Treasure Hunt (Vicky Graff Photo)
No surprise that All-American Rhyne Howard was the star of the game in Kentucky’s 73-64 Southeastern Conference Tournament win over Florida Thursday. She had 27 points, six rebounds and four assists and led UK’s late charge to pull out the win to set up this afternoon’s quarterfinal matchup with Georgia.
But while “Rhyne Time” is almost a given for UK, Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy was all about “Treasure Time” after the game.
Freshman Treasure Hunt was superb, especially in the fourth quarter. She finished the game with nine points and also had seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals — all career highs. She now has hit a 3-pointer in four of the last five games.
“So proud of Treasure. Treasure is extremely talented, a gifted scorer. The transition in college for her was difficult. But now the light bulb has went off. She is playing with confidence,” Elzy said.
“She made some big plays for us today. Very efficient scoring, but also had four assists and some big rebounds for us.”
Elzy said before that Hunt had her best practice of the season the day before UK’s win at Georgia. Elzy said she “understood” that day what college basketball was all about.
“I just think it just takes time, the transition to college, the physicality, the pace, trying to find your way and where you fit,” the Kentucky coach said. “Now she’s just playing with so much confidence. She can play the three, she can play the four.
“We just remind Treasure what you can undeniably do is score. That’s what she was known for in high school. She’s bringing that now to college. But I just like that she is playing with confidence. She has an extremely high basketball IQ and size that can help us on the defensive end.”
Hunt did attack the Florida defense with no fear. She has the size and strength drive through contact, another reason she can be tenacious on the boards. She also was a force in UK’s fourth-quarter press.
Howard and Hunt were AAU teammates and Howard was a major reason Hunt, UK’s highest-rated recruit, came to Kentucky. Howard was not surprised by the role Hunt played.
“We all know she can play, she can produce for us, she can do great things for us,” Howard said. “We just had to stay ready because her number is going to get called.
“We need her to come in, not be scared, not be nervous or anything, just play like she knows how to play.”
Hunt’s play overshadowed the significance of what junior Blair Green did early in the fourth quarter. She came off the bench to hit consecutive shots when UK really needed them. Her playing time has decreased in recent games after Elzy took her out of the starting lineup but she went 2-for-3 from the field in 15 minutes.
“I thought she came in and gave us momentum, two huge shots to get us going. So proud of Blair and her hustle defensively as well,” Elzy said.
“She shoots those in practice. She shoots those in other games. We told her to come in and shoot them,” Howard said about Green. “We know she’s going to take that shot. She drives middle, everyone knows she’s looking to pull up. We know she’s going to knock it down. So we tell her, ‘Keep shooting.’ That’s what you do.”
Elzy knows she’ll need Hunt, Green, and others to provide the same kind of bench support against Georgia today.
“Our bench, they are the X factors that are going to have to step up and make plays. Blair Green coming in scoring, Treasure, Robyn Benton, Dre (Edwards). Those are the X factors that we are going to have to have to step up if we want to make a run,” Elzy said.
