Different Role Has Been Just Fine for Georgia Amoore

WNBA teams have made it clear to UK coach Kenny Brooks that they like point guard Georgia Amoore's adaptability. (Vicky Graff Photo)

She has been one of the nation’s best players this season — she was national player of the week for her play in UK’s first two Southeastern Conference games — but coach Kenny Brooks says point guard Georgia Amoore was “already a star” when she transferred from Virginia Tech to UK.

Amoore had earned All-American honors at Tech playing for Brooks and helped the Hokies reach a Final Four. She now has amassed over 2,100 points and 750 rebounds in her career going into today’s game at Georgia.

“Her role here has been different. She has done a really good job figuring on what we needed from her,” Brooks said. “We had Liz Kitley, an All-American center, last year and most defenses keyed on her post play. Now she is the focal point (of the offense) and she has also stepped up her leadership ability. She’s an extension of me on the floor.”

The 5-6 point guard could have taken her chances going to the WNBA after the 2023-24 season but the Australian native wanted to play another year for Brooks. She’s having an exceptional season and has led the nation in assists most of the season with over seven per game. She’s also been top 20 in free-throw percentage at over 90 percent and top 40 in 3-point field goals per game.

She is averaging 18.1 points, 7.5 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game.

“Nobody works harder than this kid. Nobody wants it more than she does. And she eats, sleeps, drinks it, thinks it,” Brooks said.

She’s had eight games with 20 or more points and 10 games with at least seven assists. Brooks said WNBA teams have been paying attention to  how well she has handled the transition to a new team.

“That’s what kids struggle with the most. They’ve been somewhere for three, four years, in some cases five, and then they go to a brand-new situation in that they’re learning to adapt to their new situation, their new surroundings and everything,” Brooks said. “Georgia has done that a year ahead of time coming to Kentucky, taking on a team that only won 12 games last year.

“We have a brand-new squad, new personalities. She’s helped mold that into a winning culture already. I think this will be very appealing to a lot of WNBA teams because they may not need her to come in and be a 20-point-a-game scorer, but what she’s going to be able to do is adapt very quickly to her surroundings and help elevate the teammates around her to get better.”

Whatever success she has, she knows Brooks has been the driving force in her career since she came to the U.S. from Australia. She said even if she might doubt or second guess something he tells her, she knows he “believes too much” in her to question him.

“He has put his belief in me and as long as one person is believing in me it gives me confidence in me keeping doing what I am doing,” she said.