Three takeaways from No. 21 Kentucky’s women’s basketball win over No. 15 Georgia
After two COVID-related postponements and despite a fierce winter storm, the Kentucky women’s basketball team finally returned to action Thursday night and played its first Southeastern Conference game of the season.
The conference contest between No. 21 Kentucky and No. 15 Georgia was played in front of hardly any spectators as UK asked fans to stay home due to Thursday’s weather conditions.
In front of the sparse crowd, UK got its second signature win of the season, defeating Georgia 84-76.
The SEC-opening win was Kentucky’s first ranked win of the season. It’s the second win for UK this season over a projected NCAA Tournament team (West Virginia being the other).
Kentucky 84, Georgia 76
The star: Rhyne Howard scored a season-high 30 points in UK’s biggest win of the 2021-22 season.
The stats: Dre’una Edwards added 17 points and freshman guard Jada Walker scored 15 points. Georgia’s Jenna Staiti had a monster game with 26 points and eight rebounds.
The status: Kentucky improved to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in SEC play. Georgia fell to 12-3 overall and 1-2 in SEC play.
Three takeaways
1. DESPITE A MASSIVE SNOWSTORM IN LEXINGTON, UK FINALLY PLAYED A GAME.
Regardless of the result, simply playing a game can be seen as a positive for Kentucky.
The Wildcats hadn’t played a game in 18 days, with COVID-related postponements twice delaying the start of SEC play for UK. In that span Georgia played three games.
Then came a significant weather event in the form of a winter storm that delivered several inches of snow in Lexington and around the commonwealth on Thursday.
The game between Kentucky and Georgia went ahead with “essential personnel only” as fans were encouraged to stay home.
As such, the game took on the feel of a contest from last season with few people inside Memorial Coliseum.
“We did have to get ourselves going, but I think we did a pretty good job,” Rhyne Howard said afterward. “We came out with high intensity, high energy, and we just made the most of it.”
Thursday night’s atmosphere all but eliminated the home-court advantage UK enjoys in Memorial, but it didn’t matter in the final result.
Kyra Elzy is now 19-3 all-time at home as UK’s head coach.
2. RHYNE HOWARD RETURNS TO HER SCORING FORM.
On the other side of Kentucky’s extended break from game action, it’s fair to say Rhyne Howard wasn’t scoring in accordance with the lofty standards she’s set at UK.
In the three games preceding the break, Howard averaged just 33.5% shooting from the field.
In two of Kentucky’s highest profile matchups of the season during this period — eventual losses to DePaul and at Louisville — Howard’s true shooting percentage (which measures a player’s efficiency at shooting by taking into account field goals, free throws and three-pointers) averaged just 41%.
Any notion of a shooting slump went away Thursday.
Against Georgia, Howard recorded a season-high 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds.
Howard was especially good down the stretch to put away the Lady Bulldogs, as she scored UK’s final nine points and forced a crucial tie-up on the defensive end.
“I thought we were more composed,” Elzy said of UK’s late-game execution against Georgia. “We were very clear on what we were looking for. ... I thought we played more patient, made Georgia work defensively and we didn’t settle for quick shots down the stretch which helped us.”
“It was just about stepping up and being able to finish out the game,” Howard said. “Continuing to go hard so that my teammates will follow behind me. I have to be able to make those 50-50 plays like tying the ball up, or the hustle plays, because those are things that don’t go in the stat sheet. Making those is just as big as hitting a game-winner or making free throws.
“Obviously I went to go get some of those buckets, but the game really came to me, my teammates found me,” Howard added. “It was just about staying in rhythm and just making it easy. Work smarter not harder.”
Howard’s performance against Georgia, the fifth projected NCAA Tournament team that UK has faced this season, comes as Howard remains in contention for a prestigious end-of-season award.
On Wednesday, Howard was named to the top 25 midseason watch list for the John R. Wooden Award for Women’s Player of the Year for the third straight season.
The final ballot for the award will feature 15 players, with nearly 1,000 voters ranking 10 of those players. Voting for the award opens before the NCAA Tournament in March and the winner of the Wooden Award will be announced following the NCAA Tournament in April.
Howard was one of five finalists for the award last season.
Entering Thursday’s game against Georgia, Howard had per-game averages of 18.7 points and 6.5 rebounds, and she made history earlier this season by becoming just the third player in school history to record a triple-double.
On Thursday, Howard passed Victoria Dunlap for third on UK’s all-time scoring list.
3. UK USES EFFICIENT OFFENSE TO OVERCOME GEORGIA.
While UK’s recent struggles from behind the three-point line continued Thursday night, the Wildcats were wickedly efficient from inside the arc.
UK was just 5-of-16 from distance, but the Wildcats made 30 of their 51 two-point shots.
This shooting efficiency on two-point shots was enough to help UK overcome significant advantages for Georgia in rebounding and at the foul line.
“I’m just so proud of this team overall,” Elzy said. “I thought they brought the intensity, the energy and effort and they did it together.”
Georgia out-rebounded Kentucky, 38-24. Eight of those boards were grabbed by sixth-year center Jenna Staiti, who took advantage of UK’s limited post depth and led Georgia with 26 points.
Staiti missed Georgia’s first two SEC games while in COVID protocols.
“They’re used to playing undersized,” Georgia Coach Joni Taylor said of Kentucky. “It’s not new for them. We obviously wanted to try to get the ball inside to Jenna. ... We did know that we had a distinct size advantage.”
The Lady Bulldogs also went 18-of-20 from the foul line, while the Wildcats went 9-of-13.
UK’s defense forced enough mistakes by Georgia to make an impact on the scoreboard. Georgia committed 19 turnovers compared to UK’s 11.
“In the fourth (quarter) I thought we pushed in transition offense,” Elzy said of how UK was able to overcome the Bulldogs’ edge in size. “I thought we got some easy scoring opportunities. When we had to buckle down we got some defensive stops and some big rebounds, key rebounds.”
Up next
After an 18-day break without a game, the SEC contests will come thick and fast for Kentucky, and next up is a shot at the No. 1 team in the country. UK travels to play South Carolina at 1 p.m. Sunday in a game that will be shown on ESPN. It will be the second SEC game of the season for Kentucky and the fourth SEC contest for South Carolina, which is considered the favorite to win the NCAA title after a bevy of impressive non-conference wins.
Kentucky hasn’t beaten South Carolina since February 2019.
Next game
No. 21 Kentucky at No. 1 South Carolina
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 9:10 PM.
