UK Athletics Photo
She’s not going to be the next Georgia Amoore because that would be an impossible ask of any player.
However, that doesn’t mean point guard Tonie Morgan will not be a pivotal and very important player for the Kentucky women’s basketball team next season.
The 5-9 Morgan was a three-time all-Atlantic Coast Conference player at Georgia Tech who has a unique ability to get to the basket. She averaged 13.7 points on a career-best 48 percent shooting overall, 5.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals and a career-low 2.3 turnovers per game as a junior last season.
Georgia Tech started last season 15-0 behind Morgan’s play at point guard and was ranked as high as No. 13. She is versatile enough to have led Tech in scoring six games, including the final four of the season, and assists in 23 games. She had a career-high 31 pointes on 12-for-20 shooting against Stanford in the final regular season game and had 12 games with 15 or more points.
The one glaring flaw in her play so far has been her 3-point shooting as she has hit only 23 percent from 3-point range in her career, a mark UK will obviously try to help her improve and Kentucky hopefully will be able to rely on Western Kentucky transfer Josie Gilvin, Liberty transfer Asia Boone and returning sophomore Lexie Blue for outside shooting.
Morgan had a triple-double against Clemson with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists — Tech’s first triple-double in 23 years. She also had four steals and just one turnover in that performance.
Morgan started 95 games in three seasons at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets went 22-11 last season — the team’s most victories in eight years. She had 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting, seven rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block in Tech’s NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Richmond.
Kentucky now has three transfers along with freshman Kaelyn Carroll, the No. 15 ranked recruit and a 6-3 McDonald’s All-American, on next year’s roster along with returning players Blue, Amelia Hassett, Teonni Key, Jordan Obi, Dominka Paurova, Clara Strack and Gabby Brooks.
Guards Obi and Paurová both were medically redshirted last season after suffering lower-leg injuries in the offseason after transferring to Kentucky.
One Response
Gilvin Blue and Morgan will be a 3 headed monster at the guard position next year. We will really be much more deep at the guard position which was something that hurt us last year. Amoore would be very tired and still have to play. The minutes will be more spread out this year. Boone and Gilvin are snipers. They will lead the team in 3 point percentage.