The contrast in environments is expected to be significant.
On Thursday night, the Kentucky women’s basketball team opened Southeastern Conference play in Lexington with its biggest win of the season, an 84-76 home triumph over No. 15 Georgia in front of hardly any fans.
A fierce winter storm dumped snow on Lexington and throughout Kentucky on Thursday. UK asked fans to stay and watch from home as head coach Kyra Elzy’s team recorded a much-needed win for its NCAA Tournament résumé.
But come Sunday afternoon, the fans and the noise will return in a united effort against UK.
The No. 21-ranked Wildcats will face one of their toughest tests of the season this weekend as Kentucky travels to play No. 1 South Carolina, the favorite to top the SEC and win the NCAA title this season.
“We talked about this team being resilient all year long,” Elzy said after the Georgia win, which came after UK hadn’t played in 18 days due to COVID postponements. “We talked about being able to control the things that we could control, and that was our energy, our attitude, our effort.”
South Carolina’s success has come with a raucous home court advantage inside Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. Through seven home games this season, South Carolina has averaged nearly 12,250 fans per contest.
Over the last five seasons, South Carolina is a staggering 59-7 at home.
This season, the Gamecocks are 14-1 overall and 2-1 in SEC play. They’re 7-0 at home with wins over a pair of top-10 teams in Maryland and Stanford.
While South Carolina is the presumed favorite to win the SEC regular season for the second time in three seasons, that isn’t a forgone conclusion, something made evident by the way South Carolina began conference play.
The Gamecocks were upset in their SEC opener, losing 70-69 in overtime at Missouri against a Tigers team that was missing its best player (Aijha Blackwell) and had just eight players available.
So while South Carolina is beatable, Kentucky will be tasked with taming several star players.
Junior forward Aliyah Boston is averaging 17.1 points per game on 56.7% shooting from the field and 10.9 rebounds per contest. Boston is the projected top pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, meaning Sunday’s nationally televised matchup against Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard could be a collision between the top picks in the next two WNBA drafts, as well as a battle between candidates for this season’s national player of the year award.
Senior point guard Destanni Henderson averages five assists per game and is third on the South Carolina team in scoring with nearly 12 points per game.
As if wins earlier this season over the likes of North Carolina State, Oregon, Connecticut, Maryland, Duke and Stanford weren’t enough to signal South Carolina’s strength, the Gamecocks have also shown the ability to recover from that Missouri loss.
South Carolina has won its last two games, a 12-point home win over Mississippi State and a road win Thursday night at No. 13 LSU in which Boston had 19 points and 18 rebounds.
The Gamecocks were also without a couple rotation players for the LSU win as Laeticia Amihere, Kamilla Cardoso and Olivia Thompson all missed the game.
South Carolina had a 48-24 rebounding advantage over LSU, an area which is also expected to be a strength for South Carolina against UK.
The Gamecocks average 46.1 rebounds per game (second in the SEC) while the Wildcats average just 36.4 (last in the SEC).
Kentucky was out-rebounded 38-24 by Georgia on Thursday.
“That’s what we do. We rebound the ball extremely well,” South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley said after the LSU win.
But while South Carolina appears to be surging again after a stunning setback, the same can be said for Kentucky.
UK took full advantage of its statement opportunity against Georgia, and it was Kentucky’s star senior that led the way.
Howard had a season-high 30 points in the win over the Lady Bulldogs. She scored UK’s final nine points and 17 of her 30 points in the fourth quarter.
Kentucky used efficient and purposeful offense down the stretch to succeed where it failed in losses to DePaul and Louisville.
“I thought we were more composed. We were very clear on what we were looking for,” Elzy said. “I thought we played more patient, made Georgia work defensively and we didn’t settle for quick shots down the stretch which helped us.”
In particular, Elzy credited the play of senior point guard Jazmine Massengill, who continues to have one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the country, with leading UK to an SEC-opening victory.
“I thought her intensity and her basketball IQ helped us get this one tonight,” Elzy said.
The poised, veteran presence of Massengill — who is 0-4 in her college career at Tennessee and Kentucky in games against South Carolina — will be even more important than usual for UK given the environment and expected flow of Sunday’s game.
UK is one of two SEC teams, along with Texas A&M, yet to win a true road game this season, although both of Kentucky’s road games have been against top-six opponents in the Associated Press Poll.
Sunday
No. 21 Kentucky at No. 1 South Carolina
When: 1 p.m.
Records: Kentucky 8-3 (1-0 SEC), South Carolina 14-1 (2-1)
TV: ESPN
Series: South Carolina leads 35-34.
Last meeting: South Carolina defeated Kentucky, 76-55, in Columbia, South Carolina, on Feb. 21, 2021.
Discover more from Today Headline
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.