Hoops strives for consistency in game against Vandy

Jennifer+ONeill+%280%29+of+the+Kentucky+Wildcats+drives+the+ball+during+the+game+against+the+Georgia+Bulldogs+at+Memorial+Colosseum+on+Sunday%2C+February+1%2C+2015+in+Lexington%2C+Ky.+Kentucky+defeated+Georgia+80-72.+Photo+by+Ben+Rickard

Jennifer O’Neill (0) of the Kentucky Wildcats drives the ball during the game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Memorial Colosseum on Sunday, February 1, 2015 in Lexington, Ky. Kentucky defeated Georgia 80-72. Photo by Ben Rickard

By Kevin Erpenbeck

[email protected]

UK Hoops has not lost back-to-back games all season. Conversely, it has not won back-to-back games in a month, either.

Consistency has been a hard thing for the Cats to achieve. In Sunday’s win over Georgia, the Cats had a 17-point first-half lead. But they squandered it in the second half, giving the Bulldogs the lead with less than nine minutes remaining.

Part of the reason why UK surrendered such a huge lead in the second half was that they allowed Georgia to shoot 55 percent from the floor. After holding the Bulldogs to a 38 field goal percentage in the first half, the Cats came out with “low-energy plays” and looked out of focus defensively, according to head coach Matthew Mitchell.

That kind of one-half basketball can’t continue if the Cats want to win consistently, Mitchell said.

“I don’t know why some people won’t play really hard,” Mitchell said after the game. “We’re working a large portion of practice in giving them a chance to get better defensively with their footwork and their positioning. We’re into the 22nd game of the year and I am teaching things that really need to start taking hold.”

A second-half lapse was also seen in the prior game, a 73-72 loss to Tennessee. UK surrendered a seven-point halftime lead after allowing the Lady Volunteers to shoot for 60 percent from the field in the second half.

Senior guard Jennifer O’Neill is just glad the Georgia game did not end the way the Tennessee one did.

“We wanted to get a win after the tough loss against Tennessee,” O’Neill said. The 5-foot-6-inch guard hit a clutch three-pointer in the closing minutes of the game to give UK the final lead in the 80-72 win.

“Matthew brought it up to us after the Georgia game, saying ‘We can’t have mental lapses like that. It’s going to catch up with us,’” she added. “We could have lost that game because of the lapses we had on defense. As a team, we have to take responsibility for that, knowing we cannot do that going further in the season.”

The Cats had a bye week after the win, using the extra practice time to work on keeping focus throughout a game before their matchup against Vanderbilt on Sunday.

O’Neill said the bye couldn’t have come at a better time as the team strives for its first two-game winning streak in quite some time.

“The team is cherishing the off days we have, resting up our bodies that have a lot of wear and tear,” O’Neill said. “But we’re also focusing on communicating with each other better and focusing on the keys to win against Vanderbilt.”