‘Proud of the woman she has become’: Rhyne Howard’s journey to becoming a UK great
No one would have more reason to shed tears over Rhyne Howard’s pending departure from Kentucky women’s basketball than Kyra Elzy. Yet the UK coach says she will not cry Sunday at the final home game of the Wildcats senior star.
Howard says she will not cry, either, when she is recognized 20 minutes before surging UK (14-11, 7-8 SEC, winners of five straight) closes out its 2021-22 regular season with a 4 p.m. tipoff vs. Auburn (10-16, 2-13 SEC).
However, Howard says Blair Green, her roommate and injured UK teammate, can be counted on for tears.
“Blair will definitely cry,” Howard says.
There was a time when the idea of Howard having a Senior Day at Kentucky — much less having one after becoming one of the all-time greats ever to wear UK blue and white — would have been far-fetched.
A Florida Gators legacy whose mom, Rhvonja Avery, had been a standout UF women’s basketball player, Howard began her college recruitment with eyes only for Gainesville.
Avery encouraged Howard, then a star player for Bradley Central, a tradition-rich Tennessee high school girls’ hoops program, not to close herself off from other options.
Having grown up a Florida fan, Howard had no affection for the home-state Lady Vols.
So other schools pitched their woo.
Purdue promised Howard it would use her only at point guard — vowing she would have the ball in her hands on every play. Coming off the 2017 NCAA championship, South Carolina emphasized Coach Dawn Staley’s expertise in developing guards.
“I thought she was going to pick Purdue,” Avery told me before last season. “Then, South Carolina started getting the edge. Kentucky kind of came out of nowhere. When she made her decision (to pick UK), I was as floored as anybody. She just said, ‘I think I can make an impact there.’”
Five years later, few UK athletes in any sport have had a greater impact than Rhyne Howard has had on Kentucky women’s basketball.
The season (2017-18) before the versatile 6-foot-2 Howard arrived, UK went 15-17.
With Howard in the program, Kentucky has subsequently gone 79-36.
Of the 108 games in which Howard has appeared for the Wildcats, she has been UK’s leading scorer 96 times; its leading rebounder 58 times; and its top dispenser of assists 39 times.
Her 2,153 career points are the second-most ever scored by a UK player.
Yet Elzy says watching the soft-spoken Howard emerge from her comfort zone to become a vocal team presence has been almost as impressive as viewing her on-court achievements.
“I am proud of the woman she has become,” Elzy says, “and the leader she has developed into.”
‘Rhyne-time’ moments
To follow Kentucky women’s basketball over the past four seasons has been to watch Howard produce a string of unforgettable moments.
Twice, against Arkansas as a freshman and at California as a sophomore, Howard buried game-winning jumpers in the final seconds.
As a sophomore at Alabama, a scorching Howard tied Jennifer O’Neill’s UK single-game scoring record by rifling in 43 points.
Early this season against Winthrop, Howard became only the third Kentucky women’s player to amass a triple-double by going for 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
My favorite “Rhyne Time” moment came in Howard’s sophomore season when she suffered a broken finger on her left hand during a game against Auburn — only to return to the court and hit the game-deciding field goal with her left hand.
Elzy is partial to a Howard basket from her sophomore season in a victory over Tennessee in Memorial Coliseum.
“After we had worked on ‘finish moves’ for, I don’t know how many weeks, (Howard) finished with (her) left hand in front of our bench — and flexed,” Elzy recalled.
As for Howard, she notes she’s had “a lot of favorite moments” as a Wildcat. Forced to choose, she says, “I probably have to say the Alabama game my sophomore year” when she scored 43.
Last UK go-round
Because Howard can make basketball success look so effortless, some have formed the perception she does not always play hard.
Those moments when Howard seems to go passive on the court tend to be misinterpreted, says Jason Reuter, the former LaRue County Hawks basketball standout who coached Howard at Bradley Central High School.
“Rhyne expects a lot (of herself). I think if she doesn’t perform up to what she thinks she should, she gets down on herself some,” Reuter says. “I think she is mad at herself. … She can be her own worst enemy being upset with herself.”
Howard’s final season at Kentucky has been her most challenging.
Injuries and other reasons causing players to miss games have seen UK play with as few as six available bodies.
“That six players has been the hardest thing,” Howard says. “That was tough.”
Yet left for dead after losing eight of nine games at one point in conference play, UK finally got its full roster back together for the home stretch.
Lo and behold, the Cats have now won five straight and appear to have played themselves back into viable NCAA Tournament contention.
Moving forward, Howard is projected to be a top pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft.
Howard is ambivalent about also playing professionally overseas. “Maybe I will do a couple of years over there,” she says. “I really don’t want to play every year overseas, just to rest my body.”
Having already won three gold medals with USA Basketball in international age-group competitions, Howard envisions an even higher-profile opportunity to play for her country.
“I do want to play in the Olympics,” she says.
Whatever subsequent honors Howard might add to her already glowing UK résumé — two-time SEC Player of the Year; two-time AP First-Team All-American; National Freshman of the Year — her place in Kentucky Wildcats lore is secure.
On Rhyne Howard’s Senior Day, Blair Green might cry, and Kyra Elzy might not, but the UK head coach says, “I will definitely be thankful for Rhyne and what she has done for Kentucky.”
Sunday
Auburn at Kentucky
When: 4 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Auburn 10-16 (2-13 SEC), UK 14-11 (7-8)
Series: Auburn leads 26-25
Last meeting: UK won 67-55 on Jan. 25 at Auburn, Ala.
