Kentucky
Kentucky's zone defense is only for certain situations, but they 'practice it every day.'
Mark Pope didn’t need to bust out a zone defense this season until the Gonzaga game. But when he did, it completely changed the momentum.
A 16-point halftime lead for the Bulldogs quickly disappeared as Kentucky implemented a 1-3-1 zone that stymied the Gonzaga offense. The Zags shot 54.3 percent from the field in the first half but just 38.9 percent in the second half and overtime. With help from the zone, Kentucky overcame a massive deficit and went on to win in overtime, 90-89.
To be clear, Pope didn’t utilize the 1-3-1 defense on every possession in the second half. If anything, it was brought out on every third or fourth possession on average — if that. And even then, Kentucky would almost immediately switch to man defense after a pass from Gonzaga. Only a couple of times did the 1-3-1 zone play out for an entire defensive possession.
But that was the plan, to mix up the defensive tactics just enough to throw Gonzaga off from what was a beautiful first half of offense by Mark Few‘s crew. It clearly worked. Gonzaga went from dropping 50 points in the first half to only 29 in the second. They shot 0-9 from deep in the second half.
“The execution that we wanted to do was just confuse them a little bit, slow them down a little bit, mess up their flow, and see how they reacted to it,” Kentucky fifth-year forward Ansley Almonor said on Tuesday. “They didn’t react that well. I think it worked.”
“Just to keep the offense off balance,” Sophomore center Brandon Garrison added. “They don’t know whether we’re in a zone, how fast we’re gonna get in man. If they call a zone play for instance and then we switch to man, it’ll mess up their whole offense. Just getting the offense off rhythm.”
This was the first time all season we truly saw Pope roll out a zone and go back to it, but it’s not anything his players weren’t prepared to execute. “We practice it every day,” Garrison said. It’s sort of like a ‘break-in-case-of-emergency’ type thing. Being down 16 points at the half in what was essentially a road game seems glass-breaking worthy to me. Pope’s guys were more than ready to handle the emergency, too.
“We practice that a good amount, for situations like that,” Almonor said. “When the opposing offense has good flow or they’re scoring a lot, just throw something different at them to see how they react to that. And it worked.”
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Kentucky
June unemployment rate shows slight increase in Kentucky Center for Statistics latest report
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Recent heavy rainfall has left soil across the state completely soaked, contributing to localized flooding in some areas.
When rain falls, some water soaks into the ground through a process called percolation.
Soil can only hold a limited amount of water. Once the small air spaces within the soil fill with water, the ground becomes saturated and additional rainfall has nowhere to go.
Soil type plays a role in how quickly water drains.
Much of Kentucky has clay-heavy soil, which is made up of very small, flat particles packed tightly together.
That composition makes it harder for water to move through. In clay soil, water may drain at a rate of only 0.02 to 0.17 inches per hour.
When rainfall comes down faster than the ground can absorb it and water cannot drain into a stream or storm drain quickly enough, it begins to build up.
That buildup is what leads to localized flooding.
Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Cyclosporiasis is a microscopic parasite that can contaminate food and water — is making people sick across several states, including Kentucky.
Dr. Patricia Tellez-Watson said, the illness is caused by Cyclospora cayetanensis and spreads when someone ingests contaminated food or water. “It is an intestinal infection caused by this water-borne, food-borne microscopic parasite,” she said.
Symptoms can include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
Tellez-Watson said, cases are often sporadic, but outbreaks can happen — especially during hot, wet months, when the parasite can survive in the environment long enough to become infectious.
Health experts recommend taking extra precautions with food and water. Washing hands and thoroughly rinsing produce before eating or cooking can reduce risk.
Watson also urged people to be cautious with fresh produce, particularly pre-packaged items, and to consider using bottled water.
Officials have confirmed cases in Bowling Green, though it’s unclear how many.
Copyright 2026 WBKO. All rights reserved.
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