Kenny Brooks earns first win at Kentucky in season-opening rout of USC Upstate
Kenny Brooks and the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats are 1-0.
The Wildcats dominated South Carolina Upstate 98-43 on Monday evening in front of an enthusiastic Memorial Coliseum crowd that included UK legends Valerie Still and Patty Jo Hedges. The night marked not only Brooks’ debut as head coach, but the introduction of 11 new Wildcats to Big Blue Nation; every single healthy player on UK’s roster received playing time.
“Really happy to get that one underneath our belt,” Brooks said. “Just so many new adventures today, wouldn’t you say? I didn’t know where to go for pregame, I didn’t know where to go for how to get to the locker room before the game situation, just walking out. So everything was new. So with the excitement of all that, you know, the butterflies and everything, and I know they felt the same way, just really wanted to get going.
“I thought they did handle themselves very well. We obviously have a lot to work on to get to where we want to be, and we want to continue to climb. But I thought they did a really good job of playing hard.”
Heading into the opener, one of the only things fans knew they could count on was that All-America point guard Georgia Amoore and fellow Virginia Tech transfer Clara Strack would be relied upon to guide the Wildcats’ game plan. What quickly showed itself, however, was the much-discussed duo wouldn’t have to do it alone.
Amoore did in fact contribute 11 points, six rebounds, 10 assists and one steal in 30 minutes on the floor, finding ways to keep everybody involved and doing her best to overcome early-season miscommunication and missteps. Strack wowed everybody in Memorial Coliseum, leading all players in scoring with 22 points to go with six rebounds, two assists, a block and two steals.
From stem to stern, the Wildcats — who Brooks and Amoore each pointed out have plenty of room for improvement — overwhelmed the Spartans. UK went with a starting five of Amoore, Strack, veteran guard Dazia Lawrence and forwards Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key, and in doing so presented USC Upstate with the unfortunate challenge of on whom to focus its defensive effort.
The result? Hassett (14 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one block and two steals) and Key (14 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and one steal) each finished one rebound shy of a double-double. Lawrence added nine points, two assists and one steal.
And that’s not all. Ten of the 11 players to take the floor got on the scoreboard, including highly touted, 6-foot-7 freshman center Clara Silva, who scored 14 points on a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in addition to seven rebounds, two assists and six of Kentucky’s 12 blocks.
When asked about facilitating for a group that’s still getting to know one another, Amoore called it her job to do so. Especially since, now in her fifth year playing under Brooks, she has a strong sense of what the coach is looking for from his roster.
“I’ve been under his leadership and plays for so long,” Amoore said, “that I just know spots and I know kind of who he’s leaning on to get involved. And not testing people, because they’re my teammates, I trust them. But putting them in positions so they can prove themselves. That’s my job, point-blank period, as the point guard.
“I can score, I can be aggressive. And there’ll be games this year where the balances will change, but I love sharing with my teammates. And usually, last year maybe they were coming from the two-man game with me and my previous 5 (Elizabeth Kitley). But I think today it was well-spread, and hitting shooters. And, you know, as we play more, our shooting percentage will go up because we’ll be more comfortable. But I loved today having as many options as I did.”
Kentucky’s 55-point victory included 52% (35-of-67) shooting from the field, 80% (20-of-25) from the free-throw line, and 34 points scored off 18 forced turnovers. The Wildcats themselves only turned the ball over nine times, putting on a promising performance in front of a crowd of 4,007.
“We had a decent crowd today,” Amoore said, “but I hope that, in the future, the happiness we bring about the game and the joy and excitement, I hope that that continues to grow when we turn Kentucky back to a real powerhouse, high-ranked team.”
The first of two Kentucky basketball games on Monday evening, the women’s game at Memorial Coliseum began two hours prior to the men’s at Rupp Arena — a doubleheader many fans expressed confusion toward and distaste for on social media. Brooks agreed that the back-to-back nature of the games wasn’t ideal, and said “we don’t want to go up against the men,” but that, due to scheduling difficulties while looking for nonconference opponents, they had no choice.
“Crowds have made our programs go from good to great,” Brooks said. “And tonight, obviously, I know a lot of people really don’t really understand what we had to do, but we got here late. We got here late, we had to put together a whole schedule. And it was so funny because we tried to get people to play us. And it became harder. No offense to anything that happened before us, but this is a direct quote: ‘We wanted to play the old Kentucky, not the new Kentucky.’”
The “new Kentucky” next hosts Northern Kentucky at 6 p.m. Thursday in a game that will be streamed on SEC Network+.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 7:02 PM.
