‘It’s going to be bumping.’ The Kenny Brooks era of UK women’s basketball starts now.

caroline makauskas

Mon, Nov 4, 2024, 8:36 a.m.·6 min read

Kenny Brooks and his staff don’t typically play exhibition games.

This year, their first at the helm of Kentucky women’s basketball’s newest era, is no different. Though the Wildcats did participate in a secret scrimmage of sorts — confirmed by Brooks to have been against a power conference opponent — it’s fair to say that the No. 22 ranked team in the nation is itching to get a taste of some real, official competition.

And, on Monday evening in Historic Memorial Coliseum, the Wildcats will finally get it as they face South Carolina Upstate at 5 p.m. on opening day of the 2024-25 college basketball season, marking Brooks’ debut as Kentucky’s head coach.

The Wildcats own a 4-0 record all-time against USC Upstate, most recently taking down the Spartans 82-54 last season in Rupp Arena. Now entering their third season under head coach Jason Williams, USC Upstate finished 2023-24 with a record of 16-16 (10-6 Big South) and an appearance in the WNIT.

“We’ve never had an exhibition game,” said Brooks, who joined Kentucky this offseason after 14 seasons at James Madison and seven at Virginia Tech . “And it is a good trial run for everything ... but we had a scrimmage the other day against a Power Five opponent, which I think will suit us very well to prep for that. And so there’s all of that. It’s all of that, but that’s why you do it. For this feeling that you have right now, the excitement is about to come. It’s why you do it.”

How good is this team? Fans who’ve stayed plugged in over the summer know that Brooks likes to take a realistic approach to progress — and that the team that faces the Spartans on Monday will most certainly not be the same group that suits up for the first conference game of the season against Mississippi State on Jan. 2, or the one that takes the floor in the 2025 SEC Tournament in March.

Though a pair of lower-leg injuries to projected impact transfers Jordan Obi (Penn) and Dominika Paurová (Oregon State) resulted in the Wildcats’ needing to adapt, Brooks has liked what he’s seen so far — particularly from All-America point guard (and Brooks’ “mini-me”) Georgia Amoore and fellow 1,000-point scoring graduate guard Dazia Lawrence (Charlotte).

“Obviously, the potential is there,” Brooks said. “And a couple weeks ago, we were still a little raw in where we were trying to go. A little bit more clarity in what we’re trying to do now, the way that they’re able to work well together in those positions. I’ve put some very unconventional lineups out there where we’re huge, and they handled it extremely well. And so you’ll probably see that lineup quite a bit during early stretches as we head into SEC play. But yeah, I think we have potential to be a very good basketball team. We have the pieces. Some areas where we need to be, we’re very experienced.

“We’re older. I’ve joked about it, we may have the oldest backcourt in the country, and I have to treat them that way because Dazia Lawrence and Georgia Amoore, they’ve logged a lot of minutes, played a lot of great basketball. So we have to make sure, it’s kind of like a vintage car. You don’t want to take it out every day, but you want to make sure you take care of it. And then we have young post players who are just thriving and getting better each and every day, so I think that’s a good recipe for success. Obviously, we were hurt a little bit with the injuries, that affects our depth a little bit. But we need to get our bench to be able to contribute for us in a positive way.”

Kentucky’s Kenny Brooks brings a 492-196 record into his 22nd season as a college basketball head coach after previous stops at James Madison and Virginia Tech.

Season ticket excitement

Brooks wasn’t surprised when UK Athletics announced Oct. 25 that reserved season tickets have sold out for the 2024-25 campaign, even though it’s the first time in program history that’s happened, with more than 3,200 season tickets (more than half of Memorial’s capacity, per UK) sold.

“This is why I came here,” Brooks said. “It’s because of the fan base in Kentucky. We had built the same thing at Virginia Tech, and so we kind of, we understand the product that we put out there. We want this to be, you know, the university’s team. It’s not just our team, as I constructed it. ... We understand that we’re playing for something bigger. And we knew that this could be a possibility. Very proud that it’s happened this quickly, that people want to come out and support it, but I can’t go anywhere in Lexington without somebody coming up and saying how excited they are to have us here.”

Brooks joked that, when he first took the job at Virginia Tech, nobody knew he was the head coach there. But that, in time, the fan base grew to know, and appreciate, the program that he and his staff were working so hard to build.

“To come here and yet, before you’ve even played a game and have everything sold out,” Brooks said. “It just goes ... it’s an a testament to the fan base, and that was a big reason why I wanted to come here, because I felt like it was a sleeping giant. And, you know, we’ve had some success early on in recruiting battles, and we’ve had some success marketing our kids and getting them out there and understanding what Kentucky is all about. I think that’s generated a lot of interest.”

General-admission season tickets and single-game ticket options remain available for purchase.

Virginia Tech transfer Clara Strack will help lead a group of young Kentucky post players expected to see a lot of minutes this season because of injuries to some of the Wildcats’ backcourt players. “I’ve put some very unconventional lineups out there where we’re huge, and they handled it extremely well,” coach Kenny Brooks said.

The ‘new Memorial’

Monday’s season opener also marks the second “grand opening” for the newly renovated Memorial Coliseum, which, to this point, Big Blue Nation has only seen used for Kentucky volleyball since August, and the Blue-White preseason event Oct. 18. Brooks, who never truly got to experience what’s lovingly been referred to as the “old Memorial,” said he lives “vicariously through fans’ eyes when they talk about it,” but looks forward to the debut.

“Because we weren’t here for the old one,” Brooks said. “And so we don’t know any different other than what we see. But when we listen to fans talk about the history of the building, the improvements of the building, they’re so excited. So we’re looking forward to giving them a good show while they’re in their brand-new arena. It’s very nice. ... We’ve been in there practicing. It has a wonderful vibe to it. It’s bright, the sound system is amazing. It just really feels like a little mini-NBA arena when you get everything going. And, when you get fans in there, it’s going to be bumping.”