‘Back to business.’ Kentucky’s Elzy addresses trio of starters lost to transfer portal.
This weekend, Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy is scheduled to serve as an analyst for NCAA women’s basketball tournament coverage on the SEC Network.
But as part of her TV duties Friday night, she was asked to address the massive transfer news within her Kentucky program that surfaced Friday morning.
Three Kentucky starters — Dre’una Edwards, Treasure Hunt and Jazmine Massengill — put their names into the NCAA transfer portal, meaning that UK will likely lose four starters (Rhyne Howard is going to the WNBA) from this season’s team that finished 19-12 overall, won the Southeastern Conference Tournament and lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Elzy was asked about the decisions of Edwards, Hunt and Massengill to transfer.
“The portal is part of college athletics right now, unfortunately, and you don’t want to lose anyone in your program,” Elzy said. “I am confident in myself as a coach and a person, and what our staff does for our student-athletes on and off the court. I have a group of athletes on campus and signees that are excited about Kentucky women’s basketball.”
“We’re back to business as usual,” Elzy continued. “We’re on the phone talking to recruits and there are a lot of future Wildcats that are still excited about our program.”
Elzy was also asked about how she can continue the positive momentum from Kentucky’s SEC Tournament title won in early March, which was the first time UK won that championship since 1982.
“You continue to recruit players who fit your style and fit your program,” Elzy said. “The standard and expectation is the same at Kentucky. We are expected to win SEC championships, get to the NCAA Tournament and compete and that’s what we will do.”
Kentucky is currently projected to have 10 scholarship players on its roster for the 2022-23 season, including four incoming freshmen in what will be Elzy’s largest recruiting class as head coach.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 10:38 PM.
