Rhyne Howard Is More Than Prepared for Her Final Season

On3 imageby:Grant Grubbs07/25/21

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Rhyne Howard has nothing left to prove to anyone, only herself. As the reigning SEC Player of the Year, the 6-foot-2 combo guard is entering her senior season as an established legend. Nevertheless, she wants to help make this team’s season equally legendary.

After averaging 20.7 points and 7.3 rebounds a game during her junior campaign, there is little to critique about Howard’s game. Yet, the guard remains hungry for improvement. She spoke to KSR about this fire in her stomach and more importantly, how she keeps it burning.

“I really just think about all the people that look up to me,” Howard said. “I don’t want to let anybody down. I hate letting people down.

Howard went to extreme lengths this summer to avoid a let-down senior season. While most college athletes were occasionally getting up some shots and chilling out by the pool, Howard was competing for the 2021 Team USA FIBA AmeriCup Team.

But, Howard did more than just compete. She put on a show. Averaging 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, and three assists per game Howard helped lead team U.S.A. to gold. On top of her gold medal, Howard brought home a little hardware for herself by winning MVP of the entire tournament.

While this experience did a lot to improve Howard’s game, it did even more for her confidence.

“It’s a huge confidence boost because getting MVP at a tournament like that is very hard to do,” Howard said. “It shows me that I can be the best player everyone expects me to be.”

Even though Howard is already one of the top players in the nation, there’s always room for improvement. However, Howard’s improvement may come less from being on the court and more so from being in the weight room.

Howard’s style of play is physical. She constantly slashes into traffic and, consequently, is consistently colliding into defensive bodies. Even worse, Howard hardly gets a break to breathe from these rough circumstances. The star Wildcat averaged the most minutes on the team with 34.9 minutes per game last season.

There’s no doubt Howard will have to be in amazing physical condition to push herself even further this season. Nonetheless, Kentucky Women’s Basketball’s new addition in strength and conditioning coach Lee Taylor may be able to help with that. Howard seems to feel the same way.

“[Coach Taylor] has been a great help,” Howard praised. “He’s super intense and he wants to see everyone succeed. He’s not going to take anything less than your best, he’s going to push us to be the best that we can, and then, when we get there, push us to be even better than that.”

Howard is certainly pushing for self-improvement this offseason, but her eyes remain on the prize, which is team success. The standout star wants to elevate her team to new levels. When asked about her goals for the season she made her thoughts clear.

“Try to get player of the year as always and really just doing whatever I need to do for my team and for us to win,” Howard said.

Two simple goals, yet two heavy tasks. Nonetheless, if anyone is going to be able to bear the weight of such pressure, it’s Howard. After going through years of being in the spotlight, Howard is more than prepared to put her final touches on her masterpiece of a career.

“There’s always going to be a bit of pressure, but this year I’m going to leave it all on the floor. Nothing is going to transfer over into the next chapter of my life. So, it’s either now or never.”

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2024-03-28