Kentucky will become the 23rd state to adopt a shot clock after the KHSAA Board of Control voted Wednesday to adopt the rule for the 2027-28 season.
The shot clock will be in effect for both boys and girls. The measure passed 13-5 and only applies to varsity games.
The move came after nine years of inaction on the issue, according to a
story in the Lexington Herald Leader.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control voted 13-5 on Wednesday to adopt a 35-second shot clock in the 2027-28 season for both boys and girls basketball. They become the 23rd state to adopt a shot clock. (FILE PHOTO: Jeff Hoskins)
"It's about moving the game forward, and I just think it's what's best for the game,"
Paul Laurence Dunbar (Lexington, Ky.) athletic director Damon Kelley told the Herald Leader.
Kelley is also a former basketball coach and the KHSAA board's president-elect.
Shot clocks are used in 22 states with Illinois becoming the latest to adopt it in the upcoming season.
Connecticut, Idaho, Minnesota, Oregon and Wisconsin all instituted shot clocks in 2023-24 while Kansas and South Carolina ran trials last season.
Prior to a recommendation by the National Federation of State High School Associations for states to adopt a shot clock in 2021, only Washington (2009), Arkansas (2020) and Georgia (2020) had brought it into play in recent years.
Since the NFHS recommendation three years ago, 15 state associations have subsequently installed or made plans to install shot clocks in future seasons.
