Clara Silva has ‘been given a mission’ for UK women’s basketball’s game vs. Kansas State
Following Kansas State’s dominant victory against Fairfield in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Jeff Mittie was asked about the height across the Kentucky women’s basketball team’s frontcourt.
“I think they have like 6-3, 6-4, 6-5 across the front line.
“6-7 in there, as well,” Mittie then interjected.
Outside of the national headline-making signings of All-America point guard Georgia Amoore and rising star center Clara Strack, perhaps no other member of Kenny Brooks’ inaugural UK roster caught more attention upon joining the Wildcats than 6-foot-7 freshman Clara Silva.
“You’re talking, you know,” Mittie said, “Strack’s SEC (defensive) player of the year. She’s a good player. They go 6-7 after that. Silva, she’s a good player. So yeah, I think both teams are going to try to get established what they can.”
At 18 years old and just the second Wildcat to stand as tall — joining Anna Cole, who spent the 2009-10 season in Lexington before transferring to Northwestern — Silva has eased in to the role of Brooks’ sixth woman. She’s the only player for Kentucky (23-7) — outside of the ironclad starting five of Amoore, Strack, Dazia Lawrence, Teonni Key and Amelia Hassett — to log minutes in all of UK’s 30 contests this season.
Silva has had several shining moments throughout her freshman campaign; she recorded 14 points (on 6-for-6 shooting), seven rebounds, two assists and six blocks in UK’s season opener against USC Upstate, and she followed it up with a season-high 18 points (plus four rebounds, two assists and five blocks) in the team’s next matchup against Wofford. During SEC play, Silva was an invaluable reserve for the Kentucky front line, and she delivered a necessary 30 minutes and 23 seconds in the team’s near-miss against LSU while Key and Strack were sidelined due to foul trouble. The Portuguese Junior National Team member and former pro player in Spain logged 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field, plus eight rebounds and three blocks.
Assistant coach Josh Petersen, who works primarily with UK’s post players, said he was “absolutely” proud of Silva for the stat line, amid all the changes she’s going through as not only a freshman but as an international student who only arrived on campus a few days before the start of the semester. Silva’s game has grown throughout the year, and the LSU game, especially, was evidence of what’s possible for her.
“To kind of think about the big changes that she’s going through personally and in basketball world,” Petersen said, “and so kind of to see her come out against LSU was really awesome. I think she’s fully capable. And it’s just, yeah, it’s cool to see a kid kind of have that moment. And yeah, you look at this stat line, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, she’s 6-for-6.’ And then as a coach, you’re like, ‘Well, dang it, those two free throws at the end.’ But! Yeah, I think there was a lot of bright spots.”
Petersen complimented Brooks’ habit for “narrowing the focus” and being in tune with his players, and said Silva has benefited from being given a more specific mission or goal for game assignments, particularly given how much questioning goes on for freshmen, especially.
“You don’t have to have a million different things that you’re trying to focus on,” Petersen said. “Go be physical and don’t be timid. You know? It doesn’t mean go hack somebody and try to foul out. It means be physical, do what you do and almost relieve some of that pressure.”
On Friday against Liberty, Silva’s size, skill set and confidence came through once again following both Key and Strack fouling out. Silva made a momentum-shifting stop with just eight seconds to play in the game as the Flames, down three, sought to finish a massive comeback. While guarding Liberty leading scorer Bella Smuda — a 6-foot-6 redshirt-senior center — beneath the basket, Silva forced a travel and subsequent turnover — a moment that, when asked about what he was thinking at the time, Brooks joked if his answer had to be PG.
Silva’s thought process at the pivotal moment? Simply to lock in.
“I think I was just thinking to stay ready to help the game,” Silva said. “You never know what can happen, so just stay ready and be focused the whole game.”
In the time since Kentucky’s disappointing loss to Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, the freshman has put an emphasis on “strong moves” in the post and not backing down against more physical opponents. The goal instead is to be more physical herself, a necessary goal when matching up against a player of Kansas State center Ayoka Lee’s caliber, or when attempting to disrupt K-State’s dominant guard play.
“Just keep being focused for 40 minutes,” Silva said. “We can’t just be good in the first half, we need to be focused the first half, second half, all the time being focused and ready.”
Mittie said on Saturday that he thinks UK’s round-of-32 battle against Kansas State (27-7) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Memorial Coliseum will be determined by players outside of the usual stars. Lee and fellow WNBA hopeful, guard Serena Sundell, are going to shoulder a lot of the load for Kansas State, just like Strack and Amoore will be heavily relied upon in the matchup. But the “other secondary players,” those who rise to the moment and shine in the high stakes, win-or-go-home scenario, could be the difference between the end of the season or moving on to the Sweet 16.
“They’ll try to get their guys involved,” Mittie said. “But you know what? It’s not going to be just a game of — it’s going to be a game of the entire rosters that play in this game. There are big moments in March, and other players are going to have to step up. … .But both teams, I think, are going to need other secondary players to step up.”
Against Kansas State, Silva has another assignment from Brooks. “She’s been given a mission,” he said.
“She has to go in,” he added, “and she’s got to help us battle and go out there and play, and play physical basketball. And so it can’t just be Clara Strack that’s going to guard their post players. And it’s not just Lee. They have an abundance of post players that they send in, and they pretty much play the same way with the physical style of play. We’re going to have to have a lot of hands on deck.”
Sunday
Kansas State at Kentucky
When: 2 p.m.
Where: Memorial Coliseum
TV: ESPN
Records: Kentucky 23-7, Kansas State 27-7
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky defeated Kansas State 60-49 on Dec. 3, 2020, in Manhattan, Kansas
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 4:44 PM.
