‘Come and find out.’ Why Tonie Morgan is the right point guard for Kentucky
For the first three years of her collegiate career, new Kentucky point guard Tonie Morgan learned, developed and grew under the great Nell Fortner.
Fortner, who was hired as the head coach of Georgia Tech women’s basketball in 2019, amassed more than 270 wins in 15 seasons as a college coach, earning conference coach of the year honors during her stops at Purdue (1997), Auburn (2009) and Georgia Tech (2021).
The iconic coach also led the United States Women’s National Basketball Team from 1998-2000. During that time she coached Team USA to 101 total wins, just 14 losses and gold medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 1998 FIBA World Championships.
Fortner also spent time as a leader in the early years of the WNBA, acting as the inaugural head coach and general manager of the Indiana Fever from its inception in 1999 to 2003.
“Coach Nell, she’s great,” Morgan said. “Our relationship is still good to this day. I’m happy that she chose to bring me there. I’m happy that we’re able to continue our relationship, no hard feelings with me coming here, so that’s an amazing thing. She’s had an amazing career.”
Morgan, a native of Tallahassee, Florida, committed to Georgia Tech as the No. 24 national prospect in the class of 2022 — the highest-ranking prospect to commit to the Yellow Jackets during the entirety of Fortner’s tenure — a 2,000-point career scorer for Florida State University Schools and a two-sport athlete in basketball and track and field.
With the Yellow Jackets, the 5-foot-9 point guard earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in each of her three seasons, as Morgan was named to the 2023 ACC All-Freshman Team, and the All-ACC Second Team as a sophomore and a junior.
Morgan was also an All-ACC Tournament Second Team selection as a sophomore in 2023-24 after leading Georgia Tech past Pittsburgh in the first round of the event with 24 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and one steal.
After a 22-11 (9-9 ACC) junior season in which Morgan averaged 13.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists, one steal and 0.4 blocks — and a career-low 2.3 turnovers — per contest, Fortner announced her retirement from college basketball coaching. Morgan was one of eight Yellow Jackets to enter the transfer portal following the end of the Fortner era in Atlanta.
“It was definitely the retirement that pushed me out,” Morgan said. “Because Coach Nell was my coach all three years. Just knowing that it felt like it was my time to go.”
When asked about her growth and trajectory at Georgia Tech, Morgan smiled and said, “I think I had a pretty solid career there.”
“I think I grew every year there,” Morgan said. “On and off the court, and that’s all you can hope for in your college career, so I had a great experience there in Atlanta. I hope to have an even better one here.”
It was reported at the end of March that Morgan had entered the transfer portal and, given the end of All-America point guard Georgia Amoore’s collegiate career, Kentucky quickly became a destination option.
Having played against Kenny Brooks’ Virginia Tech teams twice during their overlapping years, Morgan was more than familiar with the Wildcats’ head coach and what he and his staff could do for floor generals.
In Morgan’s words, “It all came together.”
“I’ve seen what he’s done,” Morgan said. “... I’ve played against his teams. They’ve been great teams, great players. I’ve seen him, I’ve seen the blueprint. I’ve seen what he’s done with Georgia, and other guards before her, so I know that he knows what he’s doing. And I’m ready to be a part of that.”
Morgan joins fellow all-conference transfer guards Asia Boone (Liberty) and Josie Gilvin (Western Kentucky) in Kentucky’s portal haul, and brings much-needed experience and grit to what has become a defining position of Brooks’ coaching career.
Morgan, a bit of a swiss army knife, is capable of showing out all over the floor — “I can do it all.”
“I’m a playmaker,” Morgan said. “A lot of point guards are playmakers, but I feel like I’m a different type of playmaker. I can score it, I can defer it, I can defend. Playing both sides of the ball, I think that makes me stand out.”
Though Morgan hasn’t truly played with any of her now-11 fellow Wildcats — save a coincidental Florida-based camp overlap with rising sophomore Lexi Blue back when the pair was in high school — Brooks’ inaugural Kentucky roster, and all its unfamiliarity-turned-genuine chemistry, should give Big Blue Nation hope that a lack of continuity in the backcourt won’t translate to a lack of success come the start of the season.
“Seeing what we’ve done off the court,” Morgan said. “Getting to know everybody, the chemistry is definitely blossoming. The first day of practice that we had, it just felt special. From the first warm-up drill, I was like, ‘This is gonna be a special group,’ so I’m very excited.”
The Wildcats, now without Amoore, graduate shooting guard Dazia Lawrence, 6-foot-7 backup center Clara Silva and reserve guards Cassidy Rowe and Saniah Tyler, will seek to build upon last season’s foundation — one that brought the team its first All-America selection (Amoore) since UK great Rhyne Howard, several Southeastern Conference honors, a fourth-place finish in the league, a top-16 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, an NCAA Tournament second-round appearance for the first time since 2021 and the program’s first 20-win season (23) since 2019-20.
So, what can fans expect from Morgan and the new-look Wildcats this year?
“I always say, ‘come and find out,’” Morgan laughed. “I don’t wanna tell you, I want you to come see for yourself.”
