![]() She still ranks fourth in career scoring, fourth in career rebounds and had the second-best steals season in the books with 104. She contributed on both ends of the court, and posted one of only two triple-doubles for the Cats when she scored 18 points, pulled 13 rebounds and had 11 steals in a win over Louisville in 1986. She was a three-time All-SEC honoree and played in two NCAA tournaments. Leslie Nichols was one of Kentucky’s earliest stars. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy first player in UK history (men or women) to accumulate over 2,000 points, 600 rebounds, 300 assists and 300 steals in a career helped UK claim an SEC regular-season title for the first time in 30 years in 2012. Led UK in scoring two seasons, and led the Cats in assists two seasons twice scored 30 or more points in an NCAA Tournament game two-time All SEC Defensive Team three-time All-SEC Tournament Team UK’s first SEC Freshman of the Year SEC Player of the Year in 2012 and Co-Player of the Year in 2013 two-time finalist for the John R. second in career points (2,014) first in games played (140), first in games started (139) second in career scoring (2,014) fourth in career scoring average (14.4) third in career field goals made (712) fourth in career 3-point field goals (177) fifth in career 3-point percentage (36.8) 3rd in free throws made (413) first in career steals (320) seventh and ninth in most single season steals (93 and 87) had nine steals in one game and eight in another. She made everything look so effortless.”īy The Numbers: Member of the UK Athletics Hall of Fame. “I remember going to their games and watching her play and she never disappointed. “I remember watching A’dia play when I was just starting high school and I was beginning to get recruited by UK,” added Maci Morris, a Kentucky guard from 2016-19. “A’dia had probably the best combination of strength and grace of any UK women’s player I ever covered,” said Dick Gabriel, long-time member of the UK Sports Network. AP All-American second team (2013) and third team (2012), and was a three-time All SEC Tournament pick. She was chosen as the WNBA’s 10th overall pick in 2013. Mathies ranks in the top 10 on 13 career lists at Kentucky and is one of only five UK players – men and women – to score 2,000 career points. She came in as a freshman and took the SEC by storm.” Sometimes when you’re so talented offensively you let the other side of the floor go, but she truly could dominate on both ends. “Her passing was unbelievable, and her basketball IQ was one of the highest I’ve ever been around. “A’dia was special just because she was so gifted on both ends of the floor and she could score in a variety of ways,” UK assistant Kyra Elzy said. A'DIA MATHIESĪ’dia Mathies was a star on both ends of the court for Kentucky, but perhaps the most telling fact about her career is that she was part of Kentucky’s all-time winningest class (111-30 in four seasons) and she played in four NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteens and three Elite Eights. Different eras, different styles of play, and different rules have to be considered when trying to come of with the best Commonwealth-born athletes in those record books.īut with the help of some long-time fans and staff members at UK, The Cats’ Pause has come up with a list of the best Kentucky-born players who went on to star at the state university. Narrowing the list to the Top 10 is daunting. Hedges, Wise, Browning, Nichols – long-time watchers of the program smile when they hear those names, and many of them can recount in great detail a performance etched in their memories. ![]() Take a look at Kentucky’s record books and you’ll see their names in nearly every category of the all-time greats. Kentucky-born players have dominated the Cats’ women's basketball rosters – 80 of them since basketball became a sanctioned varsity sport in 1975. A'dia Mathies, Leslie Nichols and Maci Morris are among the top in-state players ever at Kentucky.
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