Blair Green ‘made play after play’ in career night for short-handed UK
In a true battle of attrition, the 12th-ranked University of Kentucky women’s basketball team prevailed on Sunday.
Blair Green scored a career-high 22 points, including a huge three-pointer late, as the short-handed Wildcats held off Vanderbilt 80-73 in Memorial Coliseum to halt a two-game losing streak.
“So happy for Blair Green, she really stepped up to the challenge,” UK Coach Kyra Elzy said during a postgame teleconference. “Blair was huge for us. She made play after play.”
Kentucky (10-3 overall, 3-2 SEC) returned to action for the first time since last Sunday’s hard-fought loss to No. 5 South Carolina. The team’s scheduled game against Auburn on Thursday was postponed because of COVID-19 protocols.
About 30 minutes before tipoff against the Commodores, UK announced that Rhyne Howard was sidelined with an ankle injury and is considered day-to-day, and that reserves Robyn Benton, Jazmine Massengill, Erin Toller and Kameron Roach were out because of COVID-19 protocols. Howard cheered on her teammates from the bench area while wearing a black boot on her left foot.
Green, a junior who starred in high school at Harlan County, knew she had to step up her play with Howard out of the lineup.
“I was feeling pretty hot on my shot. My teammates kept giving it to me,” she said. “They believe in me and I was confident, so it was a good night.”
Vanderbilt (4-4, 0-3 SEC) faced its own roster troubles Sunday. The Commodores had just seven players available because of injuries and COVID issues.
Vanderbilt rallied from a 16-point second-quarter deficit and led much of the second half. Late in the fourth quarter, Green nailed her fourth three-pointer to pull the Cats ahead 70-69, and they never relinquished the lead. Green hit seven of 10 shots from the field, including four of five from the perimeter, and added five rebounds.
“Credit to Blair. She comes in before practice, she practices extremely hard, she comes in after practice, she watches film,” Elzy said. “So, the shot that you see her hitting, she takes over and over and over. So she’s very confident in the shots that she takes and we’re very confident in her because she works every day.”
Asked what she told her team during a late timeout as the game hung in the balance, Elzy said, “The biggest message: ‘Do not panic …We have been here before, we are battle-tested.’”
Treasure Hunt drew the first start of her college career in Howard’s absence. The freshman guard nailed a three-pointer from the left wing early on to give the Cats their first lead, 5-4. Hunt finished with 11 points and five boards and hit two clutch free throws with less than a minute to go to help ice the win.
“Treasure Hunt, she got baptized by fire. I was so proud of her,” Elzy said. “I think she just showed tonight how skilled she is offensively. And (with) her size, she’s a factor.”
UK point guard Chasity Patterson was likewise delighted to see Hunt contribute in a big way.
“Definitely was a big opportunity for Treasure,” Patterson said. “I’m so proud of Treasure. She did a great job tonight … I think this is just the start of something special for her, because she’s definitely a talented player.”
Patterson, whom Elzy earlier this week described as UK’s “tiny, power-packed peanut,” was also crucial to the win. She scored 16 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists before fouling out with less than two minutes to play.
Kentucky had no answer for Vanderbilt’s Koi Love. The sophomore forward erupted for a game-high 32 points, knocking down 12 of 14 free throws. Chelsie Hall pitched in 24 points in the loss.
Emma King checked in early in the first quarter and quickly pulled down a rebound. It marked the sophomore guard’s first time on the court since she started the first two games of the season before missing significant time because of COVID protocols.
The Cats let the Commodores get back in the game in the second quarter by getting sloppy with the ball. UK turned it over three times during a 7-0 Vandy run that closed the gap to 29-20.
Kentucky wilted down the stretch in the first half, going cold from the field and routinely allowing Commodores to penetrate the paint for easy buckets. The Cats hit just one of their last eight shots in the second quarter as Vandy closed the half on an 8-0 spurt, with a run-out layup by Love at the buzzer cutting UK’s lead to 38-37 at halftime.
Love scored 18 points in the first half. Her jumper early in the third quarter gave Vandy its first lead since early in the first, 41-40. The teams exchanged leads five times in the third quarter and Patterson sank a three in the closing seconds to pull the Cats within 59-58 heading into the fourth.
Vandy edged the Cats on the boards 37-36. UK was red-hot from the perimeter, hitting 10 of 21 shots from downtown. The Cats shot 46 percent overall.
KeKe McKinney chipped in 11 points and hit three of four three-pointers. Dre’una Edwards added 17 points and eight boards.
Best in the land
Kyra Elzy has not been shy this season about talking up her biggest star. She frequently reminds the media in postgame press conferences that she believes Rhyne Howard is the best player in the country, and multiple opposing coaches have echoed those sentiments after facing the Cats.
Following last week’s game against South Carolina, Howard showed she possesses plenty of self-confidence to go along with her abundant talent.
“Personally, I do think I am the best player in college basketball,” Howard said during a postgame teleconference. “I also think that I’ve proven it to everyone over these last couple of games.”
Auburn bound
Next up, the Wildcats will face Auburn in Alabama on Thursday night in a matchup that was rescheduled from last week because of COVID issues within the Tigers’ program.
Auburn (5-7) has lost five straight games, including its first four SEC contests. The Tigers were beaten by LSU, 56-43, in Baton Rouge, then were blown out by Georgia at home (76-44) before falling at Mississippi (62-58). A scheduled game against Missouri was also postponed because of COVID protocols
The Tigers lost at Florida 68-54 on Sunday in their first game since Jan. 7. All-SEC senior forward Unique Thompson returned to Auburn’s lineup against the Gators after missing three games because of a medical issue and had 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting, 14 rebounds, two steals and two assists in 33 minutes.
In last season’s 68-61 loss at Kentucky, Thompson scored 27 points on 11-for-14 shooting and added 15 rebounds and three steals.
Next game
No. 12 Kentucky at Auburn
8:30 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network)
This story was originally published January 17, 2021 at 7:34 PM.
