Former Kentucky forward Ajae Petty transfers to Ohio State
COLUMBUS — Rebounding issues came back to bite Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 this year. The Buckeyes — who ranked 13th in the Big Ten in rebounding margin (-2.4) during the season — took a step toward addressing those issues Monday when they received a commitment from Kentucky transfer forward Ajae Petty.
She has one year of eligibility remaining.
Petty finished 2023-24 third in the SEC with 10.6 rebounds per game. She also averaged a team-high 14.2 points per game while shooting 50.7% from the field for a Wildcats squad that posted a 12-20 record.
Petty spent two years at Kentucky after playing two years at LSU, where she struggled to see the floor. The 6-foot-3 forward finally realized her potential with the Wildcats, particularly in her breakout senior season, after joining the college ranks as one of the best high post players in the 2020 recruiting class.
The Baltimore native hadn’t started a game before this past season. But she got the nod in all 32 games as a senior for the Wildcats. In addition to leading the team in scoring and rebounding, she piled up a team-high 43 steals and a team-high 27 blocks.
Petty scored 10 or more points 25 times. She reached the 15-point mark on 14 separate occasions and hit the 20-point barrier in seven games. When all was said and done, she clocked out with 18 double-doubles, including a 33-and-15 game against Tennessee Tech on Dec. 3 and a 23-and-21 game against Vanderbilt on Jan. 11.
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She notched a career-high five steals against Tennessee in the second round of the SEC Tournament. That’s music to the ears of head coach Kevin McGuff, whose Buckeyes ranked first in the Big Ten and tied for 28th nationally in steals per game (10.5) this past season.
Her first year at Kentucky, Petty played in 29 games and averaged 5.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game. She excelled during non-conference play, at one point scoring in double figures in 7-of-8 games. Perhaps most notably that season, she recorded 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting against then-No. 14 and eventual Final Four-bound Virginia Tech in the Bahamas.
Petty appeared in a combined 31 games during her two seasons at LSU: 19 games as a freshman and only 12 in her sophomore year, during which she scored a season-high 12 points against Samford.
Petty is the second transfer addition of the offseason for McGuff and the Buckeyes. They brought aboard Oregon transfer point guard Chance Gray Sunday. Gray ranked second among all Ducks players in 2023-24 with 13.9 points per game, not to mention her 2.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 0.8 steals per contest while she played 36.5 minutes a night.
Gray and Petty are both potential starters for Ohio State.
