Kentucky Edges Baylor

The Kentucky Women’s Basketball team had a nice big plate of revenge tonight in Rupp Arena as they defeated Baylor 74-64.  Baylor knocked Kentucky out of the NCAA Tournament in the sweet 16 last year, when they beat us 90-72.  The Bears virtually dominated the first half of the game, and were up by 10 at the half.  Early in the second half, Baylor was up by 14.  The Wildcats were able to dig in their claws, no thanks to the Refs in any single way, and come out with the victory.  There were several key moments that worked for and against us, and several players who also worked for and against us.  Let’s discuss. 

 

 

The first half of this game was… rough.  For both teams.  Baylor had 16 turnovers, and Kentucky had 15, which gives us a grand total of 31 pigtails (the liveblog gets it).  It was a slop fest.  Ladies sliding all over the mid-court, racking up stupid choppy fouls, and shooting the ball way too fast in transition.  Four Wildcats went into halftime with two fouls a piece, and knowing that this team is always more intense in the second half, that was troublesome.  Jennifer O’Neill was 0-6 from the 3-point arc… yikes.

 

Let’s talk Jennifer O’Neill.  It is finally her senior season, and it seems like the pressure of being a leader may have caught her tonight.  In the past, when O’Neill plays well, the team wins, and when she plays poorly, they lose.  This was always a double edged sword for the team because she usually does play fantastically and leads us to victory, but there’s always one game a year that she leads us down.  Tonight, we saw this program develop.  Jennifer O’Neill played horridly in the first half, and the team was still able to keep their heads up and pick up the slack.  O’Neill missed her first 10 attempted 3’s, and only had 4 points going into halftime, but finished the game with 22 points and three rebounds.

 

Tonight’s shining star? Makayla Epps.  She was a leader not only offensively, finishing second in scoring with 12 points, but led the team in rebounding with eight boards.  When the team was experiencing some serious foul trouble (three starters with three fouls, one starter with four fouls), Epps was there to be a super versatile… everything.  She played not only the point position, but also the wing, AND even the post.  Tell me who else can do that?  After the game, Makayla Epps told the press that the Rupp game is her favorite regular season game, and that being able to “look up a couple times and see [her] dad meant alot to [her].”

 

It’s not hard to notice that this year’s team doesn’t quite measure up to last years team… yes, I’m making height jokes.  The loss of our post players, Samarie Walker and DeNesha Stallworth, was something that I expected to feel a lot more of tonight.  Kentucky may have 5 girls who are over six feet tall, but Baylor has eight, and it was easy to find ourselves in situations when a few more inches could have helped.  But guess what?  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Baylor only out-rebounded the Hoops by TWO! Can you believe that?  Baylor was able to grab just two more offensive rebounds than the Hoops, but defensively, we kept it even.  You don’t have to be the tallest, just jump the highest.

 

Tonight was so much more than basketball for this program.  From a marketing point of view, every win for this team is another chance to sell Kentucky to recruits.  While Kentucky was not able to break the attendance record tonight, having tens of thousands of people show up, IN THE SNOW, to pack Rupp Arena, says so much about the university as well as the fans.  This team could not have been more gracious for the opportunity to play in front of a great home crowd, and said that they fed off the energy of the atmosphere like a zombie feeds on brains… OK maybe that was me who said that, but y’all have no idea how much energy the live blog demands from me.  The power of the #BBN never ceases to amaze.

 

 

Kentucky’s next game is on Wednesday afternoon at 11am.  Yes it is the elementary game, and yes, I’ll keep an eye out for popcorn boy.  The Hoops will tip off against Morehead State in the highest pitched game of the year.  Thanks for all of those who followed along in the live blog, as well as through snapchat and twitter.  See you Wednesday!