Same record, different story: where Kentucky WBB goes from here
When the Kentucky women’s basketball team hit a 9-11 record last season, they picked up 10 straight wins and a set of SEC Tournament rings. After the loss on Thursday night, Kentucky is again 9-11. However, at this rate, the ‘Cats will be lucky to play another 10 games. Here’s why.
Not enough excuses
Obviously, this subheading is a joke… Kind of. When UK lost eight of its nine games in early spring 2022, they had valid excuses; four of them to be exact. Robyn Benton, Jazmine Massengill and Treasure Hunt were sidelined by injury while Dre’una Edwards sat the bench due to disciplinary matters (old habits die hard).
Although Kentucky lost game after game in soul-crushing fashion, the BBN held on to hope because they had explanations — and Rhyne Howard. This year’s team is not so fortunate. Kentucky has a 15-woman healthy roster, a head coach with two years under her belt and a boatload of experienced transfers.
Kentucky has mouthwatering ingredients and is producing hard-to-stomach results. Unable to add anything new to the equation, UK is attempting to jumpstart itself with its own dead battery. Yet, the team has no choice but to make it work.
“It’s not what you want to do or how you think you should do it. It’s what we need to do,” head coach Kyra Elzy said after Thursday’s loss to Auburn. ” We need all of the intangibles to finish. As you see, these games are coming down to one possession.”
Kentucky lacks distributed scoring
There are two teams within the Wildcats right now. The first team is Maddie Scherr, Robyn Benton and Jada Walker. It’s a really good team. The second team is everybody else.
Through eight SEC games, Kentucky has scored 520 points. Exactly 374 of those points (71.9%) are from Kentucky’s big three. This number would be even higher if Benton had not missed the Wildcats’ contest against Arkansas due to injury.
While players such as Kennedy Cambridge and Blair Green provide an occasional boost for the ‘Cats, Kentucky’s bigs are potholes constantly threatening to halt momentum. The guards look nervous to feed the interior, in fear of a turnover.
Contrasting this situation with last year’s team, UK point guard Massengill enthusiastically kicked it to frontcourt star Edwards to win the SEC championship last season; big difference.
When asked about implementing a five-guard lineup, Elzy seemed torn on the idea.
“We talk about it,” Elzy said after the loss. “It is great on offense with a five-guard lineup. On the flip side, if they have two bigs, that’s not necessarily a great matchup on the other end.”
“Down, but not defeated”
With no new players coming to their rescue and a missing order of offense, the ‘Cats have one option: make the best of their situation. Kentucky has not played its best ball yet. The team has infinite room for improvement — improvement they occasionally show.
For example, on Thursday evening, Kentucky’s bigs had a solid showing. Nyah Leveretter dropped five points and 11 rebounds while Adebola Adeyeye added six points and six rebounds, as well. Elzy was thrilled about her frontcourt’s performance.
“I was so proud of Ade (Adeyeye), and our whole post group. I challenged them before the game. We needed 15 rebounds between that group. We needed at least 12 plus points. We needed them to sell out defensively.”
Further, while Kentucky has no players who can come back from injury, they do have ‘Cats who came climb out of slumps. Eniya Russell, who dropped 14 points in 15 minutes versus Ohio earlier in the year, has two points in conference play.
Amiya Jenkins, who dropped nine points in her rookie debut against Louisville, hasn’t been able to buy a basket lately. Emma King just drained her second 3-pointer of the season against Auburn. Success is still an option for Kentucky. It will simply demand utter sacrifice and focus from every player.
“We can’t take any possessions off whether it’s hitting a free throw, getting a box out, or finishing a layup,” Elzy said. “Down, but not defeated, and we just have to go back to work.”
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