‘A hometown girl,’ a deep bench and Blair Green’s return highlight revealing UK exhibition
Kyra Elzy won a Southeastern Conference Tournament championship last season with a short roster led by a perennial All-American.
This season, she knew things would be different.
Several key players who hoisted that SEC trophy transferred or graduated, and that All-American, Rhyne Howard, was the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick and rookie of the year in 2022.
Also out the door is that short roster, which at times last season left Kentucky’s head coach with as few as six or seven active players on game nights.
When Elzy’s 2022-23 Wildcats took the floor against outside competition for the first time Wednesday night in Memorial Coliseum, UK’s third-year head coach was no longer lonely.
“Do you see my smile? Do you see how happy I am that I can look down the bench and I had a whole row of people,” Elzy said after the Wildcats’ 93-45 exhibition victory over Pikeville. “But I love our versatility and it’ll take us a couple of games to find the right combinations and it really depends on the opponent and what we’re looking for, but I like that we have options. We have several players that can play the one through the four which helps us offensively as well and defensively.“
Wednesday night’s outing represented the Wildcats’ lone exhibition before the regular season tips off Monday at home against Radford.
Elzy brought in 10 newcomers this offseason, including six freshmen and four transfers. That group, combined with five holdovers from last season, requires a lot of chairs next to the coaching staff.
“We have a bench full of players, so I have the opportunity to look at a couple of different rotations which we wanted to do,” Elzy said.
Thirteen of those 15 players took the floor Wednesday night, with only freshmen Tionna Herron and Kennedy Cambridge sidelined.
Elzy tipped off the 2022-23 season with a starting lineup that included forward Nyah Leveretter and four guards — Robyn Benton, Blair Green, Jada Walker and Maddie Scherr.
That group combined to score 55 of UK’s 93 points, led by 14 each from Benton and Walker and 13 from Scherr.
Green, who missed all of last season with a ruptured Achilles, played 20 minutes Wednesday night and contributed eight points and seven rebounds.
“Great to have Blair Green back on the floor, it’s tough she’s been out for a whole year just practicing,” Elzy said of the graduate student from Harlan County. “The shots that she was able to get tonight she will knock those down. Thought she pressed early but excited about where she is in her progression back and she makes our team different.”
Green finished 4-for-14 from the field, including 0-for-5 from three-point range.
Overall, Kentucky made 43 of 89 from the field (48.3 percent) and three of 13 from beyond the arc (23.1 percent). The Cats shot only 10 free throws and made four.
Newcomers step up
Kentucky’s leading scorer Wednesday night came off the bench. Ajae Petty, a 6-foot-3 junior who transferred to UK this season from LSU, scored 15 points, and also contributed six rebounds and four steals.
“I thought Ajae Petty was solid for us tonight, her ability to score inside,” Elzy said of the forward’s 7-for-10 shooting.
Kentucky’s most highly touted offseason newcomer also displayed a keen eye for filling the basket. Maddie Scherr, Kentucky’s 2020 Miss Basketball from Ryle High School, scored 13 points in 19 minutes on 5-for-7 shooting from the field and made both of her three-pointers and her only free throw.
The transfer from Oregon said she enjoyed her homecoming.
“It was great. Obviously, I’m a hometown girl, so just being able to wear Kentucky across my chest was great,” Scherr said. “Getting to play under the lights with the fans and stuff. It was just a great feeling and super fun.”
Elzy said Scherr brings an “it” factor that makes Kentucky different.
“When I say she has ‘it,’ she’s tough as nails, she is a competitor to the ‘nth’ degree, and she has a high basketball IQ so she has a great feel,” Elzy said. “She knows when to push, she knows when to create for others, she knows when it’s time to take over and score but just her competitive spirit is different.”
All four of Kentucky’s transfers showed out on Wednesday night.
Adebola Adeyeye (Buffalo) led the Cats with 15 rebounds in just 18 minutes and also scored eight points. Eniya Russell (South Carolina) delivered nine points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Overall, Elzy said Kentucky got what it wanted out of its lone exhibition game.
“One of the things that we wanted to do was force 20 plus turnovers, we had 25,” Elzy said. “We’ve talked about in order for us to be our best we need to score, have three to four people in double-figure scoring which we had four.
“Excited about this team. This team has an opportunity to be really good. … I’m glad to see some of things that we have practiced come to life. Excited about the possibilities.”
Next game
Radford at Kentucky
What: Regular-season opener
When: 7 p.m. Monday
TV: SEC Network Plus (online only)