‘Hustle player of the game’ was clutch for UK at Florida. Unpredictable LSU up next.
UPDATE: Friday’s game against LSU has been postponed because of weather. No makeup date has been set.
While Rhyne Howard and Chasity Patterson have been the top offensive threats this season for the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team, a veteran leader whom head coach Kyra Elzy has called the “heart” of the Wildcats has been quietly clutch.
Senior forward KeKe McKinney is in the midst of her best statistical season. She’s averaging career bests at 6.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game and is shooting 45 percent from three-point range during Southeastern Conference play.
In the 17th-ranked Wildcats’ victory at Florida on Monday, McKinney scored a season-high 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting and had four rebounds. After the Gators fought back from a 16-point deficit to pull within three halfway through the fourth quarter, McKinney made a pair of huge jumpers as part of a 10-1 UK run to pull away.
“KeKe was our hustle player of the game,” Elzy said following the Florida victory. “I thought she really stepped up and set the tone defensively. It was contagious. Her heart, her hustle plays, getting on the floor ... I liked that she remained composed offensively. Down the stretch when we needed big buckets, she stepped up with confidence and knocked them down.”
Cats vs. Tigers
Up next for Kentucky is a meeting with LSU (8-10, 6-6 SEC) in Memorial Coliseum on Friday afternoon. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday night but was delayed one day because of weather conditions around Lexington and the southeast.
The Tigers have lost three in a row during a difficult stretch of their schedule. Kentucky will be the fifth ranked opponent LSU has faced in its last seven games.
Despite their losing record, the Tigers have hung tough with great teams on multiple occasions. They lost at No. 2 South Carolina on Sunday, 66-59, and fell to the Gamecocks by four points on the road on Jan. 24. On Jan. 14, the Tigers knocked off No. 5 Texas A&M in overtime, 65-61. Their resume also includes a 60-52 win at No. 22 Georgia.
The Tigers are led by 5-foot-7 senior guard Khayla Pointer, who was voted to this year’s preseason All-SEC First Team after earning All-SEC Second Team honors following her junior campaign. Pointer averages 16.2 points, 4.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. In LSU’s victory over Kentucky last season, Pointer had 12 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals. The Wildcats were led in that game by Rhyne Howard, who had 26 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.
LSU senior Faustine Aifuwa could again present a problem in the post for the Cats. The 6-foot-5 center averages 11.8 points and 9.0 rebounds. Aifuwa scored 10 points to go along with 13 rebounds and three blocks in last year’s win over UK.
The Tigers will probably look to slow things down Friday. They average just 59 points per game and struggle to score from the perimeter, having hit just 46 of 184 three-point attempts (25 percent).
Friday
LSU at No. 17 Kentucky
When: 2 p.m.
Where: Memorial Coliseum
Live video broadcast: SEC Network Plus
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: UK 15-5 (8-4 SEC); LSU 8-10 (6-6 SEC)
Series: LSU leads 34-17
Last meeting: LSU won 69-55 on Jan. 19, 2020, in Baton Rouge.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 12:16 PM.
