‘Let’s go day by day.’ Kenny Brooks provides insight on two injured Kentucky transfers.
Big Blue Nation will have to wait a little bit longer for Jordan Obi and Dominika Paurová.
Two of the 11 new players for Kentucky women’s basketball this season remain out indefinitely because of lower-leg injuries sustained during the summer. The program jointly announced the guards’ injuries at the end of July. Head coach Kenny Brooks updated their progress in an interview with the Herald-Leader last week without setting a timetable for their return.
“Both of them, their attitudes have been wonderful,” Brooks said of the two transfers. “They’re wonderful kids. And obviously there’s so much disappointment with the setbacks. And, you know, our thing is just to tell them to, ‘Let’s go day by day. And if you go day by day, and just continue to work really hard.’ And regardless if it’s this year or next year, they’re going to be a big part of what we’re going to do.”
Brooks went on to mention how much both Obi (Penn) and Paurová (Oregon State) had been looking forward to being part of the new era of Kentucky women’s basketball — and just how helpful their presences would’ve been right away, regardless how long it might take to get them back on the court.
“They’re very, very talented,” Brooks said. “It’s very disappointing because they were so excited to be a part of this. The summer, the building up and everything. And for them to just really, you know, freakishly, the way that they both had their situations happen ... but they’ve handled it with grace. They come in, there are smiles on their faces, they’re working hard. It’s not a gloom and doom situation. And regardless of when it’s going to be, I know they’re going to be a big part of our success.
“They would have given us an opportunity to play so many different ways. Both of them are big guards, and that’s something that we covet in our system, and they would have allowed us to do that. So I just look at them, I give them a hug every day, and ask them how they’re feeling. And the trainer says that they working extremely hard with a positive attitude. So that’s all we can ask.”
Obi, a 6-foot-1 graduate student, was a standout leader and 1,000-point career scorer for the Quakers, and was Penn’s second-leading scorer last season while averaging 14.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. She was named a 2024 first-team All-Ivy League and 2024 Academic All-Ivy selection. Currently wearing a walking boot, Obi declined to disclose her injury when asked during a media availability in early August. At the time, she was sporting a cast that covered her foot and calf.
Paurová, a 6-1 sophomore who spent the summer on the Czech U20 roster, did not return to action following an apparent injury on the floor in the team’s game against Iceland in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket on July 14. The 2024 Pac-12 All-Freshman honorable mention averaged 16.5 minutes per game in 35 games during her freshman season with the Beavers, who returned to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 2018. She averaged 5.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.5 steals. Paurová arrived in Lexington in August, and was wearing a knee brace in a team photo tweeted by UK women’s basketball on Aug. 30.
2024-25 UK women’s basketball schedule
Kentucky’s full 2024-25 schedule has been set. Times and TV assignments for all games will be announced later. Home games listed in all capital letters.
Oct. 11: BIG BLUE MADNESS
Oct. 18: 1-BLUE-WHITE GAME
Nov. 4: SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE
Nov. 7: NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Nov. 12: WOFFORD
Nov. 16: LOUISVILLE
Nov. 18: PURDUE FORT WAYNE
Nov. 26: 2-Arizona State
Nov. 27: 2-Illinois
Dec. 5: 3-At North Carolina
Dec. 9: QUEENS
Dec. 14: At Purdue
Dec. 20: BELMONT
Dec. 28: WESTERN KENTUCKY
Jan. 2: MISSISSIPPI STATE
Jan. 5: At Vanderbilt
Jan. 9: At Florida
Jan. 12: AUBURN
Jan. 19: At Georgia
Jan. 23: At Texas A&M
Jan. 26: ARKANSAS
Jan. 30: ALABAMA
Feb. 2: At Oklahoma
Feb. 10: At Mississippi
Feb. 13: TEXAS
Feb. 16: GEORGIA
Feb. 20: At Missouri
Feb. 23: LSU
Feb. 27: TENNESSEE
March 2: At South Carolina
March 5-9: 4-SEC Tournament
1-Memorial Coliseum; 2-Music City Classic in Nashville, Tennessee; 3-ACC/SEC Challenge; 4-At Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
