PREVIEW: Kentucky WBB hosts USC Upstate in first Rupp Arena game of 2023-24

Kentucky Women’s Basketball will be playing its first game at Rupp Arena of the 2023-24 regular season on Saturday night.

The Lady ‘Cats will take on the USC Upstate Spartans inside Rupp as the program’s usual home gym, Memorial Coliseum, undergoes renovations. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on the SEC Network+. Kentucky opened the regular season with a 74-66 win over ETSU at Transylvania and won its only preseason exhibition match against Kentucky State, which also took place at Rupp Arena.

During that exhibition, Rupp Arena was full of rowdy, elementary-aged children for Kentucky Women’s Basketball’s “Education Day.” Saturday’s matchup will be dedicated to Veterans, as a “Salute to Veterans Night.” The energy was definitely high on Education Day, so the Lady ‘Cats will need fans to show up loud and proud of their team on Saturday night.

Kentucky opened the season with an ugly win over ETSU on Tuesday. After a slow start, Maddie Scherr, Amiya Jenkins, and the rest of the Wildcats got into a momentum that needs to carry over into Saturday’s matchup if they want to have a chance at taking the win.

Scouting Report: USC Upstate Spartans

The USC Upstate Spartans will make their way to Lexington to take on the 1-0 Kentucky Wildcats, which will defend home floor at Rupp Arena for the first of many times this season. The Spartans started off their season with an 86-51 loss to the Davidson Wildcats, but things took a turn for the worst against East Carolina earlier this week. The Spartans ended up losing by a whopping 70 points, 105-35. USC Upstate was picked to finish sixth in the Big South in the preseason, but that may be an overestimation.

Although we’re only in the first week of college basketball, it’s safe to say that USC Upstate is not a good team at this stage. Kentucky is the best team that USC Upstate will play all season, and this matchup heavily favors the Lady ‘Cats. While ECU is among the top teams in the AAC, they’re not a team that should be demolishing teams as they did against the Spartans.

Whether it’s not taking care of the ball or just not finding open shots, USC Upstate really struggles with creating scoring opportunities for themselves. The biggest indicator of this is probably their miserable assist/turnover ratio. USC Upstate is ranked 332nd out of 337 teams in that statistic. They have only recorded 16 assists to their 74 turnovers. That equates to only 0.22 assists for every turnover they commit — an atrocious stat.

By the way, those 74 turnovers are by far the most in the country thus far. Second to last in the nation in total turnovers is Alabama State with 62. USC Upstate’s 37 turnovers per game are also the worst in college basketball. The closest to that number would be Gardner-Webb and Seattle University with 33 per game. Kentucky only committed seven turnovers against ETSU. That puts UK at 4th in the country in that category. About as big of a disparity as you can get.

The main contributors for USC Upstate are Trinity Johnson, Isabell West, and AC Markham. Johnson is a sixth-year senior and was a Second Team All-Big South selection in the preseason. While she may not be the primary scorer for the Spartans, she has the most impact on the floor for them. Her 4.5 RPG, 4 APG, and 1 SPG all lead the team through two games. However, she is struggling mightily to score, as all of her teammates are. Johnson is shooting just 12.5% from the field thus far.

As for West and Markham, they are the two primary sources of offense for USC Upstate. Despite only averaging 13.5 minutes per game, West leads the team with 7.5 PPG. She also grabs an average of four rebounds a game. Markham averages six points, 4.5 rebounds, two assists, and one block per game. While those numbers may seem pedestrian, that’s the best of what the Spartans have to offer.

What does Kentucky need to do to win? It’s simple. The ‘Cats just need to play their brand of defense and the offense will come. Kentucky should wreak havoc on USC Upstates guards and force turnovers from there. The tallest player for the Spartans is Emma Blair, who stands at 6’2. Kentucky needs to overwhelm USC Upstate with their size on both ends of the floor. Kentucky should cruise to a victory with the game hopefully being decided within the first 20 minutes of play.