KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's 10-point dub over the dirty birds

Kentucky got its biggest win of the season to this point on Saturday. Kenny Brooks‘ squad went on the road and beat Louisville 72-62 to move to 7-0 on the young season. It was a back and forth game for much of it, but the better team ended up pulling away in the end.

Here are KSR’s top takeaways from what went down in the KFC Yum! Center between the Cats and Cards.

Teonni Key showed up in the biggest of moments

Teonni Key was such a good player for Kentucky a year ago that it feels like her start to the 2025-26 campaign has been a bit underwhelming, but following the Louisville game, that sentiment is now a bunch of nonsense.

In 32 minutes against the Cardinals, Key put up 17 points on 8-13 shooting, also grabbing eight rebounds and blocking four shots along the way. When Kentucky made their big runs, Key was usually a big part of why. At one point, the offense was exclusively ran through her in the high post, and it resulted in points.

She had 17 points in last year’s game against Louisville as well. Her time in Lexington will be over following this season, but the memory of what she did against Louisville these past two years will live on forever.

Shoutout to Lexi Blue and Asia Boone for doing the little things

If you look at the box score, Lexi Blue and Asia Boone aren’t going to jump off the page to you. After all, they only combined for three points. However, both of them played a huge role in Saturday’s win.

Brooks went with a small lineup during a large portion of the third quarter, sending Tonie Morgan, Boone, Blue, Jordan Obi and Amelia Hassett out there. Kentucky had struggled guarding Louisville’s guards a bit because of how much quicker they were than Kentucky’s guards, and that lineup change did wonders in fixing that.

Blue hit a huge three during that run, but for her and Boone, it’s what they did defensively against the Cardinals that will leave you more than encouraged for the rest of the season.

Kentucky’s dominant third quarter was this team at its best

Kentucky won the third quarter 20-6. That was the difference in the game. You have to give a shoutout to Brooks and the staff for adjusting at halftime as well as the players for continuously fighting through adversity in a really tough road environment.

Louisville is a good team — a better team than most think probably — but Kentucky looked ELITE during that third quarter. If Kentucky were to play like that or close to that for four quarters, they’d be a surefire top ten team in the country.

However, Kentucky may be able to prove that top ten potential by beating No. 9 Maryland in the Discover Puerto Rico Shootout. The Terps are one of the best teams outside of college basketball outside of the UConn’s, UCLA’s and South Carolina’s of the world. Kentucky might be in that mix too. It certainly looked like it on Saturday.