Rhyne Howard missed 19 of the 25 shots she took in the loss to Ole Miss Sunday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
See if this sounds familiar. The home team jumps out to a 10-point lead in the first nine minutes, seems to relax, suddenly cannot make shots, and loses. Sure, that’s what the Kentucky men did Saturday in their loss to Florida but the UK women did almost the same thing in a 73-69 loss to Ole Miss Sunday. The Rebels are one of the SEC’s worst teams but now have two wins over UK and cost Kentucky a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.
Instead, UK will play the winner of 13th seeded Auburn versus 12th seeded Florida on Thursday at 1 p.m.in the second round in Greenville, S.C. If they win, they are scheduled to play fourth-seeded Georgia in the quarterfinals Friday.
Kentucky was only 22 of 66 from the field against Mississippi and All-American Rhyne Howard went 6-for-25 from the field. She got 21 points overall but it was not an efficient 21 points. Howard did have a career-high 16 rebounds, five rebounds, and three steals.
Mississippi rotated a variety of defenders on Howard and often had her double-teamed. She often tried to force shots that were contested and at times seemed just trying to draw contact for fouls that didn’t work often.
“I think it was just frustrating for everyone overall. I thought we had some really good looks, they just didn’t go in, which forced us to play in panic offensively,” Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy said. “Some shots that we have been making did not go.
“I just think we have to do a better job of finishing through contact. So, yes, there were some fouls, but being able to hammer down and finish some of those.”
In a 72-60 loss to Ole Miss earlier this year, Kentucky was 21 of 66 from the field and Howard was 7-for-26. That means in two games against the Rebels the Cats are 43-for-132 from the field and Howard is 13-for-51.
What does Mississippi do to disrupt UK’s offense so much?
“I think they play extremely hard. They’re never out of the game. They’re physical, they’re athletic,” Elzy said. “I thought we started the game with the intensity that we needed and kind of tapered off. I thought our offense affected our defense. But overall, today was not our day. Disappointing.”
Senior guard Chasity Patterson had 18 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and 6-for-8 at the foul line in her final home game.
“It came down to us. We couldn’t hit a shot, and that happens. We’re going to have bad shooting nights. So, I feel like just getting back in the gym, getting shots, and just working on our defense,” Patterson said. “We’ve been through adversity all season, so I feel like we’re going to bounce back from this, and it’s just another bump in the road for us.”
But it was a big bump. Kentucky is 16-7 overall and 9-6 in SEC play so the Cats are going to be in the NCAA Tournament and don’t have to win the league tourney to advance like John Calipari’s team does. But not having a double-bye makes a path to at least the title game and a higher NCAA seed very unlikely.
“Obviously not the outcome that we wanted, and how we wanted to show today. However, it happened, we can’t take it back, all we can do is learn and move forward, and just talk to them about regrouping. We have to regroup and be ready to head into the SEC Tournament,” Elzy said.
Elzy hopes having an experienced team will help UK in tournament play.
“There is something to be said about having vets on your team, knowing what to expect at the SEC Tournament, knowing what’s at stake, so we’ll fine-tune some things in practice and we’ll be ready for the SEC Tournament,” Elzy said.
