With Dominika Paurová out for Kentucky, who needs to step up?

Last week, we learned that Kentucky guard Dominika Paurová will miss a second consecutive season after re-tearing her ACL. While she may not have started this year, she would have certainly been a very nice piece to have off the bench. After all, she was the sixth man on Elite Eight Oregon State team as a freshman.

That year, Paurová averaged 5.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 37.2% from three-point range.

With her production not being available yet again, someone — or multiple players — have to step up in order to make sure that her injury doesn’t do more harm to the team than it already will. Basically, who is going to step up and make up for her production?

You could throw in five-star freshman Kaelyn Carroll and senior Amelia Hassett in the following group as well, but we’re going to focus on the backcourt here — where the majority (if not all) of Paurová’s time would have been spent.

Asia Boone

The 5-foot-8 junior spent most of her time at Liberty playing at the two, but this offseason, Kenny Brooks has been experimenting with her at point guard considering the lack of depth at the position. While she’ll play some point this year, she may have to be more of a combo guard with Paurová going down.

As a sophomore, Boone averaged 10.2 points per game, hitting 36.9% of her shots from beyond the arc. During the CUSA Tournament, Boone recorded 11.3 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 6-14 (42.9%) from deep.

We saw her play at the two during the Blue-White Game with Tonie Morgan running the one, and we’ll probably see that quite a bit this season.

Josie Gilvin

Being a senior, Gilvin’s experience is already a massive plus. When you couple that with her 41.3 three-point percentage from a year ago at WKU, and she could do some serious damage off the bench at Kentucky.

Gilvin, who as an all-conference defender during the 2024-25 season, put up 13.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game as a junior. Against Boone and the Liberty Flames — Gilvin’s last regular season game in Bowling Green — she posted 31 points, seven steals and six rebounds on 5-9 shooting from deep.

Her veteran presence, ability to knock it down from deep and defensive prowess should not only keep her well within the rotation at Kentucky, but she should play a big role on this team.

Lexi Blue

Lexi Blue’s freshman season at Kentucky consisted of a lot of learning and growth, and ultimately, you could tell when she got on the court. Not that she was “bad” by any means, she just didn’t produce a whole lot offensively. As a freshman, Blue averaged just 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per game in 23 appearances.

However, heading into her second season in Lexington, the former top 40 recruit is much more confident in her all-around game.

It’s hard to expect her to suddenly emerge into an All-SEC star in year two, but there’s no reason why she can’t provide some production in the backcourt to give this group an extra lift.