Hannah Phillips | UK Athletics
Hannah Phillips | UK Athletics
Kentucky has come a long way since losing to South Carolina earlier in the season.
Team No. 17 women’s basketball Wildcats (15-5, 8-4 at the SEC) initially faced the Gamecocks (17-3, 12-1 at the SEC) on January 10 inside the Memorial Coliseum, losing 75-70 in one case strongly contested. It was the fourth and final confrontation for Kentucky in which they played four consecutive teams ranked in the top 12 in the AP. 2 during the conference playback.
The UK has an 8-4 SEC record, which is tied with Georgia for the league’s fourth best record. Despite what the winning and losing column may indicate, Kentucky has had to do a serious analysis of conscience in recent weeks. After Tennessee destroyed women by 17 points almost a month ago, ‘Cats has shrunk under continued pressure. A 6-point win over a Missouri team that was 6-6 at the time did not help to inject optimism and the season seemed to be on the verge of a total collapse after losing 12 to Ole Miss next time, which is 3- 8 at stake at the SEC this year.
But new head coach Kyra Elzy he just needed some time to play with his rotations. The insertion of Jazmine Massengill in the initial lineup, where she plays guard with Chasity Patterson sliding down to the two guards, triggered a rhythmic offense for the ‘Cats. Although it resulted in Blair Green taking a seat on the bench, the movement has proven to work so far. Massengill, a former Tennessee transfer, started his last two games for the UK – wins over Tennessee and Florida by 23 points combined – while displaying monstrous figures. She scored 11 points and three assists in the Lady Vols rematch and won nine points, seven rebounds and ten coins against the Gators.
After the postponement (probably a cancellation, when all is said and done) of the Kentucky game against LSU earlier in the week, the ‘Cats now have only three regular season games left on the schedule before the SEC tournament starts. The first game starts against South Carolina at the end of Sunday, with another important match against the Georgia Bulldogs – both on the road.
I have a little game on ESPN today.
3 pm Eastern time? pic.twitter.com/mplTPrt8vs
– Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) February 21, 2021
In previous seasons, Gamecocks looked supernatural; regularly pouring 40-, 50 victory points over the Power 5 programs. This year, however, still saw a dangerous USC team, but with obvious flaws. Carolina is only coming out of their third loss of the season, falling to the same UT team, 75-67, that Kentucky won last week. In fact, South Carolina has lost two of its last four matches after UConn beat them earlier this month. But make no mistake, Gamecocks are still one of the top women’s college basketball teams.
Judging by the basic statistics in the chart above, this will be another difficult battle for Kentucky. It is no secret that the Wildcats ‘Achilles’ heel is recovering and a lack of full height – as it has been for years. The United Kingdom was overtaken by 15 at the first meeting between these two and deeply explored in painting, 56-34. Plus-13 points in the second chance category for Carolina prepares them for success. The USC attempted only four 3-point shots, compared with 20 of the ‘Cats. If Kentucky had done more than just three of them, they could easily have escaped with the turnaround.
Kentucky did an excellent job of forcing South Carolina star player Aliyah Boston to have problems during the first game, even though she still ended up with 20 points and 12 rebounds. The UK will have to do a much better job this time to limit Gamecocks’ guard, Destanni Henderson, from finding open tracks to the edge, as she did several times in the first game.
As they showed in the first contest, Kentucky is more than capable of defeating this first-rate opponent. The UK led by nine in the interval before collapsing in the third quarter and having to fight to get back on the home stretch. Ultimately, opponents are apparently beginning to discover what makes Gamecocks work while ‘Cats are taking action.
Think of it this way: when these two met in January, South Carolina threw almost 47% of the ground and went to the free-throw range 21 times. The ‘Cats, on the other hand, hit just 38 percent of the ground and 15 percent of the distance with just 12 free-throw attempts. Rhyne Howard, who posted 32 points, missed all five of his 3 points. Kentucky lost by five points.
It will be a more difficult environment in Columbia, even with reduced fan capacity, but there is no player or team member on the Kentucky sideline who does not believe he can return to Lexington with another victory to change the curriculum.
The complaint is scheduled for 3pm EST on ESPN.