Cats Have to ‘Stay the Course’ at Alabama

Clara Strack is the only player in the nation averaging at least 16.0 points, nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky has gone from being picked to finish eighth in the Southeastern Conference to ranked sixth in the country after a 15-1 start that includes a win and then-No. 5 LSU.

Kentucky plays at No. 24 Alabama (15-1) tonight before hosting No. 5 Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon.

“We know what we can do. We just have to stay the course,” UK point guard Tonie Morgan, the national player of the week, said Wednesday.

Kentucky will be facing Alabama without Teonni Key, who dislocated her elbow in Sunday’s win over Missouri. There is no timeline for when — or if — she will return.

“We just have to stay focused, especially being a man down. Everybody has to step up,” Morgan said. “They (Alabama) are physical, have good shooters and a big post presence. If we play our style of basketball and the way we know how to play, we should be fine.”

Morgan had a  combined 42 points, 26 assists and three turnovers in wins over LSU and Missouri. She is first in the nation in assists (144) and assists per game (9.0). She also improved to sixth in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (3.51).

Morgan is the only player in the nation with three games this season with at least 11 assists and no turnovers. She also is the lone player in the nation averaging at least 13 points and nine assists per game.

Junior center Clara Strack is Kentucky’s leading scorer (16.8) and rebounder (9.8) and the only player in the nation averaging at least 16.0 points, nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. She also had a career-high three 3s in the 22-point win over Missouri.

“Coach keeps telling me to shoot and not worry about the percentage but that you can’t make shots if you don’t shoot,” Strack said.

The 6-foot-5 Strack gets double teamed a lot but has learned to cope with that by trusting in what coach Kenny Brooks runs on offense to get her shots.

“Obviously also trusting in my teammates. We have so many threats from so many parts of the floor,” Strack said.

Kentucky had 11 3’s against Missouri, the eighth time this season it has made 10 or more 3’s in a game. Kentucky has also scored 72 or more points in 14 of 16 games for the first time since 2000-10.

Kentucky’s defense also shined against Missouri. The Cats are third in the nation in scoring defense (52.1 points per game) and seventh in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (32.8  percent).

“The SEC is stacked obviously,” Strack said. “There is not a game we can take lightly. We just have to remember that every game brings its own set of different challenges.”

“We have been defending pretty well,” Morgan said. “We are still learning ourselves, learning the team and playing confident. Winning at LSU was a confidence boost to show everybody else in this league that we could play, but we already knew that.”