Dre'una Edwards, right, has been a "big body" Kentucky needed inside. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky is now 13-4 overall and 6-3 in Southeastern Conference play after Sunday’s win over Missouri. So if coach Kyra Elzy could fix one deficiency about her team for the stretch run, what would it be?
“If I could snap my fingers and fix one thing, it would be keeping the ball out of the paint. Making them score outside the paint, one shot and out. And, have we gotten better? Absolutely, we’ve taken a step forward in our defense,” Elzy said.
“You continue to work on your deficiencies, and while you’re doing that, you find a way to win basketball games, and that is the name of the game.”
Kentucky was dominated on the inside at Tennessee and killed on the backboards. Kentucky out rebounded Missouri 35-30 and also out rebounded Alabama on Thursday. Rhyne Howard had 22 points and 10 rebounds — her fourth double-double of the season — and Dre’una Edwars had 10 points and nine rebounds Sunday.
Missouri missed 17 of 18 3-pointers but Elzy is on her perimeter players as much as her interior players about not giving up paint points.
“When I say paint points, paint points are paint points. It’s not just them throwing to the post and scoring. Paint points, you can get in transition, you don’t get the ball stopped and the guards are driving it downhill, or one-on-on defense with our guards and they’re getting around us and getting their feet in the paint,” the UK coach said.
“When it goes to the low block, we have consistently worked on bringing the double and pushing toward the baseline. We have to do a better job of continuing to push out so they’re not so deep, but ball pressure. You have to have ball pressure from your guards to allow your posts time to get in position.”
Edwards, a transfer, has been a God-send inside for Kentucky.
“She is definitely the big body that we need. We are looking for her to get those boards and get the defensive stops against other bigs,” Howard said. “We can definitely go to her offensively too, because she always knows what move to make or if she needs to throw it back out.”
Elzy said the coaching staff recommitted itself to holding players “accountable to rebounding” after the Tennessee loss.
“We have made a point of emphasis in practice, every drill, five of them, five of us, put a body on someone, actually make contact, push back, go get the ball with two hands,” Elzy said.
“So, we’re doing it day-after-day in practice and holding them accountable for it, and it is transferring over in the game.”
