photo by Kentucky Athletics
University of Kentucky women’s basketball senior guard Rhyne Howard has been tabbed one of 20 players nationally to the 2022 Cheryl Miller Award Preseason Watch List, which annually seeks to honor the best small forward in women’s college basketball.
Howard, who was a top-five finalist for the Cheryl Miller Award in 2020 and 2021, will seek to bring home the top honor this season.
The preseason watch list joins a lengthy list of preseason praise for Howard, who recently was tabbed the Southeastern Conference Preseason Player of the Year by league coaches and league media. Earlier this week, Howard was named a first-team preseason All-America honoree by the Associated Press. She has also earned preseason All-America honors from Lindy’s Sports and The Athletic.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association tasked a national committee of top college basketball personnel to determine the watch list of 20 candidates. The award is in its fifth year.
College basketball fans are encouraged to participate in fan voting presented by Dell Technologies in each of the three rounds. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2022 Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Award will be narrowed to 10 and then in late February to just five. In March the five finalists will be presented to Ms. Miller and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee where a winner will be selected.
The winner of the 2022 Cheryl Miller Award will be presented on a to be determined date, along with the other four members of the Women’s Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard Award, the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard Award, the Katrina McClain Power Forward Award and the Lisa Leslie Center Award, in addition to the Men’s Starting Five.
Howard's junior season was one for the record books at Kentucky, earning first-team All-America honors from the Associated Press, Women's Basketball Coaches Association, United States Basketball Writers Association and Wooden Award. She was one of four finalists for the WBCA Wade Trophy, one of five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, one of four finalists for the 2021 Naismith Trophy and a finalist for the 2021 Cheryl Miller Award. For the second year in a row, Southeastern Conference coaches named Howard the SEC Player of the Year, while she earned All-SEC First Team honors for the third straight season.
Howard – who was the only player in the nation in 2020-21 to average over 20 points per game with at least 7.3 rebounds per game, 90 assists and 60 steals – had a great junior season for the Wildcats, averaging 20.7 points per game with 7.3 rebounds per game. She hit a team-best 56 3-pointers and had 91 assists, 61 steals and 19 blocks. Although her scoring average was two points less than it was in 2019-20, Howard showed she is an all-around player and not just a scorer, upping her rebounds per game, assists per game and steals per game average from both her freshman and sophomore seasons.
The native of Cleveland, Tennessee, played 24 games last season with nearly half of those coming against top-25 ranked opponents. In those games, Howard showed she is the best player in the country with impressive numbers. In 11 games against ranked opponents, Howard averaged 22.3 points per game, hitting 47.1 percent from the field and 39.7 percent from 3 with 6.7 rebounds per game and 3.0 assists per game. Howard had four 30+ scoring games during the season with three coming against top-25 ranked teams.
One of her best performances of the year was when she scored 33 points at No. 12 Mississippi State, hitting four 3s with 10 rebounds and six assists. She scored 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Bulldogs, scoring 25 of UK's last 31 points, including 10 of 14 in overtime. Other impressive performances on the biggest stage include 32 points with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals against No. 5 South Carolina and 24 points with four 3s, 10 rebounds and four assists against No. 10 Arkansas. She also posted 22 points against No. 13 Indiana and at No. 8 Texas A&M. Howard took over for Kentucky at No. 17 Georgia with 27 points, four rebounds, four steals, two assists and went 4-of-4 from 3 and then followed with a 33-point performance against the Bulldogs in the SEC Tournament.
Howard's career is already one of the best in program history. In 83 career games, Howard has hit at least one 3 in 73 games, posted 10 or more points in 74 career games, 15+ in 59 games, 20+ in 44 games, 25+ in 26 games and 30+ in seven games. The guard has led UK in scoring in 54 career games, in rebounding in 44 career games, in assists in 29 career games, in steals in 30 games and blocks in 31 career games. She has 17 career double-doubles.
For her career, Howard has scored 1,655 career points sitting seventh in UK history in points scored. She needs 37 more to tie Maci Morris for sixth. Howard is the second player in school history to reach 1,500 career points prior to their senior season with the other being All-American and UK all-time leading scorer Valerie Still. Howard ranks second in school history in career scoring average at 19.9, while she is third in career 3s made with 214 and third in career 3-point field-goal percentage at 38.1. She is also eighth in UK history in steals per game at 2.301.