KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — University of Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Kellie Harper confirmed Wednesday that graduate transfer Keyen Green has signed an athletics scholarship and an SEC Grant-In-Aid agreement to join the Lady Vol program for the 2020-21 campaign.
Green, a 6-foot-1 forward/center, comes to Rocky Top from Liberty University, where she has spent the past four seasons, redshirting in 2018-19 due to an ankle injury. She graduated in May 2019 with a degree in finance and has been working on a master’s degree in business administration. She will have one season of eligibility remaining.
“Keyen brings maturity and game experience to our team,” Harper said. “She is productive in the paint and aggressively rebounds the ball. She provides us another person of high character, and we are excited to welcome her to our program.”
A native of Philadelphia, Pa., and graduate of Phil-Mont Christian Academy, Green averaged 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in 93 career games for the Lady Flames, starting 91 of those contests. She connected on a very impressive 60 percent of her field goal attempts during her time in Lynchburg and 48 percent of her rebounds came on the offensive end.
She finished her career at LU ranked No. 9 in program history for points (1,215), No. 10 for rebounds (673) and tied for eighth in both double-doubles (17) and 20-point games (13).
An All-ASUN Conference First Team selection in 2019-20 (Liberty’s first ever), Green bounced back in strong fashion from her injury redshirt season in 2018-19. She paced the Lady Flames in points (13.9 ppg.), rebounds (7.5 rpg.), blocked shots (0.7 bpg.) and field goal percentage (.590). Her field goal percentage ranked No. 1 in the ASUN and No. 11 nationally. Green’s 13.9 scoring average was the highest by a Lady Flame since the 2013-14 season.
As a sophomore, prior to Liberty’s move to the ASUN, Green was the 2017-18 Big South Player of the Year and an All-Big South First Team honoree. She led the Big South and was No. 11 in the NCAA in field goal percentage (.610), while ranking No. 8 in scoring (12.9 ppg.) and No. 3 in offensive rebounds (2.8 rpg.). She also pulled down 6.2 rpg. while scoring in double figures in 22 games and recording five double-doubles.
Interestingly enough, the final contest of Green’s sophomore season came in Thompson-Boling Arena, as Liberty faced off against the Lady Vols in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. While her team fell, 100-60 on March 16, 2018, the Lady Flames standout was perfect from the field (4-4) and two of three at the charity stripe for 10 points in 19 minutes of play. She also contributed two rebounds and a steal vs. Tennessee in the match-up.
Earning Big South Freshman of the Year, Big South All-Freshman and All-Big South Second Team recognition in 2016-17, Green was the league leader in field goal percentage (.598), offensive rebounds (3.6 rpg.) and double-doubles (9), while ranking second in rebounding (8.1), fourth in blocked shots (1.0 bpg.), sixth in defensive rebounds (4.5 rpg.) and 10th in scoring (12.3 ppg.). She was the first player in history to win eight Big South Freshman of the Week honors.
Green was a three-star prospect and the No. 47 forward in the prep class of 2016, according to espnW HoopGurlz. She tallied more than 1,400 points and 1,100 rebounds at Phil-Mont Christian, averaging 21.0 ppg. and 13.0 rpg. to earn all-state honors in Pennsylvania and Bicentennial Athletic League (BAL) Co-Player of the Year accolades as a senior.
The signing of Green marks the third incoming graduate transfer in Lady Vol history and the first committing to UT during the Kellie Harper era. The most recent was Lou Brown, a 6-3 forward from Washington State, who inked with the Big Orange in April 2018, sat out a year due to injury and played the 2019-20 campaign. The first was Schaquilla Nunn, a 6-3 forward who came to Tennessee from Winthrop and played on Rocky Top during the 2016-17 season.
Green joins fall signees Tess Darby (6-1, G/F, Greenfield, Tenn. ) and Destiny Salary (6-0, G, Jonesboro, Ark.). To read about Darby and Salary, please click here.
-UT Athletics
