Kentucky women’s basketball searches for scoring help for Rhyne Howard
In a Kentucky women’s basketball season that has gone south over the last six weeks, a common link exists: A lack of consistent scoring help to support star senior guard Rhyne Howard.
The reasons for the inconsistent help around Howard are plentiful.
Kentucky has seen its roster availability significantly affected this season.
Only three players — Howard, freshman guard Jada Walker and junior center Olivia Owens — have appeared in all 20 games for UK.
Of the 10 scholarship players on the UK roster, the following significant absences have occurred: Blair Green (hasn’t played due to a season-ending Achilles injury), Robyn Benton (missed six games due to an ankle injury) and Dre’una Edwards (missed five games due to team-imposed suspensions).
While this context is understood, Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy still knows her team needs to do a better job of taking pressure off Howard, particularly on the offensive end.
Howard has accounted for nine of Kentucky’s 25 double-digit scoring performances in Southeastern Conference play, equivalent to 36%.
Overall, Howard has led UK in scoring in 14 of 20 games this season.
After Sunday’s home loss in overtime to Texas A&M, Elzy said the Wildcats needed to do a better job of executing offensively when opponents trap or double-team Howard, a practice that increased with Kentucky’s limited depth.
“We should have flashed to the ball … we have to make people pay for how they are guarding Rhyne,” Elzy said.
When asked by the Herald-Leader how much she can change her team in this regard at this point of the season, Elzy said practice time is used to help UK players become comfortable making offensive reads on the fly during games.
During her radio show on Wednesday night, Elzy reiterated that because Howard forces the opposing team “to bring the house defensively,” other UK players must be able to contribute when left open.
As part of UK’s practice this week, Elzy and the team watched the final 25 minutes of the Texas A&M game, a period during which Howard scored 14 points while other UK players combined to score 18.
“(Howard) has to touch the ball. It doesn’t mean she has to shoot the ball every time, but when the offense flows through her, how they’re playing her, it will open up the other people,” Elzy explained. “When (Howard) catches it and they’re hard hedging and we can hit the slip, that’s a 10-foot jumper that we have to be able to knock down. Or they trap, and she throws out of it because she’s drawing so much (attention), those are open, rhythm shots that we can hit.”
Part of UK’s struggles in this regard can be attributed to a lack of lineup consistency since the turn of the calendar year.
“The chemistry of playing with each other, knowing the timing, the spacing. We’re a work in progress,” Elzy said.
Fast forward to Thursday night, when UK had all nine scholarship players available to play for the first time in weeks.
Against No. 1 South Carolina inside Memorial Coliseum, Howard — the front-runner to win the SEC scoring title — led Kentucky with 21 points, 16 of which came in a scintillating fourth-quarter showing. Her teammates combined for 17 points in the second half.
Howard was the only UK player to score in double figures in the game.
Despite another example of second-half scoring reliance on Howard — which also occurred in UK’s only SEC wins over Georgia and Auburn — Elzy was encouraged by what took place around her star player.
“I thought when they kept (Howard) on one side off the ball screen, they were hard hedging, we kicked back to our post a couple of times,” Elzy said postgame. “When we started moving the ball side to side, shifting it, then we started getting open looks.”
What does Howard think of her teammates’ off-ball movement?
“I feel like my team did a really good job of making themselves available for me,” Howard said Thursday night. “If I don’t have a look, then they know I’m going to be able to get it to them where they cut, where they’re open. I’m going to find them.”
With only six regular-season games remaining before the end-of-season SEC Tournament in early March, time is nearly out for Kentucky to figure out how to blend Howard’s scoring prowess with assistance from her teammates.
In order to make the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky will likely need to make at least the championship game of the SEC Tournament or win the tournament outright, something it hasn’t done in 40 years.
That means creating scoring habits that can be repeated as many as five times in quick succession against teams from the best conference in women’s college basketball.
It’s a daunting task that’s just as difficult as it sounds, but one that represents one of the few lifelines left for Kentucky this season.
Sunday
Kentucky at Alabama
When: 2 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP 630
Records: UK 9-11 (2-8 SEC); Alabama 12-10 (3-8)
Series: UK leads 34-17
Last meeting: UK won 81-68 on Jan. 28, 2021, at Rupp Arena
