Rhyne Howard led UK in scoring and was second in the nation last year but her defense also helps make her a special player. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maybe Kentucky should just have declared Tuesday as Rhyne Howard today. The junior guard was named the Southeastern Conference Preseason Player of the Year in voting by league coaches. That was really not a surprise since Howard was the 2020 SEC Player of the Year and was also named to the all-SEC defensive team.
Howard averaged 23.4 points per game, second best in the nation, last year when she score 633 points — fifth best in the nation — along with 6.5 rebounds. She also made 62 steals, blocked 29 shots, dished out 68 assists and hit a school-record 84 3-pointers.
On Tuesday she was also named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Wade Trophy Watch List and was one of 50 players on the preseason Naismith Trophy Watch List — an award she was a finalist for last season.
Don’t forget she also became the first UK female player named a preseason Associated Press All-American last week and was a unanimous pick. She has also been named a preseason All-American by Lindy’s Sports and is one of 20 players on the Cheryl Miller Award Preseason Watch List.
Howard is so good that Kentucky was picked second in the SEC behind South Carolina with Texas A&M, Arkansas and Mississippi State completing the top five. Tennessee was picked sixth followed by LSU, Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. South Carolina, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Mississippi State all had a player on both the SEC preseason first and second teams. Not Kentucky. It was just Howard.
No other team has an explosive scorer like Howard who had 25 or more points in five straight games last year and 20 or more points in eight straight games two different times. She is the only UK player ever to score 37 or more points in two straight games.
Kentucky senior forward KeKe McKinney says Howard is always improving because she’s never complacent.
“I think you’re going to see big things out of Rhyne Howard this year. Honestly, she is an all-around great player. We’re going to need her on both sides of the floor. She definitely helps on defense. Rhyne is known for scoring, but I think her defense is what will help us and take us to the Final Four,” McKinney said.
Howard wants to stay focused first on UK winning its first SEC championship since 2012. She says doing that and winning a national title in the same year would be “phenomenal” for her and Kentucky.
“It would prove how much we worked for it and took the time to put the work in and never give up and just do what everyone says we couldn’t do,” Howard said.
She’ll have to do with a new coach after the unexpected retirement of Matthew Mitchell last week due to health reasons and promotion of assistant coach Kyra Elzy to interim head coach.
Elzy joked numerous coaches had suggested to her if she was not sure what to do during a game just give the ball to Howard. She admits she’s a “defensive-minded coach” much like Mitchell.
“I want to be tough defensively and disrupt. Obviously, we are going to continue to play up tempo and recruit players that our versatile, which our team is extremely versatile now, so there are endless possibilities of what you can do offensively,” Elzy said.
She noted that assistant coach Lin Dunn has somewhat turned her to the “dark side,” recently because she always screams offense when Mitchell and his staff were harping on defense.
“I am extremely grateful for now that I am going to sit in this seat, being extremely offensive minded, intentional, knowing what you want to run for your personnel,” Elzy said.
