‘Big, big bounce-back’ win for Kentucky spurred by some unlikely stars
Before Kentucky faced Middle Tennessee State on Saturday, the Cats’ coach said he was excited for several role players to start getting up a high volume of shots during the holiday break to maybe halt some shooting slumps.
“Very good outside shooters, but their shot is maybe not falling and their confidence is lagging a little bit,” Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell said, talking specifically about players including Blair Green, KeKe McKinney and Tatyana Wyatt.
A couple of those players started getting those shots up early and it showed in a 72-55 victory over the Blue Raiders in Memorial Coliseum.
Green and McKinney were two of four players in double figures for the No. 18 Cats, who were coming off an emotional loss at Louisville last week.
“We really needed to win this game, a big, big bounce-back game that we needed to win,” Mitchell said.
The coach was pleased to see the big games from McKinney, who had career highs in points (13) and blocked shots (five) to go with three rebounds, and Green, who added 11 points, including making all three three-pointers she attempted.
“Big boost for them as individuals but huge boost for our team,” Mitchell said. “I thought every time their shots went in it was a big momentum builder for us and energized our team. … That was huge.”
The Cats (10-1) were paced by Maci Morris’ 14 points and four rebounds. Taylor Murray added 12 points, six assists, three rebounds and three steals.
Mitchell wasn’t sure how UK would respond after what he called “an extremely emotional” loss on Sunday at Louisville and then to turn around this week and take finals.
He got his answer quickly as the Cats rolled off a 9-2 advantage early and shot 70.4 percent from the field in the first half, including a blistering 77.8 percent in the second quarter.
“We knew we needed to come back and bounce back from that loss,” McKinney said. “The first five minutes were very important for us and I feel like we got it done.”
Green made her first three-pointer since Nov. 15 versus Virginia and her 12 points were the freshman’s highest output since the season opener.
The three makes from long range had Green feeling relieved.
“Getting back in the gym, keeping my confidence, letting the games before that go and just move forward,” she said. “Just having those three hits gave me back a little bit of confidence moving forward.”
Kentucky hit its final five shots of the first half, part of 13 unanswered points and a scoring drought of nearly four minutes for the Blue Raiders.
The UK lead ballooned to as many as 24 points early in the third quarter before Middle Tennessee (7-3) made a change, scoring seven straight and holding the Cats without a point for nearly three minutes.
Mitchell said: “You have to give (UK’s players) credit for when the momentum shifted and went to Middle Tennessee, they were able to find a way to wrestle it back and beat a good team.”
After the hot-shooting start, Kentucky made just five of its 16 attempts in the third quarter, letting the Raiders get closer than they had been. MTSU cut the Cats’ lead to 14 points three times in the third quarter, but it never got closer than that.
“He put his starters back in and they made a play right away,” Middle Tennessee Coach Rick Insell said of UK. “It’s what they’re supposed to do.”
The Raiders were led by Alex Johnson’s game-best 27 points and five rebounds. A’Queen Hayes added 13 points and six assists.
Insell saw a different fight from this Kentucky team than the one that Middle Tennessee beat 62-57 last season at its place. It was a part of an eight-game losing streak for the Cats at the time.
“Last year, we out-toughed them,” Insell said. “This year, they’ve gotten stronger, they’re more experienced and seem to have more of a swagger about them.”
Next game
Western Carolina at No. 18 Kentucky
7 p.m. Tuesday (SEC Network Plus)