How good is Kentucky? We don’t know yet, but we’ll soon find out.
For this Kentucky women’s basketball team, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
“I think what makes Kentucky so good,” said Charlotte Coach Cara Consuegra, “is they’re just good at every position.”
This was after Consuegra’s team, previously 6-1, lost 86-39 to Matthew Mitchell’s Cats on Wednesday. An early 11 a.m. tip-off for Winning Tools Education Day, the game was nearly over before it started. UK jumped to a 10-0 lead. A couple of minutes later, it was 18-3. By the end of the first quarter, UK star Rhyne Howard had scored 13 points. UK led 29-9 on the way to an 8-0 record.
“Obviously, Rhyne Howard is one of the best players in the country. We knew that coming into the game,” Consuegra said. “But what makes them so good is that they have players at every position that can score, that can defend. I don’t think there are a lot of teams in the country that have that ability.”
So why aren’t the Cats ranked higher? After starting the season at No. 13 in the AP women’s college basketball poll, Kentucky is now 15th. The Cats have dropped a spot each of the last two weeks.
Why? We won’t say the early schedule has been a cakewalk for the UK women, but we will report that their victory margins to this point have been 23, 15, 19, 3, 25, 46, 29 and 47. Other than a road game at Virginia, which Kentucky won 50-47, the Cats haven’t really played anybody. Yet.
“We’re just trying to get a little better every day,” said Mitchell after the win. “We know we’ve got a very tough schedule the rest of the season.”
And soon. After home games against Samford (Sunday) and Winthrop (Dec. 11), Louisville, currently ranked No. 2 in the Top 25, visits Rupp Arena on Dec. 15. The Cats play at California on Dec. 21, then start SEC play at No. 6 South Carolina on Jan. 2.
So eight games into the campaign, what does Mitchell like and what does he not like about his team?
“I’m happy that we’ve continued to improve and I want us to improve more,” said the coach. “I guess I’m a little greedy at this point.”
So is every coach in every sport.
“I think we’re going to have to be a real sound, solid, fundamentally sound basketball team to reach our potential,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think that we are dominant in any other area other than Rhyne Howard, who can be a dominant player.”
She was just that Wednesday. The sophomore guard ended up matching her career high with 29 points for the game. “We didn’t have anybody who could match up with her,” Consuegra said.
But to get where the Cats want to go, they have to be more than Howard. And they know that. Mitchell knows that.
“We’re a team that really needs to play well together,” said the coach. “We just can’t have a lot of breakdowns in our fundamentals because we can’t make it up with tremendous shot-blocking or crazy speed or anything. But we have enough of everything if we really play hard and play together with great fundamentals, I think we’re dangerous every night.”
They sure looked dangerous Wednesday. Sabrina Haines, the senior guard who transferred in from Arizona State, scored 16 points. As a team, UK made 10 of 22 three-point attempts, an area where the Cats have continued to improve.
“We’re a veteran team and we know that we have to get a lot better before we get into SEC play, or the next team that we play,” Haines said. “It’s just continuous improvement and knowing that every day we want to get better in practice and games.”
She must have been listening to her head coach.
“We have to pay attention to the details,” Mitchell said. “I think that’s the biggest challenge we face right now.”
After all, the biggest challenges await. Sooner, rather than later.
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 5:06 PM.
