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When Georgia Amoore Underperforms, Kentucky Women’s Basketball Is Not a Threat

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1 year ago

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Kentucky Wildcats guard Georgia Amoore with head coach Kenny Brooks.
Morgan Simmons | UK Athletics

At halftime, Georgia Amoore jogged into the locker room with 12 points against No. 7 LSU, helping the Kentucky Wildcats hold a 38-26 lead over one of the top teams in the nation. 

Historic Memorial Coliseum exploded with cheers for the star point guard on Feb. 23, with all hope and belief that LSU Head Coach Kim Mulkey and her Tigers would head back to Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a loss. 

The Australian native always has immense pressure on her shoulders to bring this team to glory, leading the team in both points and assists per game. However, without Amoore putting up impressive stat lines night-in and night-out, Kentucky can be seen as an unthreatening team. 

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Sure, Amoore isn’t the only special talent on the team. Amelia Hassett, Teonni Key and Clara Strack, the triplets, are the only trio in Division-I women’s basketball this season to average at least nine and a half points and eight rebounds per game. 

Dazia Lawrence is 19th in the nation with a 44% three-point percentage. They’re the only team in the country with four players with at least 20 blocks, consisting of Hassett, Key, Strack and Clara Silva. 

These numbers define the Wildcats’ 21-5 season and the fourth best  conference record in the SEC, but fans have caught a glimpse of what happens when Amoore has an “off-night.”

On Dec. 5, the Wildcats suffered a 72-53 loss on the road against the No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels, where Amoore put up 10 points on 4-12 shooting, missing all five of her shots from deep and picking up four fouls. Strack, the team’s second leading scorer, had to step up for Amoore when times were tough, and put up four points and shot 2-10 from the field. 

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On Jan. 23, the Wildcats went on the road yet again, facing a 9-8 Texas A&M team where the Cats were heavily favored. Amoore shot 5-18 from the field, missed every 3-pointer she took yet again, and had to lean on Strack and others for offensive production. Strack shot 2-12 and finished the game with six points. They lost 61-55. 

They’re one of the best teams in the SEC, the best conference in college basketball. Yet, they are yet to get over the hump and take down the top teams in the conference, simply because Amoore is swarmed all game. 

On Feb. 13, Amoore crumbled against No. 3 Texas, shooting just 5-16 from the field and putting up 14 points. With redemption on the line, Amoore came back out for the second half against LSU with fiery eyes. 

In the first half, the fifth year guard wasn’t “carrying the team” for once and she received nine points from both Hassett and Lawrence. These two did not score again. 

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The Wildcats came out in the third quarter and were a prime witness to how good the top teams are. The Tigers went on to outscore Kentucky 23-6 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Amoore missed all of her shots and didn’t score once. 

In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, Kentucky scored more points than it did in the entire third quarter and an Amoore layup gave the Wildcats a 52-51 lead. However, she wouldn’t score again and Kentucky would only score six more points. They lost 65-58.

She finished the game shooting 6-22 from the field and 3-15 from three.

After the game, Kentucky Head Coach Kenny Brooks opened up the press conference with a statement that any coach would hate to admit. 

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“Obviously disappointed with the outcome. Give LSU credit,” said Brooks. “They wanted it a little bit more than we did. They made the plays they needed to make and we didn’t.”  

However, motivated as usual, Brooks followed that up with aspirations. 

“When you play a team of that magnitude, you have to be able to be on point,” said Brooks. “We’ll learn from this.” 

You can’t even blame Kentucky. All season, they’ve defeated the odds and shocked the country. They competed with the No. 7 team in the country in a “rebuild” year after winning just 12 games last year. 

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With just a handful of games remaining in Amoore’s collegiate career, she has to play her best against top opponents to help the Wildcats prove everyone wrong once again. 

To finish off the regular season, Kentucky will host No. 15 Tennessee on Feb. 27 and face No. 6 South Carolina on the road on March 2nd. 

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Kentucky Baseball Selected to Fourth Consecutive NCAA Tournament

Published

4 days ago

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May 25, 2026

By

Sydney Yonker | UK Athletics

In the final bracket reveal on the ESPN selection show, Kentucky baseball was named as the No. 3 seed in the Morgantown Regional. This is the fourth year in a row that the Bat Cats have been selected to the NCAA tournament, extending the school record.

West Virginia is the No. 16 overall seed in the tournament and the one-seeded host of the regional. Also in the bracket is No. 2 Wake Forest, Kentucky’s first-round opponent, and No. 4 Binghamton.

On Friday, May 29, Kentucky (31-21, 13-17 SEC) will take on Wake Forest (38-19, 16-14 ACC) at 12:00 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on ESPN2.

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The similarities that led both teams to the tournament will likely lead to an entertaining first game of the double-elimination format. Both schools went one and done in their respective conference tournaments, as well as facing multiple ranked opponents during the season.

The difference in the schools’ season is Wake Forest was swept twice while Kentucky avoided being swept all season, but on the flip side, the Cats lost all but two of its conference series while the Demon Deacons only lost four.

A schedule only means so much when two teams from different conferences meet. Wake Forest has a high-powered offense, putting up nine games with 14 or more runs and scoring 22 or more runs on two separate occasions.

That can prove problematic for a Kentucky team that has made 55 errors this season. The Demon Deacons lack of depth in the bullpen could benefit the Wildcats. This is an area that Kentucky has had some problems with this season as well, but with 12 of their 22 listed pitchers having a sub 6.00 ERA, they certainly have the edge.

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UK is a team that pressures the infield with stolen bases, which will due part put much pressure on Wake Forest – they’ve made 59 errors on the season.

Overall, getting past round one is just the first step to getting out of Morgantown and driving the rest of the long road to Omaha.

Morgantown Regional (Morgantown, West Virginia)

Friday:

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Game 1: Kentucky vs. Wake Forest; 12:00 p.m ET on ESPN2
Game 2: No. 16 West Virginia vs. Binghampton; 5 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Saturday:

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Sunday:

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Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5

Monday:

Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch Game 6

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Kentucky Baseball Set to Face Vanderbilt in First Round of the SEC Tournament

Published

2 weeks ago

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May 17, 2026

By

Eddie Justice | UK Athletics

The bracket is set. Kentucky Baseball, earning the No. 13 overall seed, will face No. 12 Vanderbilt (32-24, 14-16 SEC) in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Tuesday, May 19.

Nick Mingione’s squad finished the regular season with a 31-20 overall record and a 13-17 conference record, going 1-2 in the final series against the Arkansas Razorbacks, who ultimately earned the No. 7 overall seed in the tourney.

These two teams clashed back on April 17-19, where Vanderbilt came into Kentucky Proud Park and stole both game two and three from the Wildcats. Kentucky scored a total of 18 runs in the series, but it let up 23 runs of its own.

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In the series-opening win, pitcher Jaxon Jelkin tossed 105 total pitches through eight innings, only allowing two runs and six hits between the 31 batters he faced.

A time is yet to be announced, but it is confirmed that the Bat Cats and the Commodores will play in game two, taking place after game one between No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 16 Missouri at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Kentucky is currently on the “safe” part of the NCAA Tournament bubble, but a win in Hoover, Alabama would have the Wildcats as locks to make yet another appearance in the big dance.

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BREAKING: Former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins second consecutive NBA MVP Award

Published

2 weeks ago

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May 17, 2026

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Photo via Imagn Images

History has been made by former Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, as he becomes the 14th player in league history to win back-to-back MVP awards. Last season, he became the first Wildcat ever to hoist the trophy, a feat that he still holds with utter dominance.

The Toronto, Canada native averaged 31.1 points per game (second in the league) to go along with 4.3 rebounds per game and 6.6 assists per game. He did this all on 55.3/38.6/87.9 shooting splits and led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the best record in the league with 64 wins.

How about this for a stat? Gilgeous-Alexander is now just the fifth guard in NBA history to win back-to-back MVP awards, joining Hall of Fame guards Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry and Steve Nash.

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News of the award will officially be announced tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBA on Prime, with Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama as the other two finalists.

Gilgeous-Alexander will be back in action on Monday, May 18 to face off against Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, looking to lead his team to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances.

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