All-American Georgia Amoore Impressed with UK Women's Hoops Program

Kentucky's Georgia Amoore meets with the news media last week on UK campus. (Photo by Jamie H. Vaught)

By Jamie H. Vaught

Georgia Amoore, a graduate transfer who played four years at Virginia Tech, is one of UK’s few primary veterans who will help the Wildcats this winter after earning All-American honors her senior year at the Blacksburg school.

And Kenny Brooks is sure glad she eventually followed him to Lexington after he was hired as the new head coach at Kentucky in late March. Before coming to UK, Brooks spent eight successful seasons at Virginia Tech, including a Final Four trip in 2023.

Because of Brooks, Amoore said it was a very easy decision to attend UK.

“(In) these past four years, he’s done unimaginable things for me in development,” she said during this week’s SEC Basketball Tipoff Media Days in Birmingham. “So, one more year with him was cherry on the top.”

On Amoore, who earlier this week was named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team, coming to Kentucky, Brooks said, “It's really helped that when you have your quarterback that follows you. Georgia Amoore and I have been joined at the hip for the last four and a half years. The fact she wanted to follow me to the University of Kentucky, it's a blessing. Now I have another coach, someone who can really talk to the other student-athletes.”

Amoore, who played for the Australian National Team this past summer, became a huge success at Virginia Tech because of the team’s player development and her strong work ethic. As a senior, she averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 assists last season while shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 85.9 percent from the line.

“We haven't been fortunate enough where we can get an abundance of McDonald's All-Americans (while at Virginia Tech),” said Brooks during the SEC Media Days. “We get some players who are willing to work hard, who have a high ceiling, want to push through and continuously get better every day. Georgia is a prime example. She came to us, to Virginia Tech. Her only other Division I offer was the University of Portland. We saw something in her.

“What I didn't know was how hard she would work. When she got to Virginia Tech, she's a tireless worker, whether it's on the court, in film sessions. That's how she's made herself into an All-American. With just that type of attitude, it becomes infectious, it trickles down to the rest of the team, everyone wants to get better.

“Development will always be the cornerstone of what we do. It's what I love to do. If I weren't coaching basketball, I'd probably be training kids because I love watching kids get better each and every year. That's our style. That's what we really look forward to.”

Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks and Georgia Amoore discuss during last week's practice at Joe Craft Center on UK campus. (Photo by Jamie H. Vaught)

Brooks pointed out his team may have the nation’s oldest backcourt with Moore and 5-foot-8 Dazia Lawrence, a redshirt senior who played four years at Charlotte in North Carolina.

“They have to be the oldest backcourt in the country. Both of them are 23 years old,” said Brooks, who told the media audience to double check on that. “That's going to benefit us very well, especially in a conference like this where there's so many talented players. They'll be able to be our calm within a storm.”

Both players, by the way, represented UK in SEC Media Days, participating in many interviews with the media.

According to the Wildcat coach, Lawrence is showing her valuable leadership and experience.

“She's becoming more and more comfortable in her role as a leader on a team that she didn't know,” said Brooks. “I’m very excited about her productivity. Dazia has done a tremendous job for us. I'm very proud of her.”

Lawrence is coming off her most successful season in 2023-24, averaging 18.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals while earning the league’s first team honors in American Athletic Conference.

Amoore said she has been very impressed with UK women’s basketball program.

“From my experience at Kentucky over the past five months, everything—the facilities and the atmosphere—feels different,” she said during SEC Media Days. “I don't know how to fully describe it. It's just different. And with women's basketball reaching such a pinnacle, why not take that leap and build on it?”

In this week’s Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll, Kentucky is ranked No. 22. In the 16-team SEC, the Wildcats were picked to finish at No. 8.

Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.”  Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro., he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com .