What can Rhyne Howard do for an encore? She envisions dunking in a game.
Merely stating that Rhyne Howard swept every major women’s college basketball National Freshman of the Year award last season does not do justice to the brilliance of her first season as a Kentucky Wildcat.
In Howard’s second college game, the 6-foot-2 guard tied the UK school record by hitting seven three-pointers and scoring 29 points in a win over Southern.
In her sixth NCAA contest, she hit a free throw with 3.1 seconds left in overtime to give Kentucky a one-point win over UCLA.
The Cleveland, Tenn., product’s seventh college game saw her produce her first career double-double, dropping 25 points and 12 rebounds on North Carolina to lead UK to the Paradise Jam Championship.
For the 10th game of Howard’s freshman season, she got her first taste of the boiling cauldron that is a Kentucky-Louisville game. All Howard did was go for 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a tight UK loss.
The 26th game of Howard’s first college season saw her register 18 points and 14 rebounds against Arkansas. She also hit the game-winning jumper with three seconds left, then sealed the victory by stealing a Razorbacks pass at the final buzzer.
For the 32nd and final game of Rhyne Howard’s introduction to NCAA hoops, the UK star scored 21 points in an NCAA Tournament game. She also had seven rebounds in Kentucky’s season-ending loss at North Carolina State.
“I did better than I expected,” Howard says of her freshman season. “I had Freshman of the Year as a goal. But I didn’t think I would just kill it like that.”
Now comes the hard part. What to do for an encore?
The University of Kentucky women’s basketball program held its annual Media Day on Tuesday morning in Memorial Coliseum. UK Coach Matthew Mitchell proclaimed himself “fired up for the 2019-20 season. ... I think this team really has the capability to have a special season.”
For UK to match or exceed last season’s 25-8 campaign that ended in the NCAA tourney round of 32, it will likely need an even better season from Howard.
Which will not be easy to produce.
A season ago, Howard (team bests of 16.4 ppg and 6.6 rpg) was one third of a “big three” with senior guards Maci Morris (15.4 ppg) and Taylor Murray (12.4 ppg, 3.8 assists, 3.2 steals).
With the latter two having graduated, opposing defenses figure to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at Howard this season.
“She will clearly be the focus of opposing defenses this year,” Mitchell said. “But, the trouble (defenses) will have, she is so versatile. She can influence the game in so many areas. She really doesn’t have any weaknesses.”
For year two, Mitchell has challenged Howard to alter the mental approach she brings into games.
“I’ve always thought (Howard’s approach) was ‘Let’s see what is going on (in the game) and what is required tonight and then I will give it to you,’” Mitchell said. “What I want her to do is show up from the tip with that competitive streak about her.”
UK senior point guard Jaida Roper is reinforcing Mitchell’s pleas for Howard to play with unyielding aggression. “I’m like ‘Rhyne, you’re Rhyne Howard, take that shot!’” Roper says. “It’s amazing to me she’s not walking around, like, ‘I’m Rhyne Howard.’”
For the second straight year, Howard spent her summer playing for Louisville Coach Jeff Walz on Team USA in international competition.
Just like the summer before, Howard helped a Walz-led team win a gold medal. This time, the UK star led Team USA in scoring (13.1 ppg) as the Americans won the Under-19 Women’s World Cup tournament in Thailand.
Walz “was giving me a hard time because (U of L) beat us last year,” Howard says, smiling. “I just hope that when we beat (Louisville) this year I’m going to have stuff to say back to him.”
Howard enters her second season of college basketball with specific areas of improvement in mind.
Her points of emphasis will be “Defensively. Finishing around the rim. And free throws,” the 67.6-percent foul shooter in 2018-19 says.
There may also be something else Howard introduces to her game in 2019-20. As part of the strength training she has embraced so “I won’t get knocked down as much,” Howard has seen her vertical leaping ability improve.
That meant Howard spent her Media Day being peppered with questions about whether she might dunk in a game.
“The other day, I was kind of doing it off the backboard,” she says of dunking. “There might be one coming (in a game) this year. I’m not making any promises, but I’ve got something coming for you guys.”
When Rhyne Howard is on a basketball court, it usually pays to expect the exceptional.
