‘She stepped up big.’ A spark from Blair Green leads to big Kentucky victory.
It would have been been fair to wonder whether Blair Green was suffering a confidence crisis as the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team returned home from Florida last Sunday. After all, the sophomore guard had just missed 11 of 12 shots in the Wildcats’ 65-45 victory over the Gators.
But any self-doubt was short-lived. On Thursday, Green matched her career high, scoring 13 points to help spark the 11th-ranked Cats to a 76-54 victory over No. 12 Texas A&M in Memorial Coliseum. With the win, Kentucky (15-2, 4-1 SEC) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Aggies (14-3, 2-2).
Green, a Harlan County native, hit five of eight shots from the field, including three of five from three-point range. Two of those deep balls came during a crucial second-quarter run while UK star Rhyne Howard was on the bench with foul trouble.
“I text-messaged (Green) after the Florida game ... and just wanted to make sure she was in a good spot and telling her how proud I was of how hard she’d been working on the defensive end,” said UK Coach Matthew Mitchell. “And Sunday night she was just so happy the team had won, she was like, ‘I’ve already put it behind me.’”
Really happy for her tonight. It was a big lift for us, especially when you think of Rhyne going to the bench with the foul trouble ... she stepped up big, made some shots and kind of steadied the ship.”
Green couldn’t explain her struggles against the Gators, but said she quickly got to work on recapturing her form.
“I don’t really know what happened in the Florida game, they all felt pretty good,” she said with a laugh after Thursday’s win. “My teammates just kept encouraging me and giving me confidence and I definitely got in the gym right after that game and put up a lot of shots, so I’ve really been working on it.”
Against the Aggies, it was Howard who got off to a rough start. She hit just one of her first six shots before heating up. Howard scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting and had 11 rebounds.
The Wildcats couldn’t buy a bucket early, starting the game 1-for-8 and missing their first seven three-point tries. But they rebounded to take control in the second quarter, outscoring the Aggies 21-8 in the period on their way to a 33-21 halftime lead.
Howard sparked UK’s run with a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper on back-to-back possessions before spending the final 8:41 of the first half on the bench. Kentucky outscored Texas A&M 16-8 during Howard’s absence, thanks in large part to Green’s sharpshooting.
Howard scored 16 in the second half as the Wildcats pulled away. While he was certainly impressed with her scoring ability, Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair pointed out how unselfish Howard is.
“When you’ve got a star player you’ve got to feed her the ball and let her create for others,” Blair said. “A couple times Howard did a great job of penetrating and dumping it over when we’d have to rotate to help, because we couldn’t guard her one-on-one. And there isn’t a sports writer in here that could’ve guarded her one-on-one, either.”
Sabrina Haines scored 15 points to go along with three assists and five rebounds. She nailed a three pointer with just over four minutes left to put the Cats up 18.
“(Haines) is making daggers in these games,” Mitchell said. “Where the game is in the balance and we’ve worked hard enough to get maybe a 10- or 12-point lead, which is still a bit precarious at times ...when you can knock one down to take it from 10 to 13 or 13 to 16 ... It’s huge plays in the fourth quarter.”
Marquee matchup denied
A highly anticipated matchup of Howard and another of the nation’s best players didn’t materialize. Texas A&M junior guard Chennedy Carter missed the game because of an ankle injury she suffered in the Aggies’ three-point loss to LSU last week. Earlier Thursday the SEC Network reported that Carter was a game-time decision.
Carter, who was voted Preseason SEC Player of the Year by both the media and the league’s coaches, had 12 points in 17 minutes against the Tigers. She’s scored double digits in 80 of 81 career games with the Aggies, including 55 straight.
Missing McKinney
KeKe McKinney missed her third straight game on Thursday. The junior forward from Knoxville, Tenn., has been experiencing frequent migraine-type headaches, according to UK. Green made her third straight start in place of McKinney, who was in street clothes helping her teammates with drills before the game and watched the win from the bench.
“She felt better today, her best day yet,” said Mitchell of McKinney’s status. “We’re real hopeful that she can return soon. Sunday (at LSU) would be awesome.”
McKinney is averaging 6.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. She last played in Kentucky’s win over then-No. 22 Tennessee, contributing eight points and four rebounds.
Wooden watch
Last week both Howard and Carter were named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List, which tracks the top candidates for national player of the year. Heading into the game, Howard ranked first in the SEC and third nationally with a scoring average of 23.8 points per game. Carter was second in the SEC and seventh nationally at 21.9.
The other SEC players who made the list: Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Rennia Davis (Tennessee), Chelsea Dungee (Arkansas), and Tyasha Harris (South Carolina). Louisville junior Dana Evans also made the cut.
Next game
No. 11 Kentucky at LSU
2 p.m. EST Sunday (SEC Network)
View the box score from Thursday night’s win.
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 7:56 AM.
