43-Point Win Not Enough to Make Brooks Overly Happy

Kentucky is now 12-1 with only one more game before starting Southeastern Conference play. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Normally a 96-53 victory would seem to be something that would make a coach happy. However, Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks was not overly pleased with his team’s 96-53 victory over Wright State Friday night.

“That’s a tricky question. If you had asked me at the beginning of the season, I would say yes, but when you’re going through it day to day you kind of move the goalposts all the time because you understand what their potential is, you never want to be complacent,” Brooks said after the game when asked if he was happy  with his team’s progress. “They’ve shown the flashes of what they’re capable of doing, so we’re always going to be trying to get better.”

Brooks called a timeout in the second half when his team had a 43-point lead. He let several players know he was not happy with what he was seeing.

“t’s a hard game to play and I talk about it each and every year, really trying to make sure that you keep the focus where the focus needs to be. It’s been a grind,” Brooks said.  “It’s always a challenge to make sure that everybody’s focus, energy, and effort is here and locked in. I wasn’t totally pleased with our focus, but we had some good performances.”

Junior center Clara Strack scored 26 points on 9-for-18 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds,  blocked four shots and handed out three assists to lead Kentucky as she normally does. Point guard Tonie Morgan went 7-for-11 from the field and had 18 points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.

Asia Boone went 5-for-11 from 3-point range and had 17 points, four assists and two rebounds.

“I am putting some responsibility on her to be more of a communicator. She’s a smart player,” the Kentucky coach said. “She knows what she’s doing but sometimes she gets in the confusion because of a lack of communication. She’s got a little ways to go. She’s going to be tremendous for us. She already is but we are asking more of her.

Teonni Key did not play due to a lingering leg injury and that enabled freshman Kaelyn Carroll to get a career-high 25 1/2 minutes. She made six threes on 11 tries and scored a career-high 18 points.

“We’re very pleased with what KK (Carroll) did. I thought she had a little bit more energy and physicality. She was where she was supposed to be a lot more times than not, and then obviously we all know she can shoot the basketball. So excited for her and we’re going to need her,” Brooks said.

Brooks said not having Key impacted the playing rotations and that along with the quality of the opponent enabled him to try some new things/lineups.

“Trying to get different opportunities for people,” Brooks said.

He joked on the UK Radio Network postgame show that he felt like “Scrooge” for being so negative after such an easy win where his team made 15 3-points, went 15-for-18 at the foul line and committed just five turnovers. There was also a 22-0 run to end the first half.

“I feel like I’m being so negative, and I’m not being that way, but I’m looking at the bigger picture,” Brooks said. “We got away from some of the things we would normally do. We’ll have some film to dissect a little bit differently at this point and for this game.”