Kentucky High School Basketball Will Have 35 Second Shot Clock in 2027-28 Season

“If we don’t do it, it’s going to become mandated,” Kelley said. “Do we want to be one of the last five or six states that has it forced upon us because we wouldn’t modernize our game when everybody else was?””

Damon Kelley, president-elect of the Board of Control

After years of discussion and debate, a 35-second shot clock has been approved for Kentucky high school basketball.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s Board of Control voted 13-5 last Wednesday in favor of adding a shot clock for boys and girls varsity basketball games starting in the 2027-28 season.
The board voted against a motion that would have added the shot clock for the 2026-27 season.
Damon Kelley, president-elect of the Board of Control and a former boys basketball coach at West Jessamine, introduced the proposal during Wednesday’s meeting.
Thirty-two states have adopted a shot clock for high school basketball.
“If we don’t do it, it’s going to become mandated,” Kelley said. “Do we want to be one of the last five or six states that has it forced upon us because we wouldn’t modernize our game when everybody else was?”
Board member Donna Moir, athletics director and basketball coach at Sacred Heart, also voted in favor of adding the shot clock.
“We’ve traveled to tournaments that have it, and you don’t even know it’s there,” Moir said. “It very rarely comes into play. (Adding it) makes us look like we’re being progressive and not waiting for someone to tell us to do it.”
The vote came after a survey released in August showed a majority of high schools in Kentucky did not want to adopt a shot clock.
In the survey, 150 of 252 schools (59.5%) voted to continue to allow experimentation “until the (National Federation of State High School Associations) adopts a national rule or until the survey can be conducted again in two years.”
Seventy-six schools (30.2%) voted to adopt a shot clock for the 2026-27 season, and another 26 schools (10.3%) voted to adopt a shot clock in 2027 or 2028.
"A lot of times those people are voting based on what's best for them for that season," Kelley said. "We have to make decisions that we think are best for basketball moving forward."
JCHS Lady Generals Coach Kourtney Tyra commented, “I think it should have been done 20 years a ago.”
Board members noted two major concerns school officials have expressed about adding a shot clock — installation costs and finding qualified workers to operate them during games.
Kelley suggested former officials who no longer can handle the physical rigors of working a basketball game could be encouraged to operate shot clocks.
Kentucky schools have experimented with a shot clock during regular-season play, including the boys Louisville Invitational Tournament last season.