‘We’ll go anywhere.’ UK loses to South Carolina in SEC Tournament quarterfinal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky lost 87-64 to top-seed South Carolina in SEC quarterfinals.
- Kentucky had 19 turnovers, which South Carolina converted into 25 points.
- Brooks said the team is ready for Selection Sunday and postseason play.
Following Friday’s 87-64 loss to top-seeded South Carolina, Kentucky’s SEC Tournament journey ended in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive season, and the second under head coach Kenny Brooks.
“Sometimes after a win you can feel like you just didn’t give it your all,” Brooks said. “You are a little disappointed because you’re trying to get to an end result that you know you’re capable of. And then sometimes you don’t play as well, and you don’t win a basketball game, but you’re super proud of your kids. This is one of those moments.”
Not even one week since the two battled it out in Sunday’s regular-season finale — a hard-fought 60-56 win for South Carolina — the Cats entered Friday’s tournament matchup on a two-game win streak after Wednesday’s first-round rout of No. 16 seed Arkansas and Thursday’s 15-point defeat of Georgia.
No. 9 seed Kentucky (23-10, 8-8 SEC), already with limited roster depth, faced a tall task in its rematch with the Gamecocks, and ultimately suffered, in part, from its own fatigue.
“I am so proud of their effort, not only today, but the last three days,” Brooks said. “And we’re going to continue that. We’re going to build off of that. That’s exactly what we wanted from this experience right here. I think we’re going to be a team that’s going to be able to play a lot of basketball here in the next couple of weeks.”
The Gamecocks led for more than 37 minutes of the quarterfinal, and got out to a strong start behind the intensity and finesse displayed by leading scorer Joyce Edwards. Edwards, who was limited to just 9 points in South Carolina’s win Sunday, delivered 7 of her eventual 21 total points in the first period of play.
Edwards was tasked with defending Clara Strack, who had tied her career high of 33 points in Thursday’s second-round win over the Bulldogs, and ultimately held the center to 11 points in Friday’s game.
“We knew she was one of their go-to players,” Edwards said. “I mean, obviously, she’s a great player. But after three games, you know, her legs are a little dead. That helped me out a little bit. But just getting in her body, we know she likes her midrange and her 3, so just making her put the ball on the ground.”
Strack’s three-game streak of scoring at least 20 points came to an end as South Carolina cranked the pace and put a tremendous amount of pressure on Kentucky’s veteran lineup.
“Every game is different,” Strack said. “Every game they’re going to guard us differently. They’re going to take different things away. I’m willing to do whatever it takes for my team to win, if that’s scoring 30 points or that’s scoring zero points but rebounding and playing hard on defense. I’m willing to do that. I don’t really look at the stat sheet and judge myself on that. I judge myself based on the effort I give to the game and how much I’m able to lead this team and help this team get the win.”
The Cats eclipsed their eight-turnover total in Thursday’s win over Georgia before the halfway mark of the second quarter — at that point, the team had more turnovers than made field goals — and finished the lopsided game with 19.
Strack committed five turnovers, a testament to the South Carolina defense.
“I don’t think we want to make excuses for ourselves,” Strack said. “Obviously we’re tired. Obviously we’re fatigued, but I think we have to fight through that. I think we have to clean up the little things. We had turnovers. We didn’t execute on defense as well as we would have liked to.”
UK managed to turn South Carolina over 11 times, but only converted those mistakes into eight points; the Gamecocks converted Kentucky’s 19 turnovers into 25 points. The Cats also struggled to keep up with South Carolina in transition, surrendering 15 fast-break points while scoring none themselves.
Edwards and senior center Madina Okot, the latter of whom posted a double-double by halftime, powered the team to a plus-22 margin on paint points, while Kentucky scored only 24 in the paint.
Every South Carolina starter shot at least 50% from the field.
After sinking just one 3-pointer Thursday, Amelia Hassett returned to form with perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field, all of which came from beyond the arc. Her 15 points led UK in scoring, and Hassett and Strack were joined in double-figure scoring by Teonni Key (13 points) and Asia Boone (10 points).
Despite the 23-point loss, Strack said she believes Kentucky improved while in Greenville, and that the lessons learned and adjustments made while competing in the SEC Tournament will serve the Cats come March.
“I think we got better here today,” Strack said. “So I think continuing to build off of what we’ve been doing these past few days here at the tournament, our games throughout the whole season, just continue to build off that, being able to execute, everything like that. I think the SEC and this tournament has really prepared us a lot for March and March Madness and what we’re going to do there. So I’m just excited. I’m excited to go on a run with this team.”
While South Carolina awaits its next opponent in Saturday’s semifinals, Kentucky will rest until Selection Sunday when it learns its NCAA Tournament seeding
Though ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme projected ahead of the SEC Tournament that the Cats would need to win two games in order to be named a No. 4 seed — and thus receive hosting privileges for the first- and second-round games — the team’s fate remains up in the air.
Brooks reiterated Friday afternoon that he doesn’t care whether Kentucky plays host for the opening rounds, “as long as we get an opportunity.”
“What we wanted out of this last couple of days was to make sure that we got better as a basketball team,” Brooks said. “And to make sure we came out of this thing healthy. And that was mission accomplished. And we want to host. We want to host. We feel like we deserve to host.
“But we’re not putting all our eggs in a basket, emotionally, to try to figure out and to say if we’re going to host or not, and if we don’t get it then we’re going to be upset. We’re not. We’ll go anywhere and play anybody. That’s how much confidence we have in each other.”
