Blair Green was feeling "pretty hot" Sunday when she scored a career-high 22 points against Vanderbilt (SEC Photo)
All-American Rhyne Howard was out with an ankle injury and key reserves Jazmine Massengill and Robyn Benton (along with Erin Toller and Kameron Roach) were out due to COVID-19 protocols. That meant Kentucky needed more offense from new sources in Sunday’s game with Vanderbilt — which has just seven players available because of injuries and COVID restrictions.
Say hello junior Blair Green. She had 22 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 on 3-pointers, along with five rebounds and two steals.
Junior guard Blair Green led UK with a career-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including a career-best 4-of-5 from the 3-point line and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. She also added five rebounds and two steals to help UK overcome blowing a 16-point second-quarter lead and still win. Her fourth 3-pointer put UK ahead 70-69 and the Cats won 80-73.
“I was feeling pretty hot on my shot. My teammates kept giving it to me. They believe in me and I was confident so it was a good night,” Green said.
“It was very important because Rhyne brings a lot of points and a lot of big plays and gets everyone open. Without her, I really need to step as well as everyone else who needs to step up and I thought everyone did their job and really stepped up to the plate.”
Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy didn’t downplay just how big Green’s play and scoring were.
“Blair was huge for us. She made play after play, some big shots. That 3 (late in the game to give UK the lead),” Elzy said. “But credit to Blair. She comes in before practice. She practices extremely hard. She comes in after practice. She watches film. So, the shots that you see her hitting, she takes over and over and over, so she is very confident in the shots that she takes, and we’re very confident because she works at it every day.”
Green credited guard Chasity Patterson — who had her own huge game with 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and one steal in 36 minutes — for setting up her go-ahead 3-pointer.
“We just got a steal, I think, and Chasity was running down the floor really fast, which is something the coaches have really been on her about and I thought she really stepped up tonight and really threw the ball up,” Green said.
“They were kind of sagging back, so Chasity was kind of bringing them into the middle and I was wide open on the three in transition. So, it was a really good play.”
Kentucky ended up with five players in double figures in what Elzy called a “huge win” for her team.
“Our message was consistent all game. We have to dig in. It’s going to take everybody. We cannot panic. We had to get some stops on the defensive end, one shot and out, push the ball in transition,” Elzy said.
“But, the biggest message, do not panic. We have been here before, we are battle tested, we have enough players on the floor that can make plays, and that showed tonight.”
