Another loss to U of L is frustrating, but Elzy’s Cats have shown some signs of hope
After suffering its sixth straight loss to intrastate rival Louisville, the Kentucky women’s basketball team stands 7-2 on the young season. With only three non-league games remaining before SEC play begins, it seems an appropriate time to evaluate where the UK season seems headed.
Not surprisingly for a team that lost four starters from last season’s SEC Tournament title-winning team — including program cornerstone Rhyne Howard — and is working in 10 new players on its roster, Kyra Elzy’s Cats have some clear issues.
There are some encouraging signs of hope, too.
Of UK’s seven victories to date, six have come against foes that rank below 200 in the NCAA women’s basketball NET Rankings. The seventh win, an 80-74 road victory at Minnesota, came at the expense of the 112th-rated Golden Gophers.
Kentucky has taken losses against the only two well-regarded teams it has so far faced. The Cats lost 82-74 to still-unbeaten Virginia Tech (No. 8 in the NET) last month in the The Bahamas. On Sunday before a spirited crowd announced at 7,927 in Rupp Arena, UK fell to U of L 86-72. The Cardinals are rated 43rd with a 7-4 record.
To start beating quality competition, Kentucky has to get out of the starting blocks better.
In the loss to Virginia Tech, UK fell behind 29-8 after one quarter. Though the Wildcats “won” the rest of the game by 13 points, the hole was too deep to climb out of.
On Sunday vs. Louisville, it was the same story. The Cardinals opened a 29-14 lead with an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, and Kentucky never got closer than 10 points for the remainder of the game.
“Obviously, we don’t want to start slow,” Elzy said. “That’s not what we are trying to do. That’s not our intention.”
It would help Kentucky if it could get its three-point shooting dialed in. A team that is starting a lineup that features four perimeter players entered the Louisville contest making only 25 percent (35 of 140) of its three-point attempts. UK was better than that (6 of 16 for 37.5 percent) vs. U of L but made only 2 of 9 treys in the Virginia Tech loss.
One of the realities of playing four out is that you are sacrificing rebounding capacity. Louisville won the battle of the boards against Kentucky 44-35. Virginia Tech did the same, by a 43-32 margin.
Errant outside shooting negates UK’s compensatory benefit of “playing small.”
Bad free-throw shooting is also undermining the Wildcats. Kentucky entered the Louisville game making a so-so 67.6 percent of its foul shots. Against U of L, the free-throw line killed the Cats — while UK was going 10 of 21, U of L sank 33 of 39.
There are also hopeful developments that should boost Kentucky going forward.
UK’s starting backcourt of super-senior Robyn Benton, junior Maddie Scherr and sophomore Jada Walker is good. Benton’s 20-point game vs. Louisville elevated her to be UK’s leading scorer (15.3 points).
Scherr hit the Cardinals for a career-high 18 points. The versatile transfer from Oregon is the rare player leading a team in both assists (56) and blocked shots (nine). Scherr is averaging 7.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals.
It seems Scherr also brings some competitive fire to UK. “Obviously, you never want to lose any game,” Scherr said. “But losing to Louisville just sucks.”
The 5-foot-7 Walker (14.0 points, team-high 28 steals) had been Kentucky’s leading scorer on the season until Louisville’s defense, led by the 6-2 Morgan Jones, harried her into a 1-for-8 shooting day that yielded only three points.
“She is a dynamic scorer,” U of L Coach Jeff Walz said of Walker. “We were trying to use length on her — which I thought was really effective.”
LSU transfer Ajae Petty, a 6-3 junior, is the most-promising low-post player Kentucky has fielded in eons. Limited to 15 minutes of game action vs. Louisville by foul trouble, Petty (8.7 points, 6.2 rebounds) still produced 11 points and six boards. Over her past five games, Petty has made 27 of 42 shots and is averaging 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds.
“Ajae Petty, what she is able to do when we can keep her out of foul trouble (is big),” Elzy said. “For us to be able to pound the ball inside and her finish consistently (is important).”
Freshmen wings Amiya Jenkins (5.6 points) and Kennedy Cambridge (5.3) have each been impressive. Jenkins, the former Anderson County star and Kentucky’s reigning Miss Basketball, had nine points off the bench vs. Louisville and did not look overmatched physically by a Cardinals roster stacked with lavishly praised recruits.
For Kentucky, with so many new players, 2022-23 is a “re-tooling” year. Nevertheless, the realistic goal for the Cats should be to try to make the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in the past 14 seasons.
“We have fight. We have heat. I love our versatility,” Elzy said Sunday. “… We have the pieces. We have exactly what we need. Now, it’s a matter of putting it together.”
Next game
Murray State at Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Friday
TV: SEC Network
Records: Kentucky 7-2, Murray State 5-1
Series: Kentucky leads 15-0
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 12:42 PM.
