Tonie Morgan needs six assists tonight at Texas to tie Georgia Amoore's single season record at UK. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky is coming off an 83-82 loss to No. 7 Vanderbilt going into tonight’s game at No. 4 Texas (22-2, 7-2 SEC) but there were a lot of positives for coach Kenny Brooks’ team even in the loss.
Kentucky became the only Division I women’s team since at least 2002-03 to score at least 83 points, shoot at least 56 percent overall from the field, shoot at least 60 percent from 2, shoot at least 50 percent from 3; make at least 10 3-pointers, have at least 23 assists and have a rebounding margin of at least 18 against a top 10 team.
“It was a tremendous performance and we lost. You look at one thing that’s looming out there is that we just had some careless turnovers,” Kentucky assistant coach Josh Petersen said on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk. “I think that’s where we have to stay positive and build on what we did well and remember who we are. Tough ending to that one (against Vanderbilt) but a lot of positives to take away.”
Senior forward Teonni Key had a career-high 27 points against Vanderbilt on 11 of 15 shooting. She also had 12 rebounds for her second straight double-double since returning from a dislocated elbow after missing six games.
“Great to have Teonni back,” Petersen said. “We have been without her for a total of eight games this season. So now it is kind of getting the team back as a whole at a time where we can really peak and make a run.”
The Kentucky assistant praised Jordan Obi for her versatility during Key’s absence.
“We had to move her around a little bit. We’ve been honest with her and she is willing to do whatever it takes to help us win,” Petersen said about having to move a 6-foot-1 guard inside to play during Key’s absence. “In some ways she’s probably naturally more of a four player, and so we slid her into the post. Anyone who has ever played basketball understands that it’s not that seamless.
“There may only be five people on the court, but anytime you add or remove a piece, there’s a learning curve in terms of what am I doing on this play? But she stepped up and really had some big games in terms of I would say consistent production around anywhere from seven to 11 rebounds and nine to 12 points in those games. She was really big in that regard. Now we’ve moved her back to the guard spot.
“I think every coach would love to have a deeper bench but at the same time you have got to be able to put the five out there that can really go out and compete.”
Petersen noted how competing in the SEC is not that easy. Eight teams have better conference records than UK’s 5-5 but the Cats own wins over two of them — LSU (8-3) and Oklahoma (5-4).
“If you know anything about SEC women’s basketball, it is no cakewalk,” Petersen said. “We are by far the best conference in the country. We’ve got nine teams ranked in the top 25 out of 16 (teams). I think the men on the SEC side have three (ranked teams) right now. Doesn’t mean that it’s not a dog fight every night, but the volume of talent that you’re getting to see every night (in women’s basketball) is tremendous.”
Kentucky point guard is six assists shy of tying the single-season school record for assists of 213 set by All-American Georgia Amoore set last season in 31 games. Center Clara Strack is just nine blocks from tying her own single season blocks record of 73 that she set last season.
