Offense hits new gear as No. 14 Kentucky dominates Grambling to remain perfect
It’s shaping up to be a happy Thanksgiving, indeed, for the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team.
Behind yet another dominant performance from Rhyne Howard, the 14th-ranked Wildcats routed Grambling State 81-35 in Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday night to improve to 6-0 on the season ahead of a short holiday break.
Grambling State (1-5) simply had no answer for Howard. The sophomore star seemed to score at will in the paint and from the perimeter, dropping 10 first-quarter points as the Wildcats built a 20-12 lead.
UK hit a dry spell in the second quarter, going more than three minutes without scoring. Then Howard gave the offense the wake-up call it needed, driving to the basket and drawing a foul. She hit both free throws to expand the lead to 23-15. That was the start of a 21-2 run to close the first half that sent Kentucky to the locker room with a 42-17 advantage. Howard nearly matched the Tigers’ offense on her own, scoring 16 first-half points. Midway through the third quarter, she curled off a screen and caught a pretty pass from Sabrina Haines then nailed a jumper from the elbow to put UK up 51-19.
View the box score from Tuesday night’s win.
Howard finished with 27 points, hitting eight of 20 shots from the field and seven of eight free throws.
It was an all-around feel-good performance by Kentucky’s offense. The Wildcats struggled to score around the basket in previous games, often missing layups and short jumpers — a phenomenon that Coach Matthew Mitchell lamented on more than one occasion prior to Tuesday. There was no such struggle against the Tigers, as the Wildcats routinely finished strong at the rim or got to the free throw line on their way to 22 points in the paint.
“We’ve been working really hard at it,” Mitchell said when asked what prompted the turnaround. “Felt like we were underachieving with our fundamentals and our focus around the basket and it was leading to some poor shooting performances I feel like we’re capable of being a good-shooting team ... I think the players and coaches were working really hard to construct practice in a way that we can get better in that area and I was glad for it to show up tonight.”
The Wildcats turned in by far their best shooting performance of the year, hitting 28 of 57 shots from the field for a 49-percent clip. Their previous high was a a 39-percent mark in last week’s win over Morehead State.
While the offense hit a new gear against Grambling, Kentucky’s defense was again stellar. Often deploying a full-court press, the Wildcats harassed the Tigers into 25 turnovers. Jaida Roper swiped three steals to go along with 10 points and seven assists off the bench. KeKe McKinney had four blocks and three steals in addition to nine points and six rebounds. UK held Grambling to just 11 points combined in the second and third quarters and 29-percent shooting from the field overall. The Tigers missed all eight of their three-point shots.
Sophomore Blair Green played one of her best games as a Wildcat against Grambling. She hit five of six shots from the field, including two of three from three-point range, to finish with 12 points along with three assists and three rebounds. Mitchell said Green has worked hard to improve her game and it’s beginning to pay dividends.
“She, out of all our players, has spent the most time in the gym,” Mitchell said. “Outside of practice she’s worked really hard on her shooting. So I feel like she’s going to prove to be a very good shooter ... It’s great to see the shots go down because we need her to, through a combination of shooting, passing, screening ... she needs to be producing 15 to 20 points a night. And it may not all be scoring. Some nights it may be, but in those three areas she’s got to produce some points for us and she did that tonight.”
Kentucky returns to action Dec. 1 when it hosts Austin Peay at 4 p.m. in the third of a seven-game home stand. That stretch will culminate in a matchup with No. 8 Louisville in Rupp Arena on Dec. 15 at 1 p.m. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Next game
Austin Peay at No. 14 Kentucky
4 p.m. Sunday (SEC)
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 9:02 PM.
