‘Some pride and some joy.’ Kentucky turned ‘gritty’ defense into offense in milestone win
It’s not every day you can hold a team nearly 24 points below its season scoring average, but in No. 12 Kentucky’s 65-56 victory over No. 22 Alabama on Thursday night, that is precisely what happened.
The Wildcats (18-2, 7-1 SEC) shut down the Crimson Tide’s offense — limiting all but one of its players below their individual scoring averages — after trailing by six following the first quarter. Only Alabama leading scorer Sarah Ashlee Barker, who pushed her team ahead early with a 12-point, first-quarter effort, surpassed her scoring average; Barker dropped a game-high 22 points against the Wildcats, besting her average of 16.9 points per contest.
But Kentucky came out on top, and earned its third victory over a ranked opponent of the Kenny Brooks era to maintain its tied-for-second-place standing in the Southeastern Conference alongside LSU and Texas. How did the Wildcats handle their business and pick up the 500th program win inside Historic Memorial Coliseum? Brooks called it a “really gritty effort,” and said that, “sometimes in the SEC you have to win that way,” particularly when things feel out of sorts at the time of tip-off.
Against Alabama (17-5, 4-4), that looked like difficulty containing Barker, five turnovers leading to seven points for the Crimson Tide and a scoreboard malfunction that did not accurately reflect the game score or remaining time on the clock for much of the first period.
“First quarter was, just really, I think we were all discombobulated,” Brooks said. “... But we got that all rectified. And then, ironically, our defense kicked in. And I thought our defense was really good (in the) second, third and fourth quarters.”
Kentucky entered Thursday’s contest ranked fourth in the SEC in points allowed (60.1), but matched up quite well statistically with Alabama; the Crimson Tide ranked fifth in the league, allowing just 60.5 points per game. While Alabama averaged 79.5 points per contest, Kentucky averaged 79. The Crimson Tide wins its contests by an average of 19 points per game, while the Wildcats’ average point differential is 18.8. There was only a 0.2% difference in field goal percentage, and two-tenths of a difference in made 3-pointers per game.
How Kentucky’s team defense leads to easy baskets
All-America point guard Georgia Amoore, who contributed a team-high 22 points and nine assists, plus three rebounds, in the victory, said the Wildcats “definitely place emphasis on team-level defense,” and cited an example in the third quarter where junior forward Teonni Key gave up a basket. According to Amoore, Key — who picked up two fouls in the first quarter and another in the third — and any Wildcat in foul trouble, for that matter, has a tougher time playing UK’s defense.
As Amoore told it, Key was “so down on herself,” for letting one go, taking responsibility for the miscue and calling “my bad.” But the team’s response was such that “it’s our bad because we have to be better in the gaps, we have to be better in rotation.” One-on-one matchups can lead to trouble, and it’s not easy to show up as a lockdown defender in that type of situation. Especially against a team with such talented guards, and four players averaging double-figure scoring.
“So we really understand that it’s a team effort,” Amoore said. “And I think we take some pride and some joy in it, and that makes us have momentum. Especially when you have, for me, shooters in transition, or you have Teonni running the floor. You have, you know, Clara (Strack) even brought it up some.”
When playing the new-look Kentucky brand of defense — which is designed to best use the team’s length, positioning and basketball IQ — stops and key rebounds translate to opportunities in transition — something Amoore said Brooks has “kind of loosened the grip on,” more so this year than usual.
“So it gives us opportunity to get it out and go and we love it,” Amoore said. “We love having those opportunities where we clean up the boards and we just open up the floodgates.”
Brooks interjected Amoore’s answer to jokingly ask, “What are you trying to say?” with regard to his loosening up on transition offense. The difference, Amoore said, lies in the versatility of this year’s team.
“No, we had transition,” Amoore clarified. “This is just the most exciting, I think, in terms of having people like Teonni and Clara. You know, I’ve maybe had one player like that before, and that was my junior year, and that was Taylor Soule (at Virginia Tech). That’s as close as it’s come. So it’s very exciting to be able to turn our defense into offense.”
Amoore reaches milestone for assists
Amoore also recorded her 800th career assist during the win. When asked what that meant to her, she responded that “I’m doing my job pretty well.” Early on in her career, she said, she got used to running sets that gave her a couple of options, “one or the other.” However, with her progress through experience, and opposing teams throwing the kitchen sink at her in an attempt to contain her, she feels she’s grown up intellectually.
“And this year, it’s been different,” Amoore said. “I had different defenses thrown at me early in the season. It was hard hedges and full-court press. Now people are switching and putting long guards on me. So it’s a challenge, but it’s fun every night to be able to blitz up a defense, and I think it just, for us, opens everything because no team has been consistent, really, in being able to, yet, really halt us. Because I think we find a way. And that’s why it’s sort of fun to play with this team, because everyone finds a way.”
Strack finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds for the double-double, and recorded three assists and one block. Junior forward Amelia Hassett added 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals. Graduate guard Dazia Lawrence contributed 10 points, including three 3-pointers, one rebound, two assists and one steal.
The Wildcats will hit the road to face another ranked opponent, this time a hungry, No. 13 Oklahoma (16-5, 4-4). The Sooners fell 107-100 to LSU in Baton Rouge on Thursday night in a game that included two ejections and a trio of technical fouls. Senior Payton Verhulst led OU with 26 points, while leading scorer Raegan Beers added 20. Sophomore forward Sahara Williams finished with 12 and freshman Zya Vann scored 11.
On Sunday, Oklahoma will be without 6-foot-2 reserve forward Liz Scott (6.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg), who was suspended one game as the result of her ejection Thursday night.
Next game
No. 12 Kentucky at No. 13 Oklahoma
When: 4 p.m. EST Sunday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Kentucky 18-2 (7-1 SEC), Oklahoma 16-5 (4-4)
Series: Kentucky leads 3-1
Last meeting: Kentucky won 82-68 on Dec. 1, 2016, in Memorial Coliseum in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge
