A change in starting five gives Kentucky new perspective and another top-25 win
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky inserts Asia Boone into starting lineup, sparking strong starts.
- New starting five dominated the first half vs. Ole Miss with stout defense.
- Win over No.14 Ole Miss bolsters Kentucky’s NCAA hopes during SEC play.
Ahead of Kentucky’s (20-7, 7-6 SEC) first two-win week since the start of SEC play, coach Kenny Brooks and his staff made the decision to alter the starting lineup — something he rarely does unless injury necessitates it.
Instead of graduate guard Jordan Obi, who started in each of the No. 18 Wildcats’ first 25 games this season, junior guard Asia Boone joined regular starters Amelia Hassett, Teonni Key, Tonie Morgan and Clara Strack in the lineup in both UK’s 20-point win at Texas A&M, as well Sunday’s 74-57 victory over No. 14 Ole Miss.
Boone — who had started during Key’s 8-game, dislocated elbow-induced break — had, by all accounts, impacted the team to the best of her ability. Apart from the Wildcats’ home win over Oklahoma (1 point) on Jan. 11, and their narrow loss at Tennessee (6 points), Boone posted at least 11 points in each of her starts, and made opponents pay from the 3-point line.
“I am very proud of our kids,” Brooks said. “You see the way that they hung in there, not just (against Ole Miss), but when we dug ourselves a hole and we dropped a few games that we probably thought we could have, should have won, in Teonni’s absence.”
To Brooks’ point, the Wildcats did drop several games that they were projected — via both the eye test and ESPN analytics — to win. Though UK lost by 13 at Alabama in its first game without Key, it also turned around and notched its second top-5 win of the season (a program first) days later against Oklahoma.
The longest losing streak in Brooks’ young Kentucky tenure came in the form of back-to-back-to-back losses at unranked Mississippi State, at rival Tennessee and against Georgia, and forced the team to take a step back and reevaluate its capability and its goals.
”Throughout the whole time, just our preparation, the attitude in the locker room, everyone was still on board, knowing what we could be,” Brooks said. “I think I made a statement, I said I didn’t like where we were, but I was excited about where we were going to go. And these kids stepped up; they locked in, and they never wavered with their preparation, with their execution.”
The program that wowed onlookers and fans alike during Brooks’ first season by earning a fourth-place league finish, only behind tied-for-first South Carolina and Texas and a second-place LSU, would likely no longer be in contention for a top-four seed in the conference tournament, and will certainly have to keep fighting for a chance at hosting in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Even after Key returned for the losing streak-snapping win at Arkansas on Feb. 1, there was rust that needed to be shaken off. Communication that needed to be improved. Chemistry that needed to be reactivated.
Frustrating losses followed, what with a single-point heartbreaker to Vanderbilt and Monday’s 11-point defeat at Texas.
“And you know what?” Brooks asked. “Shoutout to everyone with their adjustments in the starting lineups that we made. Their mentality, from Asia…if you ask Asia Boone, she would prefer to come off the bench, and we inserted her into the starting lineup. It’s given us two games where we’ve gotten off to a really good start.”
Texas A&M, which holds an overall record of 10-11 (3-9 SEC), scored just 5 points to Kentucky’s 27 in the first quarter. Ole Miss, which fell to 20-6 (7-4 SEC) in Sunday’s loss to the Wildcats, escaped the first quarter down 6 before making just one field goal in the second quarter.
Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin’s Rebels have built a reputation for slow starts, but have collected multiple wins over top competition; Ole Miss’ respect has been earned, and, following its inclusion in the NCAA women’s selection committee’s early reveal of the top 16 seeds Saturday night, presented more than a challenge for the Wildcats.
Sure enough, Ole Miss came out firing in the third quarter, and made Kentucky uncomfortable. However, the Wildcats adapted, outscoring their opponent in the fourth quarter. They did not allow their typical Achilles’ heels of foul trouble — Boone, Key, Morgan, Obi and Strack had three fouls apiece in the third quarter — and turnovers — the Wildcats surrendered 14, but forced 14, as well, and only allowed 8 points off those mistakes — to dictate the end result.
Defensively, UK dominated the first half, with the most impressive stat being that UK held Ole Miss star Cotie McMahon scoreless from the field, and allowed no Rebel to score more than 6 points. As expected, both McMahon and senior forward Latasha Lattimore got theirs, and finished 15 points and 18 points, respectively. They were joined in double-figure scoring by senior forward Christeen Iwuala, who posted 10 points.
While Kentucky didn’t shoot lights-out against Mississippi in the second half like it did in the first, its shooting percentage actually improved from the first.
In the first 20 minutes, UK held Ole Miss to just 18% (5-of-28) shooting from the field, and Kentucky itself shot 48% (15-of-31), including 50% (6-of-12) from 3-point range. Mississippi improved its shooting percentage to 35% (11-of-31) in the second half, while the Wildcats improved theirs to 54% (14-of-26).
Strack finished with 9 rebounds and 28 points, her second-highest total of the season, and Morgan dished 9 assists and scored 14 points. Hassett, who went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, added 9 points.
Boone had 15 points, and made 4 of her 8 attempts from long range.
“She stretches the floor,” Brooks said. “(And) Amelia stretches the floor. And I’ll give kudos to Jordan Obi with her positive energy when she comes in off the bench. Everybody is very receptive to it, but when those two are making shots, we’re a pretty tough team to guard because it opens up things for (Strack), and it opens up the lane for Tonie. Then we become very well-constructed. They’re a big difference in how we play.”
Strack spoke about the importance of that positive energy Brooks touched on, and said she saw it was absent during “a few” of the Wildcats’ critical losses during Key’s absence. Regardless of who’s in the starting lineup, the players rely upon the encouragement they get from one another; that positivity is integral to the team’s success.
“Energy is something that we talked about from day one,” Strack said. “I think in our games that we did drop a few, that was one of our biggest issues. We’re not bringing the energy throughout the whole game, and so I think that’s something that helped us get out, like to start today, is how much energy we’ve been bringing in practices and how much we’re carrying it over and out to our games, just celebrating each other and being there for each other is really what kind of builds the energy.”
Kentucky’s final SEC stretch begins with a rematch at Vanderbilt next Sunday before a road trip at Auburn on Feb. 26 and the regular-season finale vs. league leader South Carolina on March 1.
