Kentucky
Kentucky must now balance injury disaster and maintaining the resume
Up five with 3:51 to go, Texas went on a 14-1 run to go up 78-70 with 34 seconds left on the clock. It was an absolute collapse, a stretch that saw Kentucky miss all four of its shot attempts, give up four offensive rebounds and turn the ball over twice as the Longhorns finished 5-6 with eight made free throws. With Mark Pope seen as the media darling of this cycle and Rodney Terry coaching for his job seemingly by the game at this point, it was the latter earning the tip of the cap for his team’s late-game execution on both ends as he lives to see another day leading the program.
How much credit does Texas get compared to the blame Kentucky deserves for crumbling in that final segment? Is it as simple as the Wildcats missing Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa, just not having the juice to get over the finish line? Pope will tell you that’s not the case.
“I have a good team,” he said. “The guys on the court are good players, and we’re good enough to win. These guys have proven that. We just didn’t do it in the last three minutes and 45 seconds tonight. That’s just it. It’s super painful. It’s not acceptable.”
But is it truly unacceptable for Kentucky to find itself down three lead guards — two being the team’s second- and third-leading scorers — and lose in a true road game to a desperate Texas team that had lost four of five in the SEC whose coach had just been booed on his home floor days before? You respect Pope being his own harshest critic in that moment, but it’s a nuanced conversation with some grace deserved given the circumstances while also not giving the Wildcats a total pass.
On one hand, you can say with confidence Kentucky was missing what Butler provides defensively and as a playmaker to go with Robinson’s shot-making. Tre Johnson went nuclear for a career-high 32 points while Tramon Mark added a season-high 26 points — Butler undoubtedly slowing down some of that production while helping assist on more than 10 of the team’s 26 made baskets. Then with the shooting, the Wildcats went just 6-24 from three on the day, good for 25.0 percent. Take away two garbage-time threes from Travis Perry and Otega Oweh in the final 18 seconds and the team hit just four shots from deep with the game still within reach, three coming in the first half. Don’t discount Robinson’s length at 6-7 limiting Johnson (6-6) and Mark (6-5) some, too.
On the other, Koby Brea is way too good to score four points on zero made field goals, snapping his streak of a made 3-pointer in every game as a Wildcat. He finished 0-6 overall and 0-4 from three in a team-high 35 minutes. Oweh’s double-digit scoring streak was extended with a 20-point night, but his three turnovers — two in the second half — were as costly as any of the team’s 13 while the defensive lapses came at excruciating times. Perry also had two second-half turnovers to give him three overall, plus seven combined from the bigs in Amari Williams (3), Andrew Carr (2) and Brandon Garrison (2). Texas turned those cough-ups into 21 points off turnovers compared to 12 for the Cats. Self-inflicted mistakes that wouldn’t have been totally erased at full strength. As Pope made clear after the loss, focus wasn’t where it needed to be, which is inexcusable for this group considering the let-down performances in similar matchups against Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
This isn’t new for the Wildcats, unfortunately.
“We’re at that point in the season where these late-game situations, they’re going to become increasingly heated,” Pope said. “We have incredibly painful moments from this game where we weren’t present. We will learn from that.”
Thing is, there are only six regular season games remaining, then only two guaranteed matchups from there, one in Nashville and one in the NCAA Tournament — barring a catastrophic meltdown on the season, obviously. They’re learning on the fly shorthanded, but the opportunities are extremely limited this point forward and you simply have to take the the winnable games as they come. Kentucky did not do that on Saturday in Austin.
Whether Butler, Robinson and/or Kriisa are out days or weeks or permanently, we can’t just punt on the season with losses dismissed and wins celebrated with confetti pouring down from the rafters. We’re not going to throw a temper tantrum about this loss because, again, Quad 1 road games are hard and they’re infinitely harder without three key contributors. And as the Selection Committee made clear earlier in the day, Kentucky’s injury situation will be taken into consideration with the Wildcats currently slotted at No. 10 overall as a No. 3 seed — “We think we’ve got them in the right spot,” Selection Chair member Bubba Cunningham said, adding “Kentucky had great wins.”
But when you’re up five with 3:51 to go, you find a way to win. You find a way to make shots and come up with stops, no matter who is on the floor. The Wildcats did neither and left Austin with a sixth loss in the SEC and eighth overall.
As we look ahead to a home rematch vs. Vanderbilt on Wednesday, a team ranked worse than Texas at No. 42 in the NET and coming to play on your home floor, let’s remind ourselves of Pope’s accountability after the loss and not lose sight of that standard. The Selection Committee loves the resume now with eight Quad 1 wins while also keeping an open mind with the team’s injury situation, but that tune can shift in a hurry if the Wildcats aren’t careful. With four Quad 1 matchups ahead to wrap up the regular season, Kentucky can’t have the same lack of focus in the last segment of the season it did in the last segment of the game against Texas.
Things can still get away from this group, just as we saw inside the Moody Center. It’s their job now to not blow this resume up right before they earn the reward four weeks away on Selection Sunday — no matter the disaster injury situation today.
Kentucky
Fayette County school board chair, KEA sue to block Kentucky law that would oust current members
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — Fayette County Board of Education Chair Tyler Murphy and the Kentucky Education Association have filed a lawsuit challenging a newly enacted Kentucky law that would overhaul the governance structure of Fayette County Public Schools and force all current board members out of office at the end of 2026.
The lawsuit names the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Fayette County Board of Elections and Fayette County election officials as defendants.
At the center of the legal challenge is Senate Bill 4, which lawmakers passed over Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto earlier this year.
Under the law, the seven-member Fayette County Board of Education would be reduced to five district-based seats, the lawsuit reads. The terms of all current board members would end Dec. 31, 2026, and new elections would be held for the restructured board.
The lawsuit argues the law is unconstitutional and asks the court to block its implementation, including any election-related actions tied to the measure.
Court filings contend the legislation unlawfully targets a single school district and interferes with the terms of duly elected local officials. Plaintiffs also argue the law violates provisions of the Kentucky Constitution governing local elections and public officeholders.
Attorneys included exhibits detailing criticism of Murphy and Fayette County Public Schools leadership from state lawmakers, including a petition seeking Murphy’s removal and a letter from state Sen. Chris McDaniel calling for the resignations of Murphy and Superintendent Demetrus Liggins.
The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the law is invalid and requests expedited review from the court due to upcoming election deadlines.
No hearing date had been announced as of Wednesday.
The lawsuit comes as Fayette County Public Schools continues to face scrutiny over budgeting decisions, district spending and governance issues that have drawn attention from state lawmakers over the past year.
In a statement, Representative Matt Lockett criticized Murphy as he highlighted what he stated are district failures under Murphy.
“This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to distract from the disaster that Fayette County Public Schools is under Tyler Murphy’s leadership as board chair. Under his watch, the district has spiraled into a financial crisis so severe that it is now seeking to borrow up to $110 million simply to keep the lights on and make it through the school year. Students have been failed. Families have been failed. Teachers and staff have been failed. Taxpayers have been failed. And the Lexington community has been left paying the price for years of mismanagement and poor oversight.
Rather than taking responsibility for the district’s financial failures and focusing on what is best for students, he has chosen to file a lawsuit challenging a law that was duly passed by the General Assembly and enacted through the constitutional process. He may be emboldened by recent rulings by activist judges, but there are no legitimate grounds for overturning a duly enacted statute simply because you can’t do the right thing by this community. The General Assembly has both the authority and the responsibility to establish standards for public offices and governance structures across the Commonwealth.
At a time when Fayette County schools are facing unprecedented financial turmoil, the focus should be on accountability, transparency, and fixing the problems that have brought the district to this point. The only filing Fayette County taxpayers should be expecting from Mr. Murphy is his resignation.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has been causing fear around the world, and a Lexington doctor is preparing in the event a case is found in Kentucky.
According to the CDC, there have been 49 deaths and over 300 confirmed cases across the two countries, with more suspected cases still being investigated.
UK Healthcare is working to become a Level 2 Special Pathogen Treatment Center through the National Special Pathogen System, which would allow the facility to treat Ebola patients in-house.
Dr. Nicholas Van Sickels, an infectious disease physician at UK Healthcare, said the current outbreak is serious, but Kentucky residents are not at significant risk.
“Ebola scares people just because of the mortality, the death rate, associated with it and some of the long term consequences when you do survive. Fortunately, the strain that we’re seeing in Eastern (Democratic Republic of Congo) is thought to be not as deadly, but either way it’s a very serious disease. It carries a lot of stigma and fear,” Van Sickels said.
Here in Kentucky, however, is a very safe environment, Dr. Van Sickels said.
Currently, Dr. Van Sickels says UK Healthcare operates as an assessment hospital, meaning it can evaluate patients with symptoms who have traveled to regions with active outbreaks, coordinate testing with the state, and transfer patients to higher-level care centers if needed.
Once the Level 2 designation is complete, UK Healthcare will be the only facility in Kentucky with that capability.
“We’re the only facility in Kentucky that is able to have a level 2 designation once we finish this grant award and get approved,” Dr. Van Sickels said.
In January 2026, UK Healthcare received a grant from the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC), the governing body of the National Special Pathogen System.
“It’s approximately half a million dollars to transform our institution,” Van Sickels said.
The funding has been used to run simulation drills in coordination with Lexington Fire, EMS, and the state health department. The grant also enabled UK Healthcare to upgrade its protective outerwear, with all seam points covered to provide additional protection. Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids.
During a recent site visit and simulation, evaluators identified vulnerabilities in the facility’s previous protective suits.
“When we had our site visit and had our stimulation, for example, they said that the seams that we had on our old suits, you could pull and stretch, and that they were rather porous,” Van Sickels said.
Van Sickels had been working on the preparedness project since the beginning of the year.
Citing lessons learned from the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, which spread to the U.S. and resulted in 4 cases and 1 death.
“Ebola 2014 taught a lot of hospitals in the US about high consequence infections, established what is now NETEC, the educating body for our country, uh, about high consequence pathogens,” Van Sickels said.
“We’re constantly wanting to push preparedness, uh, because that is the key to success in evading further outbreaks,” Van Sickels said.
UK Healthcare expects to complete its Level 2 Special Pathogen Treatment Center designation by the end of summer.
The Kentucky Wildcats have had some fits with West Virginia over the past few days, as the baseball team was sent home by the Mountaineers on Monday night. Now, they have flipped a Wildcat commit.
Bryian Duncan Jr., a Cario, Georgia native, committed to the Wildcats in March and has now flipped to West Virginia. The 3-star running back had a recent visit to Morgantown, then announced his commitment to the Mountaineers.
Duncan, a 5-foot-9 player who can play out wide and at running back, is the No. 60-ranked ATH in the nation and the No. 89 player in Georgia, according to 247 Sports. He’ll play in the Big 12 with the Mountaineers, giving himself a good opportunity to become a true gadget guy with legit speed.
This isn’t a big disappointment for the Wildcats, as they’ll collect nearly 10 commitments as the summer rolls on and already have a pretty loaded RB room for the class of 2027. Kelsey Gerald and Mason Ball are two tailbacks who have already pledged their commitment to the program.
Head coach Will Stein and Co. have been stellar on the recruiting trail as they have the 13th-best class overall and the fourth-ranked class in the SEC, according to 247 Sports. Expect the Cats to pick up a few more commits here soon and rise in the rankings.
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