"Everybody just genuinely enjoys each other." Kentucky WBB hoping off-court chemistry translates to wins

Kentucky women’s basketball head coach Kyra Elzy is putting last season behind her. A disappointing 12-19 overall record in 2022-23, including a 2-14 mark in the Southeastern Conference, was the program’s worst finish since the infamous 2017-18 season, which saw a mass exodus of players leave Lexington in quick succession in the offseason prior. Going into year four as head coach of the Wildcats, Elzy says it’s time for a fresh start.

“We have officially closed the chapter,” Elzy said during Monday’s Media Day session. “We took the proper time to reset, refocus, and reflect… As of today, we are 0-0. A new year, a new team, a new staff, a new mindset, new goals.”

Last season’s squad wasn’t lacking in talent, but the chemistry never quite came together on the hardwood. There was far too much individual play, especially down the stretch of the schedule. Four players accounted for over 72 percent of the total shots taken throughout the season. Three of them have either graduated or transferred. The bulk of last year’s scoring is gone, but Kentucky is hoping this will be a case of addition by subtraction.

“Last year, we were talking about off-court chemistry — we couldn’t get it going on the court,” Elzy added. “This year, 12 (players) is a lot easier to manage, first of all. And then, with the veterans, they’re holding each other accountable. When they can hold each other accountable before the staff can even get to them, that’s when you know you have the on-court chemistry and the trust with each other. I think we’ll see that correlate this season.”

Kentucky lost six players in total from the 2022-23 roster (three graduates, three transfers) while adding three in the offseason (two freshmen, one transfer). What’s left over are nine pieces from last season that all experienced the same tribulations of being the worst team in the SEC. Most of them were brand new to Kentucky, too. They all suffered through that season together.

It’s tough to encounter that kind of adversity and come out on the other side still thinking positively. But that’s what’s happening with this group of ‘Cats, and it goes beyond just putting a ball in the hoop.

“The hardship that we went through last year really brought us together,” Senior guard Maddie Scherr, who was third on the team in shots taken last year at 9.9 per game, said during Media Day. “There was a lot of tears and anger that you have to deal with. Winning cures all, you don’t really got to deal with anything when everyone’s winning. So I think we really learned a lot of hard lessons. Because of that, coming into this year — a whole different mindset. We will not be where we were last year, we won’t be there. And that’s all of our mindsets.”

“Our team chemistry is definitely a lot better,” Sophomore guard Cassidy Rowe said. “We all come from different backgrounds and sometimes it just doesn’t mix, but we step on the court this year — like everybody is so uplifting with each other. I just feel like we blend together really well.”

While the on-court talent might not be up to the level of last season’s team (at least on paper), the belief inside the program is that this year’s group is better suited to overcome any internal or external issues, which clearly played a role in last season’s downfall. The 2022-23 team finished the regular season losing seven straight by an average of 15.1 points per outing. There was another five-game SEC losing streak prior to that which saw Kentucky lose by an average of 15.2 points per game.

It’s not fair to say that Kentucky team quit playing hard, but the effort levels certainly weren’t what they had been early on in the season. All it took was one big run from the opposing team for the Wildcats to shut down. This time around, they’ll know how to handle any concerns before they snowball into full-blown problems. They’ve been there before.

“The continuity that a team can have when it’s less girls is really important. Just because having that chemistry off the floor is super important and gets lost a lot of the time,” Scherr said. “I think, especially with this team, so many of us were new last year, which I think made it a little bit hard to come together a little bit more, which made our on-court chemistry more difficult.

“But this team is the closest team I’ve been on since my high school team, so I’m really excited to see how that translates because we really trust each other. We get on each other, hold each other accountable, and there’s an expectation that we have for each other. And that carries over to the floor and even off the floor.”

That togetherness stood out at Media Day. It was discussed by everyone from the coaching staff down to the players, often unprompted. Last year, there were required team-bonding exercises. This year, the players got in front of that before the coaches could even bring up the idea.

“Our team’s chemistry is out of this world… I feel like the biggest difference is our coach doesn’t have to assign team bonding and stuff like that. We do stuff on our own,” Senior guard Eniya Russell said at Media Day. “Last night we went to Maddie Scherr’s house, made spaghetti, and watched a scary movie just because we were bored… Things like that add up in the long run. It might not seem like it, but small things like that, it definitely helps.”

This isn’t an act to impress the cameras, either. Whether or not it translates onto the hardwood is yet to be seen, but the smiles that flashed when the word chemistry was brought up lit up the entire room. There is true optimism that growing closer behind the scenes will lead to more on-court success.

“Everybody just genuinely enjoys each other and I think those relationships can be fake and they play out on the court too,” Senior forward Nyah Leveretter, who is recovering from a torn ACL she suffered in February, said. “We get on each other on the court, we can yell at each other, we can be mad at each other and not see it as anything personal. We just want to get the same job done.”

“The chemistry level is amazing,” Sophomore guard Saniah Tyler added. “We go in the locker room, somebody can crack a joke and everybody just starts laughing. We’re just kinda on the same wavelength — everybody knows what somebody gonna say. We know just the right thing to say to each other, so I think that plays a part in how well we do on the floor together.”

Even the new faces can see how close this group is.

“As soon as I came in day one, I could tell that they genuinely care about each other,” Assistant coach Crystal Kelly, who was hired in June, told KSR. “They’re hanging out off the court, which is vital. To women being successful is liking each other, caring about one another. So it’s been great.”

While all of this is good to hear in the preseason, none of it will actually matter until the ball is tipped on Nov. 7 for Kentucky’s season-opener against ETSU. This year’s schedule is a run at the gauntlet — an unusually tough non-conference schedule and the ever-challenging SEC slate. Home games have moved away from Memorial Coliseum for this season. Outside of Scherr, there are unknowns spread across the roster. How will the Wildcats respond if things go south a few weeks into November? Can the improved chemistry keep them together enough to grind out wins in close games, or in a worst-case scenario, avoid a complete collapse?

Of course, if we knew the answer to those questions, we wouldn’t be asking them. Adversity will hit this team at some point. It’s how they respond that will define them.