‘She’s a pro.’ Opposing coaches describe how they try to stop Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard.
Rhyne Howard’s reputation precedes her.
By the time her senior season at UK began in November, everyone knew of her ability to distribute the ball and score at a level few other college basketball players ever have.
Her list of accolades serves as a testament to this.
But what goes into trying to stop greatness when you play against it?
Throughout the course of the 2021-22 Kentucky women’s basketball season, the Herald-Leader asked opposing coaches how they game-planned against Howard, and what trying to stop greatness is like.
Here’s a chronological look at their failures and successes trying to contain a generational basketball talent.
Dec. 1: Kentucky 83, West Virginia 60
HOWARD: 27 POINTS, 7 REBOUNDS, 4 ASSISTS, 5-OF-7 THREES.
In Kentucky’s first win against major conference opposition this season, Howard issued an early-season statement of intent.
Howard scored the first five points of the game and posted a true shooting percentage of 73.37% in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge win.
“She’s a great player. She’s a 6-1, 6-2 guard that can shoot the three and take you off the dribble,” West Virginia head coach Mike Carey said. “I said coming here that she’s probably one of the top five players in the country. She’s a great player.”
Dec. 9: DePaul 94, Kentucky 85
HOWARD: 12 POINTS, 3 REBOUNDS, 1 ASSIST, 3 TURNOVERS, 3-OF-9 FROM FIELD.
For the first time this season, an opponent was able to key in on Howard as an offensive threat.
Kentucky’s second-leading scorer, junior forward Dre’una Edwards, served a team-imposed suspension for this game and DePaul took full advantage with a larger defensive presence on Howard. Three UK players — Robyn Benton, Jada Walker and Treasure Hunt — scored more than Howard, with Benton’s 22 points and Hunt’s 18 being their career-best totals at Kentucky.
Foul trouble played a role in this low-scoring performance from Howard, as she picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter.
”The less time Rhyne Howard touches the ball, the better it is for us because she’s a very, very hard match when she’s got the ball in her hands,” legendary DePaul head coach Doug Bruno said. “So, we’re just trying to reduce her touches as much as possible. Foul trouble helped, and that was an advantage for us. ... That reduced some minutes, but she still had plenty of minutes on the floor. We were just trying to keep her from catching the ball as much as possible.”
Dec. 12: Louisville 64, Kentucky 58
HOWARD: 9 POINTS, 7 REBOUNDS, 2 ASSISTS, 3-OF-13 FROM FIELD.
In the lead-up to the rivalry meeting between UK and U of L, Howard said she couldn’t take another loss to Louisville head coach Jeff Walz, who also coached Howard with Team USA youth national teams.
Howard was also on Walz’s mind before the game when he explained his strategy to try and stop her.
“If you let Rhyne get into a rhythm and step into shots, she’s pretty darn impressive. It’s hard to stop,” Walz said prior to the game. “We have to do everything we can to make it as difficult as we can.”
Louisville succeeded.
The nine points scored by Howard is tied for her lowest scoring output of the season so far and UK lost its fifth straight game to Louisville, meaning Howard will likely finish her college career without a win over Walz and the Cardinals.
Jan. 6: Kentucky 84, Georgia 76
HOWARD: 30 POINTS, 5 REBOUNDS, 1 ASSIST, 17 FOURTH-QUARTER POINTS.
In front of hardly any fans in Memorial Coliseum due to a severe winter storm, Howard had a signature performance against a premier opponent to begin Southeastern Conference play.
Howard scored 17 fourth-quarter points and UK’s final nine of the game to lead the Cats to a ranked win over Georgia.
The victory has stood the test of time as well, with Georgia finishing the season sixth in the SEC standings and currently projected to be a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN’s Charlie Creme.
Howard has the ability to take over games when it matters most, so what can you say when it happens against your team?
“Rhyne Howard is obviously who Rhyne Howard is,” Georgia head coach Joni Taylor said.
Jan. 9: South Carolina 74, Kentucky 54
HOWARD: 9 POINTS, 8 REBOUNDS, 6 ASSISTS, 2-OF-14 FROM THE FIELD.
In a marquee matchup for the Cats against the No. 1 team in the country, Howard was kept in check.
Howard tied for her lowest point total of the season and had just two points at halftime.
This defeat began a period in which Kentucky lost eight of nine games, with the stretch bookended by losses to the Gamecocks. South Carolina’s overwhelming length and size has proved disruptive to UK’s offense this season, with the Cats scoring just 54 and 50 points in losses to the Gamecocks.
Legendary South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley spoke eloquently about Howard after this game.
“Obviously, Rhyne commands a lot of attention. She is the one person that can change the complexion of a game on both sides of the basketball,” Staley said. “What we wanted to do is just make her work hard for catches, if she caught it just give her a little cushion, just make her think a little bit. No one really speeds her up (or) slows her down, you just want to take options away from her.”
Staley continued.
“For us it was just clean looks. If we could contest all of her shots, if we could just be there when she went downhill on us in the paint and make her shoot over us, that’s what we wanted to do because she can create space. She can flat-out score. There’s no doubt about it.”
That ending point would reveal itself when the teams played again in Lexington one month later.
Feb. 6: Texas A&M 73, Kentucky 64 (OT)
HOWARD: 19 POINTS, 10 REBOUNDS, 2 ASSISTS, PLAYED 44 OF POSSIBLE 45 MINUTES.
Texas A&M’s Gary Blair has seen plenty since becoming a women’s college basketball head coach in 1985, but he’s rarely opted to ball deny opposing players to try and limit their effectiveness.
Howard is the kind of player to make a longtime coach change his strategy though, as was the case in early February.
“If she would have been on a men’s team in the men’s world, she would have been a one and out,” Blair said, praising Howard’s pro potential from the start of her college career. “That’s how talented she is. We spent a lot of energy trying to deny back to her, and we don’t usually do that. That’s the respect that we had.”
Kentucky’s only overtime game of the season featured Howard’s season-high minutes total of 44 and a team-leading 19 points, but her 5-for-14 shooting served as evidence to the effort Texas A&M gave to disrupt her offensive play.
“She’s so talented in one on one, she’s going to make plays and shots and we were just trying to limit the opportunities (when) she could make a one-on-one play,” said Texas A&M assistant coach Greg Brown, who oversees the Aggies’ defense. “She does everything well, and she’s so long and athletic, she can get shots up over the top of people. If we have a smaller player on her, she can just elevate over the top.”
Feb. 10: South Carolina 59, Kentucky 50
HOWARD: 21 POINTS, 9 REBOUNDS, 4 ASSISTS, 16 POINTS IN FOURTH QUARTER.
UK’s second meeting with South Carolina this season ended the same way as the first, but it featured a more committed effort from the Wildcats at both ends of the court.
UK held South Carolina to just 59 points, the Gamecocks’ lowest scoring output in conference play, and a late fourth-quarter rally saw UK pull to within seven with just 90 seconds remaining.
Central to this late comeback attempt was Howard, who scored 16 points in the fourth quarter against the nation’s best team.
Howard’s fourth quarter scoring alone outpaced the 14 points she had scored in the previous seven quarters combined against USC.
“That’s what savvy veterans do,” Staley said, noting that a shorthanded South Carolina team had pulled its starters for most of the fourth quarter with a nearly 20-point lead.
“(Howard) saw openings, time and time again we went under screens and she shot the ball behind the screen. If you want to play at this level you have to pay attention to the details, especially with a player like Rhyne. She got her team back to within seven and made it a game.”
Feb. 15: Kentucky 81, Mississippi State 74
HOWARD: 16 POINTS, 11 REBOUNDS, 6 ASSISTS.
Kentucky’s six-game winning streak to close the regular season will go down in program history.
Dead and buried, with seemingly no chance to rejoin the NCAA Tournament picture, the Wildcats beat three teams in the final two weeks of the season that are currently projected to either make the NCAA Tournament or narrowly miss it.
Packed within this frantic postseason push was a remarkable comeback win at home over Mississippi State, a team UK will play again Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
The Cats trailed by 15 points with less than seven minutes remaining in the game, but outscored the Bulldogs 24-2 over the final 6:58. Howard led UK with eight points in the fourth quarter and scored six in the final 48 seconds.
But just as impressive were Howard’s 11 rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass, that helped UK to a 46-31 rebounding advantage and ultimately a sensational comeback win.
“Howard was great on the glass. She’s a big-time athlete that can go get balls,” Mississippi State interim head coach Doug Novak said. “I don’t know how much she scored or anything, but she consumed some balls and again you get down at the end of the game, it is about possessions, who can get those loose balls, who can end a possession.”
Feb. 27: Kentucky 90, Auburn 62
HOWARD: SEASON-HIGH 32 POINTS, SCHOOL RECORDS FOR THREE-POINTERS.
It would have been impossible to dream up a better end at home to Howard’s storied college career.
On Senior Day in front of Kentucky’s largest home crowd of the season, it was a vintage performance from Howard, who recorded a season-best 32 points with 16 points in the first quarter in a wire-to-wire win over Auburn.
Howard set UK school records for three-pointers made in a half (six in the first half) and in a game (eight), while also scoring the most points ever by a UK senior on Senior Day.
The points and pageantry were on full display as Howard likely bid farewell to Memorial Coliseum in fitting style.
First-year Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris, who was an associate head coach at Mississippi State when Howard was a freshman and sophomore, stressed the need to try and contain Howard while also making sure her talented teammates didn’t take over.
But both happened anyway Sunday, with Howard scoring 32, Edwards scoring 25 and Walker adding 15.
Across two meetings with Auburn this season, Howard terrorized the Tigers.
Howard scored 29 points in a Jan. 25 UK win at Auburn, with 17 of those points coming in the fourth quarter, before Sunday’s scoring barrage.
“You know pretty much she’s going to get hers, but you can’t let everybody else go off. You want to limit her touches and make it tough on her, which we did not do today,” Harris said. “She’s a great player and she has really good players around her. . . . You worry so much about her and then somebody else can go off and then you start worrying about them and she’s going to come back and get hers.”
Harris was on the Mississippi State bench for Howard’s second-ever SEC game, an 86-71 MSU victory in January 2019 in which Howard scored 15 points and led UK in rebounds, minutes played, steals and tied for the team lead in assists.
What’s changed between then and now?
“She gets better and better. You can tell she’s putting the work in, she’s a pro,” Harris said. “I felt like she was a pro two years ago.”
Thursday
Kentucky vs. Mississippi State
What: SEC women’s basketball tournament
When: 7 p.m. EST
Where: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
TV: SEC Network
Seeding: UK No. 7; MSU No. 10
Last meeting: Kentucky beat MSU, 81-74, on Feb. 15 in Lexington.
SEC Tournament schedule
At Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
All times Eastern
Wednesday
Noon: No. 12 Texas A&M (14-14, 4-12) vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt (13-17, 4-12)
About 2:25 p.m.: No. 11 Alabama (15-12, 6-10) vs. No. 14 Auburn (10-17, 2-14)
Thursday
1 p.m.: No. 8 Arkansas (17-12, 7-9) vs. No. 9 Missouri (18-11, 7-9)
About 3:25 p.m.: No. 5 Florida (20-9, 10-6) vs. Texas A&M-Vanderbilt winner
7 p.m.: No. 7 Kentucky (15-11, 8-8) vs. No. 10 Mississippi State
About 9:25 p.m.: No. 6 Georgia (20-8, 9-7) vs. Alabama-Auburn winner
Friday
1 p.m.: No. 1 South Carolina (27-1, 15-1) vs. Arkansas-Missouri winner
About 3:25 p.m.: No. 4 Ole Miss (22-7, 10-6) vs. Florida-Texas A&M-Vanderbilt winner
7 p.m.: No. 2 LSU (25-4, 13-3) vs. Kentucky-Mississippi State winner
About 9:25 p.m.: No. 3 Tennessee (22-7, 11-5) vs. Georgia-Alabama-Auburn winner
Saturday
5 p.m.: First semifinal
About 7:25 p.m.: Second semifinal
Sunday
2 p.m.: Championship game
TV
▪ First round, second round and quarterfinals (SEC Network)
▪ Semifinals (ESPNU)
▪ Championship game (ESPN2)
