta.
Wilson has made no bones about wanting to team up in college with another 2025 prospect UK is actively pursuing: four-star guard Acaden Lewis.
According to KSR+ reporter Jacob Polacheck, five-star point guard Mikel Brown will reportedly be in town for an official visit later this week. Five-star center Chris Cenac also will be in Lexington this weekend for an official visit.
The other 2025 recruits Kentucky still is in the running with include:
Jasper Johnson, who became UK’s second 2025 pledge earlier this month, was one of 30 players who showcased his skills in Overtime Elite’s fall combine Tuesday in Atlanta.
About 90 college coaches and NBA scouts observed the session.
Here are Johnson’s numbers from the combine:
Shooting drills
- Pull-up jumpers: 16 for 30 (53.3%)
- Movement 3s: 44 for 70 (62.9%) — Best percentage of all combine participants
- Catch-and-shoot 3s: 37 for 50 (74.0%) — Best percentage of all combine participants
TOTAL: 97 for 150 (64.7%) — Third-best shooting percentage among participants; one of only three to post a percentage above 60%
Measurements
- Standing reach: 8 feet, 5 inches
- Wingspan: 6 feet, 9 inches
- Height (with shoes): 6-foot-4 ½
Athletic drills
- Approach vertical: 32 inches
- Standing vertical: 25 inches
- 3/4 court sprint: 3.44 seconds
- Lane agility: 11.46 seconds
- Reaction shuttle: 3.21 seconds
Watch the entirety of the OTE combine in the embedded video below.
Miikka Muurinen is one of the country’s top players in 2026. And he plans to make an official visit to Lexington in the future.
Just not the near future.
Per KSR+, Muurinen likely won’t be on UK’s campus until the calendar flips to 2025.
“I’m probably not going to do it this year,” Muurinen told KSR+. “I have to be with my team and spend time with them.”
Ranked as the No. 12 overall player in the 2026 cycle, per the 247Sports Composite, Murrinen already has taken OVs to Arkansas, Michigan and Utah.
But the Wildcats are squarely in the mix for the second-ranked power forward in his class.
“We’re going to make something happen,” Muurinen told KSR+. “Kentucky is, for sure, one of my favorites, as of right now.”
Muurinen is one of eight prospects Kentucky has offered in the 2026 class.
Other tidbits of note about UK men’s basketball with the 2024-25 season fast approaching:
- The Wildcats started preseason practice Monday. The annual Big Blue Madness event is set for Oct. 11, followed by the Blue-White preseason scrimmage Oct. 18. UK’s first preseason exhibition is Oct. 23 against Kentucky Wesleyan at Rupp Arena. Kentucky opens the 2024-25 campaign at home versus Wright State on Nov. 4.
- Former Wildcat Daimion Collins is ready to take the court once more. Collins, who spent two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) at Kentucky, transferred to LSU ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. But he appeared in just six games for the Tigers last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against North Florida. Now, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Collins “has been fully cleared for all basketball related activities.” He played in 47 games for the Wildcats over two seasons but made just two starts. Collins has averaged 2.6 points and 2 rebounds per contest (58 games) in three seasons as a collegian, making 52.8% (57 for 108) of his field-goal attempts.
- Two people with connections to UK were enshrined Monday in the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 induction class. One was Kentucky basketball great Tony Delk, who netted first-team All-American honors en route to leading the program to the national championship in 1996. The other was Oscar Combs, who founded The Cats’ Pause in 1976. The Cats’ Pause was the first independent publication devoted to solely covering the athletics program at one university.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
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.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Montavin Quisenberry isn’t the only former Kentucky wide receiver to switch out blue for red this offseason.
Hardley Gilmore IV announced Thursday that he has committed to the Louisville football program.
He’s the fifth Wildcat to transfer to the Cardinals in this cycle, following Quisenberry, who committed earlier in the day, cornerback D.J. Waller plus defensive ends Jerod Smith II and Jacob Smith.
Gilmore is also the 11th portal pickup for UofL in the last three days, and their 15th transfer commitment overall in this cycle, beginning to offset 23 portal defections that UofL has seen so far. The 14-day transfer window officially opened up this past Friday, and is the only opportunity for players to enter following the removal of the spring window.
Despite Kentucky’s instability at quarterback this past season, Gilmore put together a productive 2025 campaign. Playing in all 12 games while starting five, the 6-foot-1, 165-pound receiver caught 28 passes for 313 yards and a touchdown. His reception and yardage total was second on the team to Kendrick Law.
The Belle Glade, Fla. native got immediate playing time as a true freshman in 2024. Appearing in seven games, Gilmore was able to haul in six passes for 153 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown vs. Murray State.
While Gilmore has shown high end potential on the field, he comes with some off-the-field baggage from last offseason. Last January after opting to transfer to Nebraska following his true freshman season, he was charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching someone in the face at a storage facility in Lexington. Then this past April, he was dismissed from the Huskers for unknown reasons, and wound up returning to Kentucky.
“Nothing outside the program, nothing criminal or anything like that,” Huskers head coach Matt Rhule said at the time regarding Gilmore’s dismissal. “Just won’t be with us anymore.”
Gilmore and Quisenberry are the first of likely multiple transfer pieces that Louisville will add to their wide receiver room. Between graduation and the portal, the Cardinals are losing six receivers – including Chris Bell & Caullin Lacy.
In their third season under head coach Jeff Brohm, Louisville went 9-4 overall, including a 4-4 mark in ACC play and a 27-22 win over Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl. The Cardinals have won at least nine games in all three seasons under Brohm, doing so for the first time since 2012-14.
More Cardinals Stories
(Photo of Hardley Gilmore IV: Jordan Prather – Imagn Images)
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Spotted lanternflies congregate on grapevines
This undated video provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture shows adult spotted lanternflies on grapevines in Berks County.
PROVIDED BY PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, PROVIDED BY PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Entomologists have confirmed spotted lanternflies in eight more counties in Kentucky during 2025, according to a recent announcement.
These include Fayette, Franklin, Harrison, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Trimble and Woodford. The invasive insect was first found in the commonwealth in October 2023, in Gallatin County, and spread to counties including Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Grant, Henry, Kenton and Owen in 2024.
Here’s what to know.
What is a spotted lanternfly?
In short, the spotted lanternfly is a moth-like bug that’s not supposed to be in the U.S. The bugs tend to be red with black and/or white spots on their wings, according to the Department of Agriculture.
They’re native to China and first showed up in the U.S. in 2014. They’ve mostly been found in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the USDA reports, but they’ve also been found in Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia.
One of the things that makes them so risky as an invasive species is that the eggs are thought to travel well, on everything from packages being shipped to moving boxes on U-Hauls.
Why are spotted lanternflies dangerous?
Spotted lanternflies can pose a major threat to the things such as orchards, vineyards and logging facilities. How? They tend to swarm and devour what they land on quickly, causing serious damage.
Their “waste product” — known as “honeydew” — can also attract molds and other bugs that further damage plants.
They pose a threat, according to the USDA, to everything from almonds, apples and hops to maple, oak and pine trees and more.
Is the spotted lanternfly in Kentucky?
Yes. The Kentucky Office of the State Entomologist said in a post to Facebook that the spotted lanternfly was confirmed in eight new commonwealth counties during 2025.
The species has been located in 16 counties total — Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Fayette, Franklin, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Kenton, Owen, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Trimble and Woodford.
What to do about spotted lanternflies
The biggest thing you can do, according to the USDA, to help control the spread of the spotted lanternfly is to keep an eye out for them.
It is recommended that you inspect trees, plants and other surfaces on your property for bugs. It’s best to do that around dusk, the USDA says, because that’s when bugs tend to congregate, making them easier to spot.
Signs that a plant may be infected include the plant oozing, becoming moldy or developing a fermented odor, according to the USDA. You may also see a “buildup of sticky fluid” beneath the infected plant.
The agency also recommends you keep an eye out for egg masses on everything from plants to boxes that hold things such as holiday decorations and often sit unattended for much of the year. If you spot an egg mass, you should scrape it “into a plastic zippered bag filled with hand sanitizer, then zip the bag shut and dispose of it,” according to the USDA.
In Kentucky, you should report sightings to your Department of Forestry regional office or reach the UK at 859-257-7597 or forestry.extension@uky.edu. UK experts also ask that anyone who finds one send a picture with the location to reportapest@uky.edu.
Contributing: Mary Ramsey, The Courier Journal. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.
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