Grace Mbugua with UK coach Kenny Brooks and his staff. (UK Athletics Photo)
She might have a knee injury that leaves her status for the 2024-25 basketball season uncertain but there’s no doubt that Danville Christian Academy 6-5 senior Grace Mbugua remains one of the nation’s top recruits.
Mbugua recently visited Kentucky, LSU and Baylor after earlier trips to West Virginia and North Carolina State. Her final official visit will be to Louisville before she hopes to make her college choice in the next month.
“The LSU coaches told her she was ranked ninth in the country (in the 2025 recruiting class) and I think even with her injury she has a real chance to become a McDonald’s All-American,” DCA coach Billy Inmon said. “The Baylor coaches told us they felt like she could be the next big thing in women’s basketball.
“You just don’t see girls that tall who can handle the ball who are that quick. There are a lot of tall girls in college basketball who can shoot it but I don’t see any that size who can switch a high ball screen with anybody or run the floor like Grace. She is an asset on both ends of the floor because on defense she can go to one side of the lane to stop a teammate’s man and still get back to her man after the ball has been dished off. Very few players can do that.”
Mbugua ranked among the top 10 in the state in scoring (25.7 points per game, fifth), rebounding (15.4 per game, second) and field-goal shooting (61.8 percent, seventh) during her junior season when she also averaged 6.6 blocks per game. She has led the state in rebounding three straight years and has 1,527 career boards along with 2,007 career points.
She injured her knee at a basketball camp in Tennessee in early June but her recovery is more than four weeks ahead of pace and she is “working her butt off daily,” according to Inmon.
“All these schools offered her scholarships before her injury and they all still really want her,” Inmon said. “She thinks a lot about all of these schools. LSU wants her very much. They have really done their homework. They sent me a 7-8 minute video on just how well they felt coach Kim Mulkey could use her and how past bigs have fit in with her.
“I think they want her pretty bad. They spent a lot of time with us on the visit. (Associate) Coach (Bob) Starkey has reached out for a while. He coached a lot of great men and women at LSU, including Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal).”
Inmon said before the official visits that in-home visits gave the coaching staffs a chance to know Mbugua better.
“She never played one second of travel ball and the coaches just did not know her personally like they do other recruits,” the DCA coach said. “After they got to know her and saw how she interacted and communicated and what kind of kid she is they liked her even more.”
New Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks and his staff certainly have liked Mbugua and Inmon said she also got along well with the Kentucky players during her visit.
“Obviously I think Kentucky is going to give coach Brooks everything he needs to be successful,” Inmon said. “I think they have made a really good connection with Grace. I also think coach Brooks is trying to recruit high character kids and she fits that mold.
“She had not got to spend a lot of time with the UK players before her visit. I think she really likes coach Brooks and the staff but it was nice for her to be around the players and she was really well liked by the players.”
