Emma King scored a career-high 10 points in Tuesday's win over Auburn. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maybe others have had some doubts about whether Emma King should stay at Kentucky, but the junior from Lincoln County has never wavered in her commitment to the UK basketball program. She played sparingly her first two seasons but this year has averaged almost 14 minutes per game in the 13 games she has played and had the best game of her collegiate career Tuesday night in a 67-55 win over Auburn.
This was a huge game for coach Kyra Elzy’s team because it had lost four straight Southeastern Conference games and desperately needed a win. Kentucky jumped out to a 16-5 lead but had to come from behind in the fourth quarter and King played a major role in the win.
She had 10 points on 5-for-13 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 28 minutes of play. All those numbers were either career highs or tied career highs.
King had played well in the previous game, a loss to Ole Miss, when she went 2-for-2 from the field and had five points, one rebound, one assist and one steal in 16 minutes.
“I am so proud of Emma. She stepped up and made some big shots down the stretch when we had to have them,” coach Kyra Elzy said.
King hit two jumpers in the third quarter when UK was struggling to score to keep the Wildcats in position to play. However, it was her overall energy that was more like the way she used to play at Lincoln when she had over 2,500 points and 750 rebounds in her career.
“She made some hustle plays,” Elzy said.
That’s because King has always wanted to play at Kentucky and whatever it takes to win, she’ll do or try to do.
“She is the epitome of what I want a Kentucky Wildcat to be,” Elzy said after Tuesday’s win. “I told her, ‘Your work ethic is unbelievable. We need to see that transfer to games. We need you to produce.’
“She is playing loose and playing confident.”
Surprisingly, the one area she has struggled the most is the area expected to be her strength — 3-point shooting. She was a knockdown shooter from 3-point range in high school but is just 1-for-15 from long range this year. She was 0-for-4 against Auburn.
“She is taking great shots, shots that I want her to take,” Elzy said. “Open 3’s in transition, I want her to take (those shots). She has made those shots 1,000 times over and she will make these.”
King is 8-for-19 from the field in the last four games with seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals while averaging 17.5 minutes per game.
Kentucky has only had seven scholarship players in recent games. Center Dre Edwdards remains out due to “internal issues” and guard Robyn Benton has been injured the last two games. Guard Jada Walker was injured late in the Auburn win and Elzy did not speculate on her status for Thursday’s game at Vanderbilt.
However, there is no speculating about King’s status. She wants to be at Kentucky, has accepted her role, and has continued to work to expand her playing time/role.
To me, it’s rewarding to see a player work this hard to achieve her dream, not bail out on her dream and then start to see the hard work paying off.
