Earlier this week, Kentucky WBB announced a home-and-home series against the Purdue Boilermakers over the next two seasons. The series will take place in Lexington and Lafayette, giving both teams the home advantage in their respective games. The announcement came from an official release by Kentucky WBB and included a graphic featuring Kentucky native, junior guard Cassidy Rowe.
The ‘Cats and the Boilermakers have only met twice before. As it stands, Purdue leads the all-time series 2-0. The first time the pair met was in 1999 at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Called the Boilermaker Blockbuster, Purdue narrowly escaped the ‘Cats, 48-40. The next year, Kentucky dropped its second consecutive game to Purdue, 87-67 — this time at Memorial Coliseum.
Now, the ‘Cats will get their chance for revenge at Mackey Arena on Dec. 14, 2024. Kentucky’s true second chance at Memorial Coliseum won’t come until the 2025-26 season.
As luck would have it, new Kentucky associate head coach Lindsey Hicks was a part of Purdue’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2000. During her time as a Boilermaker, the forward helped lead her team to four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2001, Hicks and the Boilermakers played in the national championship game where they ultimately fell to Notre Dame 68-66. In Hicks’ four seasons at Purdue, her team won three Big Ten Championships.
The hiring of Lindsey Hicks came soon after the hiring of head coach Kenny Brooks. Both coaches worked together at Virginia Tech for the past four seasons. During that time, the pair reached the NCAA Tournament each year.
“I’m very thankful to be joining Coach Brooks and to be a part of Big Blue Nation,” Hicks said. “The rich winning tradition of UK Athletics is something that I’m grateful to be a part of.
“I’m extremely excited for this new chapter and look forward to building this program into a championship brand.”
