UK women’s recruit Corsaro ready to make impact in first season

Like many of Coach Matthew Mitchell’s other top backcourt recruits in recent years, it’s tough to pigeonhole the game of Lindsey Corsaro.

The Kentucky Wildcats’ lone McDonald’s All-American in the 2016 class, Corsaro can do a little bit of everything on the court.

“I don’t have a true specialty,” she said. “I’ll shoot it when I’m open and I use my length to my advantage. When shorter guards are on me, I like to post them up a little bit. And when they put a taller player on me, I like to take them off the dribble. I just kind of use my mismatches.”

A 6-foot player with a versatile skill set and off-the-chart instincts, those mismatches come often.

Corsaro — an Indianapolis native who committed to the Cats nearly two years ago — suffered a torn ACL toward the end of her junior season, but she came back strong this winter, averaging 25.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game and leading Roncalli High School to the semifinals of the Indiana state playoffs.

Ranked by ESPN as the No. 35 overall prospect in the class, she also did enough to earn an invitation to the McDonald’s All-American Game, in which she’ll play here Wednesday night.

After that, it’s on to UK to start her career as a Wildcat.

“I’m so excited,” Corsaro said. “I think they had a great year this year, and a lot of their young players stepped up and played huge. And I’ll get to come in and play with Makayla (Epps) for her last year. I think there’s a lot to look forward to.”

Other than departing senior Janee Thompson, the Cats are expected to return every key contributor from this past season’s team that earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Corsaro has been paying attention to UK basketball for a while, and she likes what Mitchell has been able to do with versatile guards like herself. She’s also noticed that newcomers get an opportunity to play right away at Kentucky.

Freshman Maci Morris and junior-college transfer Evelyn Akhator started every game for the Cats this season; freshman Batouly Camara started in about half the games, and freshman Taylor Murray was the leading scorer off the bench.

UK lost to Washington in the round of 16, but Corsaro sees reason for optimism.

“They had a great run and they were right there, but they were also really young,” she said. “They played three freshmen a lot, and Evelyn was new this year. So I think that will work to our advantage next year. They have that experience, and they know what to expect and know what to do. So I think a whole other year together, they’ll be ready to go.”

History says Corsaro will get a chance to be one of those immediate contributors next season, and seeing what the most recent group of freshmen was able to accomplish has given her even more confidence.

“I have to earn everything, and I think that’s the right way to be,” she said. “But (Mitchell) basically said that if I come in and do what I need to do and work hard and continue to get better, I’ll be fine, and I’ll fit right in.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 6:46 PM with the headline "UK women’s recruit Corsaro ready to make impact in first season."