PREVIEW: Kentucky WBB takes on ETSU at Transy in season opener

Kentucky Women’s Basketball is ready to start the program’s 50th anniversary season off with a bang.

On Tuesday night, the Lady Cats will take on Eastern Tennessee State University in the 2023-24 season opener. The matchup will take place off UK soil, as Transylvania University’s Clive M. Beck Center will play host to tonight’s matchup. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network+. Kentucky won its lone preseason exhibition earlier this month, taking down Kentucky State 88-71 as four Wildcats scored in double-figures.

Head coach Kyra Elzy returns nine players from last season’s team that finished with a 12-19 record and in last place in the Southeastern Conference. Will that continuity be enough to bounce back in ’23-24? It all starts against ETSU in the fourth-ever meeting between these two schools and the first since 2013.

Scouting Report: ETSU Buccaneers

The ETSU Buccaneers finished 2nd in the Southern Conference last season with a 9-5 conference record. They are led by head coach Brenda Mock Brown, who is entering her second season as the leader of the program. Last season, Mock Brown’s team went 25-10 overall (a school record for wins), which was a 19-game jump from going 6-22 the year before. This tremendous feat was the biggest turnaround in the nation in the 2022-23 season. Going into 2023-24, the Buccaneers were picked to win the SoCon by league coaches for the first time since 2018.

ETSU has a history of taking down good competition as well. Last season, ETSU defeated Vanderbilt in a low-scoring affair, 44-31. This was in the midst of a run where the Buccaneers won nine out of 10 games. This season, ETSU features three double-digit scorers — two returners, one graduate transfer — from last season who all have a lot to bring to the table.

The leading scorer on the team is junior guard Kendall Folley, who averaged 11.1 points per game last season. She is a solid shooter from beyond the arc too at 35.8%. Graduate student Breanne Beatty (transfer from Oakland) and junior Nevaeh Brown (10.7 PPG) round out the backcourt and overall main contributors for ETSU. Folley and Brown were named Preseason All-SoCon.

In order for the Lady Cats to start off 1-0, they’ll need to run the offense through center Ajae Petty. ETSU’s tallest player is senior Jakhyia Davis standing at 6’3. When she’s in the game, it will be tough for Petty to score down low, but Davis has never averaged more than 24 minutes per game in her career. When she’s out, facilitate the offense through Petty. That will allow her to score, draw the defense’s attention, and ultimately open up shooters on the perimeter.

On defense, Kentucky needs to win the turnover battle. This team is going to excel in creating turnovers, as all Kyra Elzy teams have done. That being said, the ‘Cats can’t afford to give the ball right back to them via a bad outlet pass or filling in the wrong lanes in transition and messing up the spacing. Kentucky has to score when they get the opportunity to get running on a fast break.

If they can do all of that, expect a fun season opener in Transy at the Clive M. Beck Center.