UK Women Defeat JMU in Brooks' Homecoming; Wildcats Will Face West Virginia Monday
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MORGANTOWN, W. Va. -- Kenny Brooks had a homecoming of sorts Saturday afternoon as the Kentucky coach took his No. 5 seed Wildcats to meet his alma mater, 12th-seeded James Madison University, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
And it was a nice, but tough homecoming for the 57-year-old Brooks, a member of JMU's Athletics Hall of Fame, as the Wildcats rolled over James Madison 71-56. Brooks grew up in Waynesboro in northern Virginia, which is a 40-minute drive to JMU.
Kentucky, which improved its overall mark to 24-10, advanced to Monday's second round, facing No. 4 seed West Virginia, which defeated No. 13 seed Miami (Ohio) 82-54 before a school record crowd of 13,504. In this week's AP Top 25 poll, WVU is ranked No. 11, while UK is No. 16.
James Madison finished the season with a 26-9 mark.
On his early days at JMU, Brooks said, "The lessons that I learned there as a player, as a student and as a coach have really helped me become who I am today. It will always be home. It's just where I grew up."
As for UK's 15-point victory after a fast start with a 29-point lead in the second quarter, Brooks -- who also coached at JMU for 14 years, posting an overall mark of 337-122, before taking a similar job at Virginia Tech in 2016 -- said the Wildcats "didn’t finish it like we really wanted to, but I thought we took our foot off the pedal. But nevertheless this is the NCAA Tournament. We are very proud. We had a very good win against a very good opponent."
Leading the Wildcats was senior guard Tonie Morgan, who had 18 points and seven assists, both game-highs. It was her 11th time that Morgan has lead the team in scoring this season.
Senior Ameila Hassett, who gunned in 4 of 13 three-pointers, added 14 points for Kentucky. UK junior Clara Strack posted her 15th double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
During the postgame press conference, Strack was asked if she and Denzel Aberdeen of UK men's team shared advice with each other like exchanging words of motivation.
Said Strack, "I guess, yeah."
Then Brooks smiled, saying "She's better than him."
With eight blocks against JMU, Kentucky also broke the single-season school record in blocks (now with 226).
Brooks had mixed emotions about the game, saying it was difficult to face the Dukes. He also praised JMU coach Sean O'Regan.
"it’s hard." said Brooks. "A lot of people don’t realize, I’ve coached at three places, but JMU is home. It’s where I cut my teeth. It’s where I got married. It’s where I met my wife. It’s where I had my children. It’s a lot. I spent 14 years there. I actually spent 20 years there, a few years on the men’s side.
"I’ve known Sean since he was 18 years old. He was a manager on the men’s side when I was an assistant coach on the men’s side. I was the one that called him to switch him over to the women’s side. Immediately he was a terrific assistant. He really worked hard, diligent. I remember he would call me every night, and he would start the sentence by, I got nothing, but — and then he would talk for like an hour.
"He has a great basketball mind. A lot of the things that he runs looked really familiar. He makes no bones about it. We share a lot of stuff. It was difficult. It was difficult when you play against your alma mater, a place that means so much to you, and the people. I played against him once before and that was terrible because I recruited more of the people on that team than I had on my new team. This year was totally different. This was my team, that was his team, a lot of separation.
"But very, very proud of what he’s done, how he’s kept the program on a national scene as mid-majors. They go out and they compete, and I’m looking forward to what he’s going to do in the future. Very proud of that program.
"It was a hard game. I didn’t sleep right. I woke up at 2:30 this morning. It was really hard to get back to sleep just because of the anxiousness. But I’m very proud of my kids for really coming through for me."
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of seven books about UK basketball, including newly published “Unforgettable Journey with the Cats: Inside Kentucky Hoops Madness.” 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 X (formerly Twitter) @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle44@gmail.com.
