Green Street | Getting to know Maryland Eastern Shore & Kentucky

Sep. 16—With the 2024-25 season tipping off in about two months, the Illini’s nonconference schedule has now been fully released with an 11-game slate on tap for Shauna Green’s third Illinois team. We’ll preview each of those opponents. Today, we’ll take a look at Maryland Eastern Shore and Kentucky.

➜ … . The 5-foot-7 guard from Philadelphia is back for a fifth season in Princess Anne, Md., and will be even more of a focal point with the departure of the Hawks’ top-two scorers in forward/center (Buffalo) and point guard (out of eligibility) in the offseason. First-year coach will have to count on Haynes, who averaged 8.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists as a senior last winter.

➜ middle of the pack in the MEAC with Maryland Eastern Shore finishing 15-15 overall and 8-6 in conference play. That was still a five-win improvement after the Hawks went 10-20 in 2022-23.

➜ Maryland Eastern Shore hasn’t had a winning season since 2018-19. So that might be a good place to start for Willis, who takes over for . Willis does have a reputation as a strong recruiter with the former Iowa standout touting 23 years of experience as an assistant coach and has had five of her recruits eventually drafted into the WNBA.

➜ this will be the first time Illinois plays away from State Farm Center with this multi-team event on the Trevecca Nazarene University campus part of the Music City Classic with the Illini and Maryland Eastern Shore among the six teams in Nashville (Arizona State, Dayton, Kentucky and South Dakota are the others).

➜ … . Year one of the era in Lexington has at least some familiarity to it after the former Virginia Tech coach brought his point guard with him from Blacksburg, Va. The 5-6 Australian was a Third Team Associated Press All-American last winter, thanks to 18.8 points and 6.8 assists per game on a 25-win Hokies team.

➜ not well. Hence, the coaching change. Two years removed from leading Kentucky to its first SEC tournament championship in 40 years, was fired shortly after the Wildcats’ season ended. Elzy’s fourth Kentucky team finished 12-20 overall, with a 4-12 mark in SEC play.

➜ turning around a putrid offense. Kentucky last season ranked second to last in the SEC in scoring (64.4 points per game) while also sitting last in the league in rebounding (34.2 boards per game) and also committed an SEC-most 16.5 turnovers a game.

➜ can Brooks replicate what he did at Virginia Tech? Kentucky made a serious investment in women’s basketball in putting together a five-year deal that will see the 55-year-old Brooks earn $7.7 million through 2029.