Kentucky’s Brooks calls on former All-American for help with his new budding star
Sometimes, the best thing one can do is ask for a little perspective.
Kenny Brooks and the Kentucky Wildcats are off to a roaring start. A pair of top-20 wins before the end of November, a record of 8-1, a growing interest in the program around Lexington and a No. 16 ranking in the Associated Press women’s basketball top 25.
But Brooks will be the first to tell you that things aren’t perfect; his message to Big Blue Nation, both ahead of and since the start of his inaugural season. However, what the Wildcats can usually rely on is a dominant takeover by standout center — and leading scorer — Clara Strack to bolster the UK offensive attack and anchor the defense.
So, when Strack struggled in UK’s first true road game of the season, a 72-53 loss to North Carolina in the SEC/ACC Challeng last week, the Wildcats appeared off-kilter and out-of-system and couldn’t muster any consistent offensive production. Strack herself posted a stat line of just four points, four rebounds, two assists, one block and three personal fouls in just over 25 minutes on the floor.
“Clara, she had a rough go at it on Thursday, whenever it was we played,” Brooks said. “And she felt really bad.”
Strack entered the matchup against UNC with season averages of 18.3 points on 50.5% (49-of-97) shooting from the field and 11.0 rebounds per game. She’d just recorded a career-high 25 points on 12-of-18 shooting and a career-high-tying 15 rebounds, plus four assists, one block and one steal in the Wildcats’ defeat of then-No. 19 Illinois in the Music City Classic on Nov. 27.
The victory over Illinois just so happened to coincide with Strack’s 19th birthday — a reminder of just how young the sophomore actually is, and the promise of her early success.
“Even putting all the demands on Clara Strack is a little bit premature,” Brooks said. “Because, you know, to put it in perspective, like going to Clara. Clara turned 19, and then five days later, (freshman) Lexi Blue turned 19, you know? And so, we have to continue to remember that, but, but we just need more production. We need more production.”
As a freshman at Virginia Tech last season, Strack averaged 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds across 33 games, and spent the majority of the year as the primary backup to all-time Hokies great Liz Kitley until the veteran tore her ACL late in the season. Kitley, who was drafted in the second round of the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Las Vegas Aces and whose jersey will be retired at Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum in January, holds nine program records, including for points scored, minutes played, field goal percentage and blocks.
The All-America center helped the Hokies to a series of firsts — including its first Final Four appearance in 2023, and its first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship in 2024 — and was named the 2020 ACC Freshman of the Year before taking home three consecutive ACC Player of the Year designations.
Who better, then, to ask about the pressure and responsibility of being the lynchpin of a Kenny Brooks lineup, than Kitley?
“I asked Liz Kitley,” Brooks said. “I said, ‘When did you feel in your career that your performance was going to determine the team’s success?’ And she said, ‘Good question,’ she said, ‘Probably my junior year.’ And that was a junior year after she was player of the year her sophomore year, and the rookie of the year in the ACC her freshman year. Well, Clara didn’t play at all last year, and then all of a sudden, we’re thrusting her into this role, and we’re asking her to be the dominant player. We’re riding her shoulders.
“And the more remarkable thing about it, Clara Strack turned 19 last week, you know, so she’s supposed to be a freshman. And yet, we were riding her shoulders like, ‘Hey, you know, you’re it.’ And that’s a lot. And so I had to rethink everything. I brought her in and we talked a lot, and I just have to understand that I have to gradually put that responsibility on her, and I can’t just throw it on her. Because, even though I think she’s ahead of the curve ... she can’t be the one that, her performance is going to really determine our outcome a lot. She’s gonna have to be a part of it.”
Strack came back much stronger in the Wildcats’ return to home (and form) against Queens (N.C.), finishing with 16 points on 50% (7-of-14) shooting from the field and adding six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks. She wasn’t fouled once.
“She asked me for extra,” Brooks said. “She wanted to shoot, she wanted to look at stuff. She felt really bad, and (the Queens game) was a really good bounce-back for her. And we’re going to depend on her a lot, but we just have to understand that we can’t put everything on her shoulders. So I was proud of her, the way that she came out. We came out Friday in practice, she played so hard, but so terrible. So hard. I mean, she’s flying around everywhere, she just wanted to fix it all in one day. And we had a talk, and then she was gradually better on Saturday, and she just has to understand she’s still young, and she has to just really do it day by day. But I’m proud of the way that she really responded.”
Saturday
No. 16 Kentucky at Purdue
When: 5 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Records: UK 8-1, Purdue 5-4
Series: Purdue leads 2-0
Last meeting: Purdue won 97-67 on Dec. 1, 2000 in Lexington
