Associated Press

Northern Illinois Huskies (4-4) at Eastern Kentucky Colonels (8-3)

Lexington, Kentucky; Tuesday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Kentucky plays Northern Illinois after Althea Kara Angeles scored 21 points in Eastern Kentucky’s 89-72 win against the Indiana State Sycamores.

The Colonels have gone 3-1 at home. Eastern Kentucky has a 2-3 record against teams over .500.

The Huskies are 2-2 on the road. Northern Illinois gives up 73.8 points to opponents while being outscored by 5.7 points per game.

Eastern Kentucky’s average of 6.8 made 3-pointers per game is 1.1 fewer made shots on average than the 7.9 per game Northern Illinois gives up. Northern Illinois scores 6.0 more points per game (68.1) than Eastern Kentucky gives up (62.1).

TOP PERFORMERS: Alice Recanati is averaging 11.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.2 steals for the Colonels.

Alecia Doyle is scoring 13.5 points per game and averaging 3.1 rebounds for the Huskies.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

(LEX 18) — Kentucky awarded its final dispensary business licenses 15 days before the state’s medical marijuana program goes live.

Gov. Andy Beshear and the Office of Medical Cannabis announced dispensary business license winners for Jefferson and Fayette counties and the Bluegrass and Kentuckiana regions at the lottery headquarters in Louisville. Three weeks ago, licenses were awarded for most other counties in Kentucky.

In October, licenses were awarded to cultivators and processors. The reason those licenses were selected first was to give the businesses some extra time before the medical marijuana program goes live on Jan. 1, 2025. However, Beshear warns that supply may be limited in the early weeks of the program.

“It’s my hope that we’ll see it in Q1 of next year – product on the shelf,” said Beshear.

“Certainly, it’s going to take a little bit of time to ultimately get the dispensaries open and to get that product there,” he added.

Part of Kentucky’s program requires all products to be grown in the Commonwealth. So, is there a product currently being grown? The governor’s answer was unclear.

“There’s an ability to bring in seedlings, which is going to help it be grown faster in Kentucky,” he said. “Certainly, our cultivators have been licensed now – for what – about a month, and I know are working as quickly as they can towards that. And there’s at least one cultivator that was Kentucky-based before any and all of this.”

Beshear emphasized that Kentucky is still currently ahead of its original schedule. The initial law that created the medical marijuana program did not allow the state to even take business applications until Jan. 1, 2025.

There has been some criticism over Kentucky’s method of selecting businesses for licenses. Many of the selected companies are owned by out-of-state groups and some local businesses have questioned why current Kentucky businesses were not prioritized.

Sam Flynn, the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Medical Marijuana, defended the state’s lottery system, calling it the “most fair and transparent” way to provide licenses given the limited number available.

Beshear added that he gets the criticisms. He said the lottery system is the state’s way to avoid lawsuits. He said other states’ medical marijuana programs have been delayed due to lawsuits. That’s something Kentucky wanted to avoid.

“We set up this process with the patient in mind, believing that they should be able to get their medical cannabis as quickly as they can,” said Beshear.

Fixing the offensive line is priority No. 1 for Kentucky in the transfer portal, but it’s far from the Wildcats’ only need in free agency. We’ve heard about a high-profile running back target and a few wide receiver visitors, but all was quiet on the quarterback front. That changed on Monday.

Mark Stoops believes in Cutter Boley long term but going into a season with only three freshmen in the quarterback room is not a good idea. The Kentucky head coach said at his Signing Day press conference that the Wildcats will pursue a quarterback in the transfer portal. Today we learned about two players who could fill that need.

Maalik Murphy

Maalik Murphy was a Top-200 talent who got passed over at Texas by Arch Manning. He started in two games for the Longhorns with Quinn Ewers sidelined by injury in 2023, completing 40-71 passes for 477 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

Without a viable future in Austin, Murphy made the move to Durham to kick-start the Manny Diaz tenure at Duke. With Murphy under center, Duke beat Florida State for the first time in school history and secured a big win on the road at NC State en route to a 9-3 record. It’s just the fourth 9-win season at Duke since 1941.

Murphy completed 60.3% of his passes for 2,933 yards and 26 touchdowns. He was not a running factor, but did punch it into the end zone for two scores. Ball security was an issue for Murphy. He led the ACC in interceptions with 12.

Zack Geoghegan confirmed reports that Murphy is expected to visit Kentucky today.

Zach Calzada

It’s a familiar name for SEC football fans. Zach Calzada‘s career began at Texas A&M. The redshirt freshman was called into action when Haynes King broke his leg in week two. He threw a game-winning touchdown against Colorado to build some early confidence. Within a few weeks, he was playing his best against the best. Calzada completed 21-31 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns to help Texas A&M topple No. 1 Alabama, the final bright spot of the Jimbo Fisher era. Calzada completed just over 56% of his passes for 2,185 yards, 17 touchdowns,, and 9 interceptions.

Calzada transferred to Auburn for Bryan Harsin’s second and final season. The quarterback did not play before undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. That’s when Calzada hit the portal again, this time dropping down to the FCS ranks.

For the last two years, Calzada has been running and gunning at Incarnate Word. In 2023 he tallied 2,598 yards and 19 touchdowns. This fall he ranked second in the FCS in passing touchdowns (35) and passing yards (3,791) with nine interceptions. Incarnate Word’s season ended with a loss to San Diego State in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs.

Sources indicate that Calzada will be a transfer portal target for the Kentucky football program in the coming days and weeks. He officially entered the portal on Monday morning.

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