The Kentucky basketball star for whom Rupp Arena has always been their ‘happy place’
When it was announced that Memorial Coliseum renovations would shift (most) Kentucky women’s basketball home games to Rupp Arena for 2023-24, the happiest person on Earth might have been UK guard Maddie Scherr.
From her time as a star at Ryle High School through her first season last year as a Kentucky Wildcat, Rupp Arena has long been Scherr’s “happy place.”
“I love the big lights, the big stage,” Scherr says.
In 2019, as a high school junior, Scherr starred at Rupp Arena as Ryle rolled to the Kentucky Girls Sweet Sixteen championship. The 5-foot-11 guard had a double-double (26 points, 11 rebounds) in a state tournament quarterfinals win over George Rogers Clark.
During the victory over Southwestern that made Ryle the state champion, Scherr went for nine points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Last year, Scherr’s first playing for UK after transferring home from Oregon, Kentucky played two regular-season games in Rupp Arena. As it turned out, the Wildcats faced eventual NCAA Tournament Elite Eight participant Louisville and the ultimate national champion, LSU.
All Scherr did was drop 18 points on Jeff Walz’s Cardinals, 22 on Kim Mulkey’s Tigers and hit a combined 14 of 29 field-goal tries, 6 of 10 3-pointers.
“I have good memories of Rupp,” a smiling Scherr said at UK women’s basketball media day. “I’m ready to create some more.”
If Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy’s fourth team is to have success, it will be in defiance of gloomy preseason projections. The optimists in the media have picked UK to finish 13th (of 14) in the Southeastern Conference; the negative nellies among the league’s coaches have tabbed the Wildcats to come in 14th for a second straight season.
For the 2023-24 Cats to surprise, they will need “Rupp Arena Maddie” at all game venues.
Scherr is the only returning double-figure scorer (11.6) for Kentucky off the Wildcats team that finished 12-19, 2-14 SEC, a season ago.
The former Ryle star and senior center Ajae Petty — whose game Elzy says has taken a massive step upward after a transformational offseason — are being counted on to be UK’s offensive cornerstones in 2023-24.
“Maddie will have to be a ‘bucket’ this year,” Elzy says. “She is going to have to be a bucket-getter.”
It is a bit of a basketball irony that UK is counting on Scherr for points production. Even as Scherr built some of the most impressive credentials in Kentucky girls high school basketball history — two-time state Gatorade Player of the Year; 2019 State Tournament MVP; 2020 Miss Basketball; 2020 Donna Murphy Award winner; 2020 McDonald’s All-American — she was known more for her all-around game than her scoring.
When she departed Ryle, Scherr was the high school’s all-time leader in points (2,291), rebounds (1,094), assists (679), steals (535) and blocks (233).
“For me, I’ve always been more a pass-first kind of player,” Scherr says. “I’ve been told my whole life to shoot the ball more.”
During her sophomore season at Oregon, Scherr led the Ducks in assists (102) and steals (46), but was not used as a scorer. In her final season in Eugene, Scherr shot 34.4 percent on field-goal tries and 32.8 percent on three-point attempts. The previous season, as a freshman, Scherr shot 28.8 percent overall and 31.6 percent on treys.
Last season at UK, it took Scherr roughly half the season to find her offensive game. Over Kentucky’s first 14 games, Scherr shot 31.9 percent from the field and 22.9 percent on three-pointers. However, in the final 15 games in which Scherr appeared, she hit 42.8 percent on field goals overall, 41.9 percent on threes.
“It took a little bit (of time) last year to kind of get in this new role,” Scherr says. “But I kept the same mental approach. Just try to tell myself ‘Don’t stop shooting. Keep being aggressive. Keep taking the shots you know you can make. (If you do that), eventually it will all come together.’ And it did.”
While adding offensive punch to her game, Scherr also led Kentucky in assists (125), blocked shots (32) and rebounds per game (5.1) and was second on the team in steals (62).
Given those numbers, it is hardly farfetched to think Scherr could join Leslie Nichols, Makayla Epps and Rhyne Howard in the UK women’s basketball “triple-double club” at some point this season.
“That is definitely a goal,” Scherr said. “Getting a triple-double is definitely on my list.”
What Kentucky mostly needs Maddie Scherr to do in the coming basketball season is to play every game like she performed last season in the two contests that were held in Rupp Arena.
“I’m ready to take it on,” Scherr says.
Important upcoming UK dates
Nov. 1: Exhibition game vs. Kentucky State in Rupp Arena, 11 a.m.
Nov. 7: Regular season and home opener vs. East Tennessee State at Transylvania University, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
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