Kentucky starts slow, then overwhelms Florida to end two-game skid
Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this season, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team was in desperate need of a win on Sunday. Playing in front of a charged-up crowd of 10,031 in Rupp Arena, the Wildcats delivered.
Fueled by Rhyne Howard’s domination and Taylor Murray’s relentless attacks on the basket, No. 19 Kentucky shook off a slow start and overwhelmed Florida, 62-51, in its second and final game of the season in Rupp. With the win, the Wildcats (18-5, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) kept pace in the race for a top-four seed and a bye into the quarterfinals of next month’s SEC Tournament.
It was a case of role reversal for the Cats early on. In their last two games — losses to No. 25 Texas A&M and No. 16 South Carolina by a combined six points — they got off to fast starts before bogging down on offense. On Sunday, the Cats missed their first five shots and fell behind 9-0 before Jaida Roper scored and converted an and-1 to get them on the board.
The Cats finally got even with the Gators, 15-15, at the end of the first quarter when Howard muscled through contact and finished at the basket. UK took the lead, 20-18, on a nice move by Howard in the post early in the second quarter. The Cats never trailed after that.
Howard was invaluable in the first half as the rest of Kentucky’s offense stalled. The freshman star scored 12 of her team-high 16 points before the break and hit six of 12 shots from the floor while the rest of the Wildcats combined to go 6-for-27.
Though the Wildcats struggled to find their range on offense in the first half, they used defense to build a 30-23 lead at the break. UK forced 16 first-half turnovers and converted them into 21 points. The Cats forced 24 total turnovers.
Senior point guard Taylor Murray provided a huge lift for Kentucky in the second half, getting to the basket and drawing fouls seemingly at will. Murray went just 1-for-7 from the field on the day, but hit 11 of 13 free throws, all in the second half.
“We just needed it. I was so happy she was (driving to the basket),” said UK Coach Matthew Mitchell. “Those aggressive plays … are very valuable in the game and they really energized the team. Those were big, big plays.”
Normally immune from offensive woes, senior star Maci Morris struggled to find her shot for most of the day. But that didn’t stop her from being effective.
After misfiring on her first three shots, Morris embraced the role of distributor. She fed Howard in the post several times and tied her previous season high with five assists with more than four minutes left in the second quarter.
“Teams have so much respect for (Morris) and dedicate so many resources defensively to try to stop her scoring,” Mitchell said. “She was 0-for-3 but had five assists. So I’m like ‘Maci, that’s five buckets that we wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t made the pass and gotten it to your teammate.’
“Today she could not get it in the basket for a long period of time, but we just kept saying in each huddle ‘if she’s open, she has to shoot it.’ We have ultimate confidence in her, and she made some huge buckets in the fourth quarter.”
Morris ended up with a game-high seven assists, and she found her offense just in time to squash any threat of a Florida comeback.
The Gators (5-17, 1-8 SEC) cut Kentucky’s lead to five early in the fourth quarter. After two free throws by Murray pushed the lead to seven, Morris took the wind out of Florida’s sails. She hit a layup for her second field goal of the game, then stole the ball and drove for another layup. With 1:55 to play, she nailed a three-pointer to put the Cats up 12 and bring the Rupp crowd to its feet. Morris finished with 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting.
“No prouder play in the game for Maci than that steal. It was really big,” Mitchell said. “She’d had some difficult plays defensively today, and she came up big defensively at the right time. Very proud of that.”
Rupp Arena has been much friendlier to UK this season than last. Last year the Cats went 0-3 inside the historic venue but they have now won two straight. UK knocked off Virginia, 63-51, in Rupp back in November. Sunday’s win was especially important, as the Wildcats play three of their next four games on the road.
Next game
No. 19 Kentucky at Auburn
7 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published February 3, 2019 at 5:37 PM.