Tillman, Carr Bringing Excitement to Practice as Cats Shore up the Middle

When assistant coach Amaya Tillman was announced as one of the newest acquisitions to head coach Craig Skinner's staff earlier this year, we knew that her experience as a middle blocker playing at the University of Louisville in the Final Four would be an invaluable asset to the team heading into the 2025 season. And as the calendar turns to April, that fact is already proving true, especially in regards to one of the newest Wildcats on campus, Lizzie Carr. 

The younger sister of current men's basketball player Andrew Carr, Lizzie joins the Cats from Purdue, who transferred into Kentucky with fellow teammate Eva Hudson. As a Boilermaker, Carr averaged just 1.52 kills per set on a .301 hitting clip to go along with .63 blocks per frame. While there was initially some thought that she may spend some time on the right pin for Kentucky, it sounds like the redshirt junior is actually settling into a significant role in the middle. And especially with Tillman on board, there's excitement growing in the practice gym as the staff experiments with and takes full advantage of Carr's 6'6" frame.

"We haven't had a tall athlete like Lizzie (Carr) in a while," UK assistant coach Merideth Jewell said. "So we're being really creative in some adaptations that we have for her and feel like they can be really successful... She's so long that she doesn't have to really load her hips to jump to get over the net. She can truthfully just stand there and put her hands over, which is crazy. So we're working with some fun adaptations with her that I think will really help her be successful."

As dynamic as Kentucky's offense has been over the last several seasons, there have been times where it's felt like they simply didn't get enough block touches out of the middle to sustain and transition into that offense against more quality competition, especially as they advanced deeper into the NCAA Tournament. With Tillman in the gym, that's something that Lizzie and all of the rest of the middle blockers are spending a lot of time on this spring. 

"The focus is a lot on our hand shape," Jewell said. "So we're talking a lot about shape the ball, shape the floor and really just creating more positive touches. And that's something that I think Amaya was so good at as a player. So letting her kind of lead the charge on that and getting more conversions and more good block stuff."

Carr's addition brings size and athleticism to a young core of middle blockers that saw a lot of success last season. Combine that with the knowledge that Tillman has brought to the practice floor and it sounds like the Cats are having a lot of fun on the defensive side of the floor right now. And if you know anything about Skinner's defensive mindset, you know that's music to his ears. 

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