Georgia Amoore scores 2,000th career point in UK’s win but says she’s ‘still not polished’
With 3:39 to play in the second quarter of No. 16 Kentucky’s 82-52 road victory over Purdue on Saturday night, All-America point guard Georgia Amoore hit a turnaround jumper near the top of the key and eclipsed 2,000 career points.
“I don’t think you really realize how big it is ‘til you get it,” Amoore said. “And then, I mean, just looking at the five years that I’ve had, I would have never really thought it, to be honest. I came in and I fouled out every game and just was not a polished product at all. And I’m still not polished, but I think that everything that we’ve put in is, I mean, I say it all the time, (Kenny Brooks has) never steered me wrong. Like, everything that we’ve worked on has been incredible.”
The Wildcats (9-1) trailed the Boilermakers by four after a rocky, eight-point first quarter, unable to land the majority of their 14 field goal attempts. Even Amoore, whose leadership and experience are essential to Kentucky’s success in her final season of college basketball, only mustered four points in the first period. However, her nine-point second quarter helped ignite the UK offense, and the Wildcats coasted out to a comfortable lead as Amoore and her fellow starters — Dazia Lawrence, Amelia Hassett, Teonni Key and Clara Strack — began to heat up in the face of Purdue’s box-and-one.
“And I’ll be very honest, I didn’t know what they were in,” Brooks admitted. “Because we had a couple quick shots, but she came over to me and she was like, ‘They’re in a box-and-one.’ And it was like, I don’t know if the light bulb went off on my head, you can see it on top of my head that I’m like, ‘Ah.’ And then we went and then we started getting some different actions, but that’s what she’s done her whole career, after her a freshman year, just the being on the same page and understanding what’s going on, and being able to go out there and rectify some situations on the fly has been remarkable.”
Following four years of developing into one of college basketball’s premier point guards under Brooks at Virginia Tech, Amoore’s decision to delay her entry to the WNBA draft in favor of following him to Lexington became a national headline. The predicted first-round selection, a touted passer and 3-point shooter, opted to remain in college to further grow her skill set and assist Brooks one final time as he worked to establish the foundation of his Kentucky tenure.
“I get a question a lot, you know, ‘How is she playing?’” Brooks said. “And a lot of times, the question comes from people who just want to look up, pull up her stats, and, ‘What is she doing?’ In my opinion, she’s playing as well as she’s ever played for me. And that’s saying a lot because she’s taking on a whole different role. A leader. She and I have had discussions about being a little bit more assertive on the offensive end. Now she’s doing that. Her assists are dropping a little bit, but she’s doing exactly what we need. And the fact that she has taken this team under her belt, under her leadership, and learning each and every one of them, you know, giving Amelia Hassett confidence, you know, bringing Dazia Lawrence along, everyone, all the while, still handling her business has been remarkable.”
That confidence led the way as each of UK’s iron five finished in double figures in scoring, including a team-high 22 points (with five 3-pointers) from Hassett. Hassett, who had eight points on 3-for-9 shooting from the field at halftime, also added nine rebounds, two assists and one steal in the victory. Amoore said the junior forward has the mentality of a shooter, and that “we know her as a shooter,” but that Hassett never rests on that alone.
“Coach Brooks joked in the first half she might have been 0-for-22, or whatever it was,” Amoore said. “But it’s that mentality she has. But for me, it’s just the trust and the aggression that she’s bringing. She’s attacking more now than she had when she first came in, but defensively as well, she’s just reliable when she switches on to other people, she’s so versatile. And I’m just so excited for her because of the way that she’s growing her game. And she hasn’t given up, like, everything that we’ve toyed with, or taught her or told her to do, it’s never wavered from her shot. That’s what makes her great, but she’s so willing to expand on everything else. So I’m super proud of her, because it’s not easy.”
Amoore and Hassett were joined in double figures by leading scorer Strack, who finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks against the Boilermakers. Key added 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal, and Lawrence finished with 13 points, two rebounds and six assists.
The 30-point win over Purdue (5-5), the Wildcats’ first true road victory of the season, marked Kentucky’s fourth Power Four win of the year and served as a vote of confidence following a disappointing 72-53 loss to North Carolina on Dec. 5 in Chapel Hill.
“You have to go through it before you can be good at it,” Brooks said. “The whole situation, you know, this is our second opportunity. And I joked during our pregame and I said this team is like a box of chocolates, it’s a ‘Forrest Gump’ reference, and every time I open it up, I don’t know what to expect. Because I don’t know them yet. I don’t know how they are going to respond when we go on the road. I don’t know how they’re going to respond in certain situations when I haven’t seen it yet. And that’s all we can do, is continue to prepare them for it. And going into UNC, that was great preparation. So we learned a little bit about them, OK, so then we added that to our preparation for this game.
“And they’re professional. They come out, they really lock in, they focus on what the task at hand is. And, tonight, I thought they really did a good job of handling being away from home in an environment that is pretty good. And I give credit to Purdue. It’s a really nice environment.”
Next game
No. 16 Kentucky vs. Belmont
When: 6 p.m. Friday
TV: SEC Network+ (internet only)
Records: UK 9-1, Belmont 5-5
Series: Kentucky leads 5-1
Last meeting: Kentucky won 70-50 on Nov. 29, 2020, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington
This story was originally published December 14, 2024 at 9:01 PM.
