Kentucky WBB's new attitude leads to new results
The Kentucky women’s basketball team recently picked up its first win in 32 days. The win was fueled by something the Cats had been missing for much longer.
In UK’s 72-57 first-round SEC Tournament upset over Florida on Wednesday, Kentucky dished out 18 assists. The last time the Cats recorded 18 assists or more was against Ohio University on Dec. 21, 2022. For all the anti-math folks out there, that’s 70 days.
Playing free when the pressure is on
While the result was nearly unrecognizable, Kentucky forward Adebola Adeyeye insisted the team’s offensive game plan wasn’t what changed. It was something much simpler.
“Honestly, I really think we played free. Like our coach said before the game, have fun, and I think we forget that and we’re so tight. So we just had fun. People were running. People were just so loose that it was easy to make that pass,” Adeyeye said during the postgame press conference.
Kentucky’s journey back
It’s been difficult for Kentucky to have much fun lately. The Wildcats entered the tournament on a seven-game losing streak, losing by an average margin of 15 points per game. During that rough patch, Kentucky failed to record more than seven assists on four separate occasions.
As a result, Kentucky’s shooting percentages plummeted. The Cats never shot above 41% during that seven-game downward spiral. In the team’s win over Florida, they shot 44% from the field. The sudden change isn’t a coincidence.
“Our confidence going into this game was just higher than it had been, and that’s a really good thing, because we were hitting all our shots, sharing the ball, and having fun,” sophomore point guard Jada Walker said after the win. “We were out there laughing.“
It comes from the top
It’s easy to laugh when your leader is laughing right beside you. Head coach Kyra Elzy put a focus on taking any pressure off her team entering Wednesday’s contest.
“I really tried to keep it light today, not put too much on them,” Elzy said. “We have been through so much this year, I wanted everyone to be free and empty their tank.”
Hopefully for the Cats, they saved a little gas. Kentucky will have to win four more games if they want to be back-to-back SEC Tournament champions. Watch UK take on No. 6 seed Alabama at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday night. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard