Assistant coach talks UK women’s basketball at Rotary
Published 11:30 am Friday, September 5, 2025
After consecutive losing seasons, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team made a roar in the college basketball world last year when they made it to the Round of 32 in the NCAA tournament after the hiring of Kenny Brooks.
On Friday, August 29, assistant coach Radvile “Rad” Autukaite spoke at the Rotary Club of Winchester, with the season opener just two months away.
“I do think we have a [great] basketball product,” said Autukaite, after being introduced by current City Commissioner Shannon Cox. “We have [a] really fun style.”
Autukaite, a native of Lithuania, came to Kentucky with Brooks after spending two seasons on his staff from 2022 through 2024 at Virginia Tech University.
Along with a second round NCAA tournament playoff exit in 2024, the Lady Hokies had advanced all the way to the Final Four in 2023.
Although they were taking over a UK program that had seen two consecutive losing seasons, the decision to travel to the Commonwealth didn’t take much convincing.
“There are a few places in America that you will want to go for basketball, and Kentucky’s one of them,” she said. “Some of these opportunities only happen once in your lifetime.”
Looking to turn the program’s fortunes around, Autukaite – as with other staff members – hit the recruiting trail hard.
“We had to get a lot of new players. Staff was coming, but we still had to make some hires within,” she said. “A lot of people came up to us and were like, ‘Where are you living?’…I lived in the area, [but] I had no idea where I was renting a house for the first year because we were just making sure that we had a team.”
Despite obstacles both on and off the court, the same efforts that had proved successful in Virginia helped elevate the Lady Wildcats to the next level.
Going 23-8, the 2024-25 UK women’s basketball team advanced to the tournament and defeated Liberty before a narrow 1-point overtime loss to Kansas State.
She spoke briefly on the playing style of Coach Brooks, noting that he is a fan of three-point shooting.
In her time at the University of Kentucky, Autukaite has played a large role in international recruiting – often flying out of the country to do so.
While some factors – such as the NIL (name, image, likeness) system and transfer portal system – have impacted recruiting some, Autukaite nevertheless feels like the University of Kentucky name and recent success can help carry the program further.
“We can really expand so far and recruit the players…because it is a recognized brand,” she said. “People know what Kentucky [basketball] is, and I think that’s very unique.”
She also expressed high hopes that others would come out to cheer on the Lady Wildcats in Lexington, with their season beginning on Monday, November 3, against Morehead State University at Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Game time is TBA.
“You want to play in front of people…sometimes fans can make a good team great” she added. “You guys [are] a huge part of what we do…when recruits come to visit us, and we bring them to the game, and…everything is shiny and it’s sold out, they want to come [to Kentucky]. They want to play.”