UK women’s basketball is 4-0, still ‘looking for progression’ during trip to The Bahamas
So far, so good for the new-look Kentucky women’s basketball team this season.
While the jelling and growing process is still in progress for the Cats, the results so far suggest that Kyra Elzy’s team has already found common ground on the court.
UK — which added 10 new players this offseason, six freshmen and four transfers — is off to a 4-0 start after home wins over Radford, Morehead State, Coastal Carolina and Bellarmine.
Those opponents didn’t provide the strongest of nonconference tests for UK: The four schools combined for a 27-85 record last season.
Now, the competition is set to significantly increase in difficulty.
UK will begin play Monday afternoon in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in The Bahamas against Virginia Tech, 3-0 and ranked No. 14 in the nation.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kentucky will play Dayton (0-4) in the same event.
Both Dayton and Virginia Tech made the NCAA Tournament last season.
“I think our ability to share the basketball, force turnovers, we have progressed every game,” Elzy said Friday afternoon. “We’re not looking for perfection, we’re looking for progression as we’re putting 10 new people on the floor to play with each other.”
While these games will offer a measuring-stick moment for Kentucky prior to Thanksgiving, many of the early-season storylines for Kyra Elzy’s third season as head coach have already been on display.
Jada Walker starts sophomore season strong
Last season as a freshman, guard Jada Walker established herself as Kentucky’s point guard of the future.
She has begun her sophomore season by excelling with that responsibility.
In particular, Walker displayed all she brings to the Cats in UK’s third game of the season: Walker tied a career high with 21 points while adding a career-best 10 assists, five steals and three rebounds in a win over Coastal Carolina.
It was Walker’s first career double-double, accomplished while playing in a lead guard role.
In UK’s most recent game — an 18-point win over Bellarmine — Walker had 14 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two assists.
Robyn Benton continues scoring punch in starting role
In a season that will be defined by players adapting to new roles, the scoring power displayed by graduate guard Robyn Benton has been a constant.
But the way she’s being deployed by Elzy to score baskets is different.
Benton came off the bench in 42 of 51 career games for Kentucky entering this season, but she has started all four contests in the 2022-23 season.
She’s atop the Kentucky scoring charts in the young season, averaging 14.5 points per game with a 51.75% true shooting percentage (which measures a player’s efficiency at shooting the ball by taking into account field goals, free throws and three-pointers).
Something Benton is looking to improve on while in The Bahamas is her three-point shooting (currently 3-for-18 at a 16.7% conversion rate).
“I’m practicing, praying, too, because I just don’t know what’s going on,” Benton said Friday. “I think in previous slumps I’ve been in, I’ve shot my way out them … I just need that one good game where I go 4-for-4 and I’ll be fine.”
UK lost 70.5% of its scoring production from last season, mainly due to program legend Rhyne Howard departing for the WNBA and forward Dre’una Edwards transferring to Baylor.
It will be on players like Benton to continue to shoulder the scoring load this season.
Maddie Scherr, other newcomers make UK debuts
Of Kentucky’s 10 newcomers this season, eight have featured for the Cats so far this season.
Junior guard Maddie Scherr — a former Miss Kentucky Basketball who transferred to Kentucky from Oregon — has started all four games and displayed her versatile skill set while doing so.
Scherr has per-game averages of 7.3 points, 6.2 assists and 4.8 rebounds.
Graduate forward Adebola Adeyeye — formerly of Buffalo — has been UK’s leading rebounder (5.8 per game) through four games, even though Kentucky was outrebounded by Morehead State and finished tied for rebounds (43) with Bellarmine.
The only newcomers yet to play for Kentucky are freshman post player Tionna Herron and freshman guard Kennedy Cambridge.
Herron — a four-star recruit from Texas — underwent successful open-heart surgery in August.
On Friday, Elzy spoke about the importance of keeping Herron connected to the team during her recovery process.
“She comes to practice (and) she wants to learn, she wants to be engaged. She puts her practice plan in her shorts like a coach,” Elzy said. “Every day she comes to the (practice) circle and tells us one thing, so we celebrate small victories with her every day.”
Cambridge didn’t play in UK’s lone exhibition game, and Elzy previously announced that Cambridge would miss UK’s first two regular-season games for “personal reasons.”
Cambridge did not have playing time against Coastal Carolina or Bellarmine.
Blair Green returns to on-court action
It has been a long road back for Green, who missed the entire 2021-22 season after she ruptured her right Achilles during a preseason scrimmage against Eastern Kentucky.
Her first game back came in the season opener against Radford, when Green — a graduate guard from Harlan County High School — shot only 4 of 12 from the field.
But Green has found her shooting form in short order: Green has shot better than 50% from the field and scored double-digit points against both Morehead State and Coastal Carolina.
Green led Kentucky in scoring with 15 against Bellarmine.
“She’s worked so hard to get back coming off her injury,” Elzy said. “Her ability to be a basketball player and score at all three levels, we need that from her.”
Something to continue monitoring with Green as she returns from such a significant injury is her ability to be a floor-spacing threat for Kentucky from behind the three-point line.
Through four games this season, Green, like Benton, is just 3-for-18 (16.7%) on three-pointers.
“I think me and Coach Elzy kind of talked about I’m not just a three-point shooter. I am also a mid-range shooter and stuff, so just kind of focusing on seeing the ball go in,” Green said after the win over Morehead State. “Just taking that one dribble pull-up, just kind of what I’m used to, and just getting that down and then the three will come eventually, so I’m not too worried about that.”
As a team, Kentucky is just 19-for-85 (22.4%) on three-pointers this season.
Next game
Kentucky vs. No. 14 Virginia Tech
When: Noon Monday
What: Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in The Bahamas
Online: FloHoops (subscription needed)
