She led UK’s six freshmen in minutes this season. Now she’s entering the transfer portal.

Just two days after Kentucky’s season ended in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, roster movement is already underway for the Wildcats women’s basketball team.

Freshman guard Kennedy Cambridge announced Sunday night that she will enter the NCAA transfer portal. Cambridge played in 19 games and started one in her only season at Kentucky but sat out several games because of injuries and other reasons Coach Kyra Elzy never disclosed.

Cambridge last played in a game for UK on Feb. 16 in a 50-40 home loss to Georgia in which the 5-foot-8 guard went scoreless with a season-high eight rebounds and four turnovers before fouling out in 31 minutes of action in her only start. She then sat out Kentucky’s final three games of the regular season and all three of its contests in the SEC Tournament.

When asked after the Wildcats’ loss to Vanderbilt four days after her Georgia start why Cambridge did not play against the Commodores, Elzy said the freshman was not injured and that it was a “coach’s decision.”

In her announcement on Twitter on Sunday night, Cambridge shed no light on her reason for departing.

She thanked Elzy and the rest of the UK coaching staff in her statement, then said, “During my time at Kentucky, I’ve played beside the best teammates and cultivated friendships that will continue to be a part of my life. Not a day will go by without me cherishing the relationships I formed with my teammates and members of the staff.”

Cambridge also missed Kentucky’s first six games this season for unexplained reasons. After she contributed nine points and four rebounds in 15 minutes in her season debut in a win over North Carolina-Greensboro on Dec. 4, Elzy spoke highly of the Nashville, Tenn., native.

“Well, Kennedy makes us different,” Elzy said of Cambridge. “She knows how to win and she understands her role. She’s in there to make custom plays, defend, rebound and score garbage buckets, and she does her role and she does it well. But at the end of the day, she has the dog mentality that we need. She is aggressive and she understands the assignment when she steps on the floor.”

Cambridge played 14.4 minutes per game in 2022-23, averaging 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.1 steals. She shot 21-for-43 from the field (48.8 percent), 3-of-12 from three-point range (25 percent) and 7-of-20 at the free-throw line (35 percent).

Her highest-scoring game outside of her debut came Feb. 13 in a 72-54 loss at Ole Miss in which she also put up nine points.

A well-timed commitment

Cambridge was the fifth of six freshmen to commit to UK in the class of 2022. She announced on March 26, 2022, one day after three of last season’s starters — Dre’una Edwards, Treasure Hunt and Jazmine Massengill — revealed they were entering the transfer portal.

Cambridge’s commitment represented a quick shot of stability for Elzy’s program after a moment of apparent disarray.

Cambridge played the most minutes of any of UK’s freshmen with 273 this season. Amiya Jenkins, Kentucky’s Miss Basketball at Anderson County in 2022, played 221. Cassidy Rowe (53), Zennia Thomas (44) and Saniah Tyler (25) made only spot appearances. Tionna Herron, the highest-rated recruit in the Wildcats’ class of newcomers, missed the entire season after undergoing open heart surgery last fall.

Cambridge went to The Ensworth School, a private school in Nashville, and was a finalist for Miss Basketball in Tennessee in 2021-22.

Cambridge is part of a basketball family of impressive pedigree.

She has a brother, Devan, who played three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Arizona State and becoming a full-time starter this season. She has an older sister, Jordyn, who starred at Vanderbilt. Cambridge also has a younger sister, Jaloni, who plays for Ensworth and is rated a five-star recruit in the class of 2024 by ESPN.

When Cambridge announced her pledge to Kentucky on Instagram last spring, she picked the Wildcats over offers from Auburn and Ole Miss, among others.

“If I’m being honest, before I got to Kentucky I was a little iffy, but then I got there and then I fell in love with Kentucky. The coaches, they’re something else, they’re very competitive in literally everything,” Cambridge said in her video announcement. “I like that energy. I hate to lose. So the environment is great there.”

Cambridge also spoke about her new head coach.

“Coach Elzy, she’s special. I feel like she really cares about her players. Just the first time (of) me talking to her, she cares,” Cambridge said, noting that in 2019 Elzy gave Cambridge her first SEC scholarship offer.

Where the Wildcats go from here

UK began the 2022-23 season with 15 rostered players, including the six freshmen, plus four transfers and five holdovers from last season.

Herron never played, the other freshmen rarely contributed and UK lost junior forward Nyah Leveretter to a torn ACL late in the season. A campaign filled with injuries, adversity and a serious lack of frontcourt depth ended with the Wildcats in last place in the SEC with a record of 2-14 in the league.

Elzy’s squad, which won the SEC Tournament in 2022 for the first time in 40 years, pulled upsets over No. 11-seed Florida and No. 6 Alabama to open this year’s tourney at Greenville, S.C., last week before falling 80-71 to No. 3 seed Tennessee on Friday night.

Three players — Robyn Benton, Blair Green and Adebola Adeyeye — went through Senior Day ceremonies at UK last week. Both Benton and Adeyeye are out of eligibility. Green has not yet announced whether she will take advantage of an extra season of eligibility awarded either because of the COVID-19 pandemic or a medical redshirt (sidelined last year with a ruptured achilles) to return for another season in 2023-24.

Elzy has signed one high school prospect for next season in four-star wing Jordy Griggs from Montverde (Fla.) Academy.

Herald-Leader staff writers Caroline Makauskas and Cameron Drummond contributed to this report.

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