NCAAW: Kenny Brooks hopes return of Teonni Key fuels Kentucky Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats made it to the Round of 32 in Kenny Brooks’ first year at the helm.

Brooks brought over superstar—and eventual No. 6 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft—Georgia Amoore from Virginia Tech, where he, Amoore and Elizabeth Kitley had made the 2023 Final Four. Amoore dazzled in her one year in Lexington with 19.6 points (including 78 3s) and 6.9 assists per game, leading the ‘Cats to a No. 4 seed. It was a thrilling trip to the Big Dance for Kentucky, as they defeated Liberty by just a point in the first round before falling to Kansas State by just a point in overtime in the second round.

Brooks turned the Hokies into a perennial NCAA Tournament team, making four-straight Dances from 2021 to 2024. (In my estimation, it would have been five-straight, with the team going 21-9 overall and 11-7 in the ACC in 2020 when the tourney was canceled.) Before VT, Brooks led James Madison to six Dances in 13 years, including the second round in 2014.

He was a high-profile hire, replacing Kyra Elzy, a former Tennessee Lady Vol coached by Pat Summitt, who took the Wildcats to two tournaments with Rhyne Howard, but went 24-38 (6-26 SEC) without Howard. Before Elzy, Matthew Mitchell steered the most successful stretch in the program’s history with nine (should have been 10 with 2020) tournament appearances in 13 years, including five Sweet 16s and three Elite Eights.

Brooks’ Final Four season with the Hokies was particularly impressive, as they got the better of bouts with ACC heavyweights en route to a second-place tie in the conference’s regular season and a victory in the tournament championship game. Virginia Tech earned a No. 1 seed in the Dance when their previous-best was a No. 4. They had never been past the Round of 32.

Because of all this, and because Amoore came with him, Brooks brought a lot of excitement to Lexington ahead of Year 1. Though the team didn’t begin the season very highly-ranked (No. 22), it was a bit disappointing that they missed the Sweet 16, especially with it happening at home on a missed Amoore floater at the buzzer.

This year, the Wildcats (19-7, 6-6 SEC) were tied at No. 24 when the season began. They have since risen as high as No. 6, but inconsistency, impacted by a notable injury to senior forward Teonni Key, has led them to their current No. 18 status.

The high point of the season was a buzzer-beating win at national championship contender LSU (now No. 6) that had people believing Kentucky could be contenders themselves. Senior point guard Tonie Morgan went for 24 points and 12 assists, and nailed the game-winning, contested 3-pointer. On the season, Morgan, a Georgia Tech transfer, is second on the team with 14.5 points per game and second in the nation with 8.4 helpers. She has 219 total assists and counting, eclipsing the Kentucky single-season record (previously 213 by Amoore) in the Wildcats’ Thursday win over Texas A&M.

Junior center Clara Strack has been the other top player for Brooks’ squad; she, like Amoore, came over from Virginia Tech last year, averaging 15.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. This season, she’s been even better with 16.1 points, 10.6 boards and 2.7 swats. Part of why Kentucky suffered their first loss of the season on Nov. 26 in the Puerto Rico Classic was because the opposing Maryland Terrapins kept Strack in check with stellar defense.

The early-season loss to the Terps didn’t sting too much, considering there was a long season ahead; plus, the Wildcats had recently satisfied their need for a ranked nonconference win by defeating then-No. 21 and now-No. 9 Louisville. The team’s first deflating loss came two games after the uplifting victory over Kim Mulkey’s Tigers: they fell 64-51 at then-unranked Alabama. However, The Crimson Tide are now ranked No. 23. The Wildcats still haven’t lost to a team currently outside the ESPN-projected NCAA Tournament field, which is why I say “deflating,” not “concerning.”

Another reason it wasn’t too concerning was that Kentucky didn’t have Key available for that game. Nor did they have her available for their eventual losses to currently-unranked and not-receiving-votes Mississippi State, No. 22 Tennessee and receiving-votes Georgia, losses that came consecutively from Jan. 18 to Jan. 24. The Wildcats have only lost three games with Key in the lineup, and those were to the current No. 4 and No. 5 teams in the nation (Texas and Vanderbilt) and a Maryland team (now No. 20) that could very well still be No. 7 if not for the absence of Kaylene Smikle, who was available in Puerto Rico.

Key, a former UNC Tar Heel and the sister of Tennessee all-time career blocks and blocks per game leader Tamari Key, is third on the current Wildcats with 11.7 points, second with 7.1 rebounds and first with a field goal percentage of 52.9. She suffered a dislocated elbow on Jan. 4 and was out until Feb. 1.

In her second game back, she led Kentucky with 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting, adding 12 boards, as the Wildcats fell victim by just a point to national-leading-scorer Mikayla Blakes’ 37-point effort for the Commodores. In the team’s next game, this past Monday, they coughed up an uncharacteristic and season-high 23 turnovers and shot just 39.1 percent from the field against the Longhorns’ top-notch defense, forcing them into an 11-point defeat despite giving up just 64 points and holding 2025 First Team All-American Madison Booker to just eight points on 1-for-6.

We should give Kentucky a certain degree of grace for the losses they suffered without Key. And the way they battled against Vandy and Texas is promising. In order to rise back to an elite level though, they need to prove themselves when they host No. 14 Ole Miss on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, SEC Network). Defeating the Commodores and Longhorns are tall tasks, but Sunday’s game is winnable if Kentucky is who we think they are with Key.

More tall tasks await. The Wildcats will only be favored in one of their remaining regular-season games: against Auburn on Feb. 26. In addition to the Rebels, they face a rematch with Vandy (this time in Nashville) and a showdown with No. 3 South Carolina. An 8-8 conference record might be the best they can do before hopefully finding a way to the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight. Vandy and SC are simply Final Four-caliber teams.

Then again, maybe Kentucky thinks of themselves as Final Four-caliber. They’ll have the opportunity to prove it down the stretch.

On Thursday, they bounced back from the Vandy and Texas losses with a 27-5 first quarter vs. the Aggies en route to a 20-point win. A&M (9-11, 2-9 SEC) was coming off an upset win over Alabama, so the Wildcats knew not to sleep on them. However, it is a bit concerning that after that stellar opening frame, Kentucky lost the remainder of the game by two.

They will need a 40-minute effort to beat the Rebels, as they will be testing their No. 17 field goal percentage defense against the No. 47 team in efficiency from the floor, as well as their No. 24 rebound margin against No. 12 and their No. 39 scoring offense against the No. 30 scoring defense.