Robyn Benton had 15 points on her 21st birthday to help UK beat Alabama. (SEC Photo)
After getting embarrassed at Tennessee Sunday, Kentucky needed to make a statement against Alabama Thursday night and did with an 81-68 win.
“We were really disappointed in the way that we performed, especially rebounding,” UK guard Roby Benton, who had 15 points against Alabama, said. “These past couple of practices has been keying in on rebounding. The coaches have been harping on us to rebound. Rebound, rebound, rebound. And us as players, we hold ourselves accountable for rebounding even more.”
Tennessee dominated the boards against Kentucky. This time UK out rebounded Alabama 37-26 and the Tide did not have an offensive rebound the first half. That edge helped UK get 11 fast break points while holding Alabama scoreless in transition.
Rhyne Howard had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to bounce back from one of her worst games at Tennessee.
“It definitely wasn’t a showing that we wanted (at Tennessee). Everyone was kind of down after and we knew that we did it to ourselves. We knew that we were going to have to come back and play Kentucky basketball today and all be together and look like one,” Howard said.
“Especially in the SEC, we knew we couldn’t have two back-to-back losses. We knew this one was going to be big and Alabama is a tough team. We knew defensively we were going to have to step up and play harder than what we have been.”
Kentucky (12-4, 5-3 SEC) made 30 of 57 shot from the field, including 10 of 18 from 3. Kentucky also had a 37-12 edge in bench scoring.
“I would love to have that every game. Any time you have four players in double figures, you shoot 52 percent from the field, 55 percent from the 3. Yeah, we’ll take that every night if we could,” Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy said.
Kentucky had five players with four or more rebounds and both Jazmine Masengill and Howard both had seven assists but seven other players also had assists. Kentucky also had just 12 turnovers and no player had more than two.
“Yeah, the stat sheet looked wonderful, but one thing of importance that we have talked about the last three days, rebounding. We outrebounded this team tonight by 11, so, I was so excited,” Elzy said. “I had this team stand up and give themselves a hand in the locker room.
“And another big number, 23 assists. So, that just goes to show that we moved the basketball tonight and have better execution offensively.”
Benton was 6-for-10 from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. She also had four blocks, one assist and one blocked shot in 24 minutes of play on her 21st birthday.
“I could not have a bad shooting night on my birthday,” Benton said.
She was hoping teammates were still going to be around after she finished her media interviews to help celebrate her birthday.
“I’m going to play some music and just dance and enjoy my birthday because you know I can’t go out or anything,” Benton said.
Howard said the players might “get some cake and just hang out” with Benton to celebrate her birthday but she was more pleased with what Benton did on the court on her birthday.
“She was huge off the bench, but we know she’s always going to come in looking to be that spark that we need. She’s definitely going to hit some big shots when we need her to,” Howard said.
Elzy felt the same way about Benton’s play and spark off the bench.
“Rhythm shots, she can knock down, but defensively, she hustles. She makes plays that might not show up on the stat sheet,” Elzy said. “I texted her earlier wishing her a happy birthday and she sends me a text back, ‘I’s going to be a great birthday coach, let’s get this win.’ I said sounds good, so, Happy 21st birthday to Robyn Benton.”
