The last time Kentucky women’s basketball faced off against Vanderbilt, Big Blue Nation, Kenny Brooks, and I were left staring at the scoreboard in disbelief. Despite shooting an incredibly efficient 56.4% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc while winning the rebounding margin by 18, the Wildcats suffered a brutal 84-83 loss in a game they probably should have won.
Now, Kentucky has a chance for revenge as they head to Nashville on Sunday. If the Wildcats want to even the score, they have to look
back at the film from that first matchup and clean up all the self-inflicted wounds.
What went wrong in the first matchup?
You simply cannot win high-level basketball games when you turn the ball over 20 times, and the Cats did. Vanderbilt took massive advantage of Kentucky’s sloppy ball-handling, swiping 10 steals and committing only six turnovers of their own. The bad thing is, most of the turnovers were just bad or lazy passes. They could have been avoided entirely.
That 14-turnover differential gave the Commodores the extra possessions they desperately needed to survive Kentucky’s hot shooting and rebounding.
Then, there is the Mikayla Blakes problem. The Vanderbilt star guard is averaging an incredible 26.3 points per game on the season, and she completely torched the Cats in the first meeting. Blakes played all 40 minutes, dropping 37 points while shooting 6-for-9 from deep and just toying with Kentucky when they switched a big on her. Tonie Morgan and Asia Boone have to find a way to stay in front of her, get over those screens, disrupt her rhythm, and run her off the three-point line.
The Cats can block a lot of shots inside, but not a lot you can do when they are dropping in from deep.
Kentucky’s massive frontcourt advantage
If there is one thing the first game proved, it is that Vanderbilt has absolutely no answer for Kentucky’s size inside. The Wildcats bullied the Commodores on the glass, outrebounding them by a staggering margin of 39 to 21.
Kentucky needs to relentlessly exploit that mismatch again.
- Teonni Key: She was a cheat code in the first meeting, dropping 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting and grabbing 12 rebounds.
- Clara Strack: The anchor of the team recorded a massive double-double with 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists.
- Amelia Hassett: Benefitting from the inside gravity created by Key and Strack, Hassett stretched the floor perfectly with 19 points and five three-pointers.
I honestly still can’t believe they lost this game when you look at everything outside of turnovers. It’s crazy.
Kentucky is the better shooting team and the vastly superior rebounding team. If Tonie Morgan (8.4 assists per game) can facilitate the offense without repeating the high turnover numbers from the first matchup, the Cats have a great shot of beating another top 10 team. But the defense has to slightly cool off Mikayla Blakes, who can wreck the entire game. She will get her points, but you can’t let her get them easily. I think the Wildcats walk away with a massive revenge victory, and barring a collapse, lock up a top 16 seed.
Time: 4 PM EST, Sunday, February 22nd
Channel: ESPN2
Streaming: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, Sling TV (Orange Plan)
Radio: Online: Stream live at UKAthletics.com or on iHeartRadio via WLAP 630.
