Without star forward Dre’una Edwards — who was suspended — the Kentucky women’s basketball team suffered its second loss of the season and its first home loss on Thursday night while honoring former head coach Matthew Mitchell at Rupp Arena.
DePaul defeated No. 14 Kentucky, 94-85, as the Wildcats didn’t make a three-pointer and head coach Kyra Elzy’s team allowed the most points during her time as UK head coach. After the game, Elzy said UK’s one-on-one defense failed the Wildcats.
UK was also significantly outrebounded by the Blue Demons, 46-30.
Two DePaul players, Aneesah Morrow and Lexi Held (a native of northern Kentucky playing at Rupp Arena for the first time), had double-doubles to power the Blue Demons to the road win.
Kentucky star guard Rhyne Howard battled foul trouble for most of Thursday’s contest.
DePaul 94, Kentucky 85
The star: Robyn Benton stepped up in the scoring department for UK with a season-high 22 points to lead the team.
The stats: Benton was joined in double-figures scoring for UK by Jada Walker and Treasure Hunt, who each had 18 points, as well as Rhyne Howard who had 12.
The status: Kentucky fell to 6-2. DePaul improved to 8-2.
Three takeaways
1. RHYNE HOWARD BATTLES FOUL TROUBLE.
As the second quarter continued, neither Elzy nor DePaul head coach Doug Bruno appeared overly impressed with the officiating. Surely part of this from the UK perspective came from star guard Rhyne Howard entering halftime with three fouls.
Three became four just 46 seconds into the third quarter, and Howard barely played for the rest of the period, only briefly spelling Robyn Benton after she had to leave the court following a collision.
Howard returned to the game to begin the fourth quarter with DePaul leading, 73-65, but the foul situation undoubtedly altered her effectiveness while in the game.
Howard finished with 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field, along with three rebounds and turnovers each and one assist. She was able to play through the end of the game, but she was never at her best.
A balanced scoring effort from Kentucky saw four players score in double-figures, but without Edwards, Kentucky could have used a massive scoring night from the twice-defending Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.
UK’s offense also reverted to moments of being stagnant against DePaul, and the Wildcats finished with just 11 assists compared to 25 for DePaul.
Bruno said his DePaul team caught a break with Edwards not playing in Thursday’s game. Bruno said he learned that Edwards wouldn’t play for Kentucky around the same time as everyone else, when Edwards emerged for pregame shootaround in street clothes.
“We definitely missed Dre tonight. We just missed her presence and her energy on defense and the offensive end,” Benton said.
As far as Howard, Bruno said DePaul’s defensive strategy against the projected No. 1 pick in next year’s WNBA Draft was to limit Howard’s touches as much as possible.
“The less time Rhyne Howard touches the ball, the better it is for us,” Bruno said. “We were just trying to reduce her touches as much as possible. Foul trouble helped that.”
2. KENTUCKY USES A NEW STARTING LINEUP.
Because of Edwards being suspended for Thursday’s game — which was announced by UK just one hour prior to tip-off in Rupp Arena — Elzy was forced to use a third different starting lineup this season.
This time, Elzy inserted the team’s lone freshman on scholarship into the starting five, with Jada Walker earning her first collegiate start on after having a sensational start on both ends of the floor to her UK career.
Walker’s offensive creativity, defensive intensity and overall fearlessness on the hardwood was on display again against DePaul and on the big stage of Rupp Arena.
Walker finished her first collegiate start with a career-high 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, two rebounds, two assists and one turnover.
“I thought Jada stepped up big,” Elzy said. “I thought she brought the energy, she played downhill. She’s fearless. I love the way that she plays. I love the way that she competes.”
Walker said she learned that she was starting against DePaul just before Wednesday night’s UK practice.
The lineup change meant that UK started five players who are listed as guards on the team’s roster, further evidence of the positionless basketball often preached by Elzy.
3. UK DIDN’T MAKE A THREE-POINT SHOT.
In a back-and-forth first half that featured plenty of lead changes and relatively even statistical numbers, an outlier came from behind the three-point line.
The Blue Demons went 3-of-9 on three-pointers in the opening half, while Kentucky went 0-of-7, missing all of its three-point shot attempts.
This came as UK had one of its best foul shooting outings of the season in the opening half, make nine of 10 attempts.
In the second half, UK’s desperately poor three-point shooting continued, while the foul shooting also cooled off. UK went 12-of-16 from the foul line in the final 20 minutes, a solid enough figure for a team that has struggled to make free throws this season but not nearly enough to overcome a horrible night from distance.
UK entered Thursday’s game shooting 39.1% from three-point range. The Wildcats finished the night 0-for-14.
It was the first time since March 8, 2019, that UK failed to make a three-pointer in a game.
“Our shot just wasn’t falling tonight. I mean, there’s no other way better to explain it,” Benton said.
“The shot didn’t go, and that’s part of the game,” Elzy added. “I thought we, for the most part, had great looks at it.”
Bruno, the DePaul head coach, said he studied only Kentucky’s previous games against Indiana and West Virginia ahead of Thursday’s game. Based on that film, Bruno said UK’s three-point shooting “might be a little bit suspect.”
The Blue Demons were prepared to play zone defense against UK if needed Thursday night, but never had to.
Up next
UK is about to complete its second stretch of the season of playing three games in about a week. After a victory over Merrimack on Sunday and a loss to DePaul, Kentucky will cap another frenetic stretch with the renewal of its in-state rivalry with Louisville. The Cardinals and Wildcats didn’t play each other last season, but this season the rivalry game is back and will be part of the Women’s Jimmy V Classic. Kentucky and Louisville have played each other 56 times, including at least one time each season beginning with the 1974-75 season, before last season.
Sunday
No. 14 Kentucky at No. 7 Louisville
When: 1 p.m.
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 9:28 PM.
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