Butler Bears (6th Region Winner) will take on the Hazard Bulldogs (14th Region Winner) Thursday March 19th at 11 am at Rupp Arena in the first round of the 2026 Boys KHSAA Sweet 16. 

This is the first meeting between the two per KHSAA scoreboard. 

Butler comes in with an overall record of 26-5. They defeated Jeffersontown 38-35 in an absolute thriller in theb6th region championship. 

Hazard comes in with an overall record of 24-10. They defeated Powell County 64-57 in the 14th region championships. 

The Butler Bears and rolling. Extremely hot, having won 14 straight with they're last loss coming back on Jan. 15th to Eastern. 

The Hazadd Bulldogs have won 3 straight and 8 of they're last 9. 

Adrian Wilder (Butler) (14.6ppg 40.9% from 3, 75.4% FT) vs. Seth Caudill (Hazard) (20.9ppg, 30.6 from 3 and 77.7% FT) should be a dandy!

 

Winner Will take on the North Oldham/Lyon County winner. 

Butler is an impressive team with a ton of athleticism and speed.  I feel like this could be a really tough matchup for Hazard. 

Tough to see an avenue for Hazard pulling the upset, but I wouldn't be mad if they did. 

Butler by 20+

Butler wins easily, just better in all aspects of the game.

Hazard is ranked last in just about every single category that the Massey ratings have put out there, this would be a huge upset.

Little bit of Twitter/X buzz for the Hazard Bulldogs from Mr Matt Jones.

17 hours ago, Bac2369 said:

Little bit of Twitter/X buzz for the Hazard Bulldogs from Mr Matt Jones.

Tuck Rambis is going to be a Star!  Hope he can lead the Dawgs to an upset win for Eastern Kentucky. 

1 hour ago, FatNate said:

Tuck Rambis is going to be a Star!  Hope he can lead the Dawgs to an upset win for Eastern Kentucky. 

I had to read that twice; made me laugh. 

Agree on cheering for a Bulldogs win. Go Dawgs!

? Starting lineups ~

Hazard

 ? Riherds/Hazard

Talan Osborne, 1

Trace Kincaid, 2

Tucker Napier, 10

Seth Caudill, 13

Tucker Johnson, 22

Butler

? Riherds/Butler

Brandon Heath, 1

Santana Anderson, 3

Brayden Wilkins, 5

Henrich Barjolo, 12

Adrian Wilder, 24

2026 UK HEALTHCARE BOYS’ BASKETBALL SWEET 16®

• khsaa.org/ruppboys
• khsaa.tv
• khsaa.net
• Live Stats
• KHSAA/Riherds Scoreboard
• Tournament Bracket
• Tournament Program

Paid video from Prepspin:

https://go.prepspin.com/hazard-vs-butler-game-5-2026-uk-healthcare-boys-basketball-sweet-16-thursday-at-11am/

The 14th Region has struggled against Louisville teams since its golden era from the early '30s to the late '60's, going 1-19. 

The last win, by two-time Sweet 16 champ Hazard, came vs. Eastern in the 1986 quarterfinals. 

The only win by the 14th over the 6th in the current Sweet 16 format came in Hazard's championship game win against Male in 1932.

5-0 Hazard!

3 by Wilder.

5-3 Hazard, 6:26 Q1.