High school basketball shot clock: Which states have it, which states don't? Why?

While the shot clock has officially arrived in most U.S. states for high school basketball, a few remain holdouts.

According to the NFHS, 32 states used a shot clock in some fashion for the 2025-26 season. That number will continue to rise for 2026-27, as Alabama and New Jersey will add the shot clock to their high school games in the coming seasons, while Indiana voted against it on Monday, May 4.

The NFHS Basketball Rules Committee approved the use of a shot clock in high school basketball in 2021, with implementation beginning in the 2022-23 season.

While the shot clock will eventually arrive in every state, there are many proponents of it, citing that it helps the game grow for both boys' and girls' basketball across the country.

USA TODAY Sports talked to seven coaches and athletic directors across the nation about the shot clock. Some of these states have had the shot clock for several years, others for a couple of seasons, and some either do not have it or are in the process of adding it.

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association approved a measure to pass the shot clock for the 2027-28 season on Monday, May 4, by a slim 170-166 margin.

"I come from the line of, we're preparing our girls to go play at the next level, and when they go and play at the next level, that's part of the game, right?" Saint John Vianney High (New Jersey) girls basketball coach Dawn Karpell told USA TODAY Sports before the new rule was passed.

"So I just think it's a natural progression. And if we're really building girls out to be college-ready, then that's part of the game that they should understand how to operate within."

However, that is not the prevailing thought for all coaches. Some think it could hurt the game and the student-athletes in the long run.

"I don't understand why a coach would willingly give up a coaching option that could help their kids be successful," executive director of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Marty Johnson told USA TODAY Sports. "It seems to me that if you are trying to increase possessions, then you're trying to make sure that the best team wins, the team with the most talent wins, right or wrong.

"I just think, if a coach is playing the No. 1 team in the state and he has a rebound with 50 seconds to go in the game, and he's up one, he doesn't want to give the ball back."

What states have shot clocks in high school basketball?

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Connecticut
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Jersey
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New York
• North Dakota
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina (Optional)
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Washington
• Washington D.C.
• Wyoming (Optional)

Alabama ― which has had an optional shot clock for regular season games in 2025-26 ―saw the AHSAA approve a vote to add the shot clock to all games, including postseason games, on April 15.

According to the Montgomery Advertiser ― part of the USA TODAY Network ― the AHSAA found 88% of coaches in Class 5A-7A were in favor of the shot clock. That was 77% for 3A and 4A.

"I think it's great for the game. I also think it promotes a team aspect where you have to really play as a team, versus having one guy just handling all that. I think it promotes team basketball," Glencoe (Alabama) boys basketball coach Ryan Chambless said.

Alabama is not the only state that will have a change to the shot clock for the 2026-27 season. Florida had an optional shot clock through the 2025-26 season. However, next season, the shot clock will no longer be optional.

That means state playoff games will also see a shot clock, instead of a random few pockets of schools having them, limiting what teams that want to play with it can do. This is grand news to American Heritage (Plantation, Florida) girls' coach Greg Farias.

Farias has coached future college stars Ta'Niya Latson, Tatyana Wyche and Taliyah Wyche.

"I really think that it's a good thing, especially for girls sports, because one of the biggest things is that girls basketball, the girls are starting to get more athletic, stronger, faster, so it's key to be able to continue having fun with the game and making it up and down. So the shot clock was good," Farias told USA TODAY Sports.

"So the adjustment is really now you get now you can run the sets or get into emotions quicker, but it speeds up the game and it makes it more entertaining for girls' sports."

Meanwhile, Oregon has had the shot clock since the 2023-24 academic year. The OSAA executive board unanimously approved the usage of a 35-second shot clock for Oregon boys’ and girls’ basketball on Sept. 12, 2022.

North Valley (Merlin, Oregon) boys coach Alex Keller has already seen the benefits.

"The difference that I notice is coaches can't just hold the ball for the last five minutes of the game, which is an improvement, in my opinion," Keller told USA TODAY Sports. "Because that's that to me, that's a coach telling their players that they don't believe in their ability to close out the game themselves, and so the shot clock eliminates that opportunity they have to continue to play the game. I got tired of seeing coaches telling their kids not to score the basketball."

What states do not have shot clocks in high school basketball?

• Colorado
• Delaware
• Indiana
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

While Johnson opposes the shot clock himself, as the executive director of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, he is inclined to support his coaches, who are strongly in favor of the shot clock. He said 65% of his coaches support the shot clock.

However, the proposal had just one vote in favor and 17 against when the Indiana High School Athletic Association board of directors voted on May 4.

"For every argument against it, there's a counterpoint for it," Johnson said. "But I don't think it's necessary. I mean, if you told me that it would bring more fans to the game, I would discuss it. That's not going to happen in Indiana. If you told me it would help officiating, it's not; if anything, it's going to go the other way. We have some issues in the game nationally, but the shot clock, I just don't think, is one of them."

On the same day, the New Jersey executive board passed a vote for the measure.

Tennessee is one of the 19 states that still don't have a shot clock. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel ― part of the USA TODAY Network ― in 2023, the TSSAA tabled discussions on the shot clock for three years, citing the cost and training of officials.

That's despite the majority of the coaches being in favor of the shot clock. One of those in support of the shot clock is Hume Fogg (Nashville) head coach Ross Fleming.

"I think it helps the game flow and pace," Fleming told USA TODAY Sports. "It allows for a more entertaining game. The shot clock will better help prepare athletes for the next level. No stall ball of any kind. There's a guaranteed minimum number of possessions with a shot clock and it could lead to increases in point production. As the game evolves, a shot clock reflects how basketball is actually played at every level above high school."

John Feasel, the boys basketball coach at Olentangy High in Lewis Center, Ohio, thinks coaching matters as much as the players at the end of the game, with a shot clock.

"It's much different coaching towards the end of quarters and towards the end of the game with a shot clock than it is when there is no shot clock," Feasel told USA TODAY Sports. "So I think it makes the game for me much more interesting. There's a lot more in coaching that comes to light."

Buying a shot clock, running the clock costs

A prohibitive factor in many states' shot clocks has been the cost. Even the states that have already approved it have had schools struggle to find ways to fund a new shot clock or have someone operating it.

"Now you've got to pay somebody else per game, throw a shot clock on the front," Chambless, who also serves as the Glencoe athletic director, said. "The cost of purchasing clocks and trying to find something that works with the school board system."

New Mexico, Louisiana and Mississippi are examples of states that have not added the shot clock due to the cost of the shot clocks and an extra official to run the clock.

Johnson acknowledged the same issues coaches, athletic directors and athletic programs are facing with the shot clock in Indiana.

"If your athletic budget can't afford it, then it has to go into your budget for grounds and buildings," Johnson said. "So that's a whole one or two-year project through your school board. So it's not as simple as everybody thinks it is."

Even with the cost, Fleming believes Tennessee is overdue to add a shot clock to make the game more modern for student-athletes.

"Shot clock is needed," Fleming said. While I understand the financial burden it will have on some schools, we have to keep up and adapt with the rest of the world. Slowly but surely, more states are adding a shot clock. We needed it years ago."

USA TODAY's Joe Spears contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Does your state have a shot clock for high school basketball?