LEXINGTON, Ky. – Between complimentary basketball, balanced scoring and creative play design, Kenny Brooks and his new group of Cats had no issue with USC Upstate Monday night.
In its 55-point drubbing of the Spartans, Kentucky forced 18 turnovers, leading to 34 points off of those turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Spartans had zero.
“It’s the live ball turnovers that get us killed on a regular basis,” USC Upstate Head Coach Jason Williams said. “That they get a chance to be able to come down three-on-two, four-on-three and be able to have a chance to be able to play against the odd number front.”
However, Brooks also brought a balanced scoring attack to Historic Memorial Coliseum, with 10 Wildcats finding the bottom of the net and five of them finishing in double-figures.
To score so easily in the half court, Brooks flexed, but didn’t rely on his size.
He deployed a 4-out, 1-in offense, keeping his largest threat around the paint while rotating his shooting threats and facilitators around the arc.
The set he drew up to open the fourth quarter is not only a great example of this offensive style, but also a sneak peek into the complexion of the offense he plans on running with this team.
For context, on this possession, Georgia Amoore is running the point, Saniah Tyler and Amelia Hassett are guards and both Claras (Strack and Silva) serve as the Wildcats’ bigs.
With Amoore at the top of the key, Brooks starts his 4-out, 1-in set with zoom action from Hassett and Silva.
While Silva’s screen ends up being shed, fans should pay attention to Tyler and Hassett: Hassett fakes a screen while Tyler moves from the wing to the top of the key. With Silva rotating to the other side of the paint, this causes three of Upstate’s five defenders to be bunched up in a small space.
Then, after Hassett fakes the screen, she flashes beyond the arc while Tyler runs back to her spot in the corner. Since Upstate was choosing not to switch, Tyler draws one man with her while Silva sets an elevator screen to leave Hassett nearly wide open. Combine that with a desperate close-out and the Cats had a four-point play.
“Kenny does a really good job of putting chess pieces in the proper position to be successful, and then being able to spread shooters around you so that at the end of the day you can’t really [double-team],” Williams explained postgame.
Brooks was also able to lean on facilitation from players familiar with his system like Amoore, who finished the game with 10 assists in a double-double effort.
Amoore’s facilitation goes beyond the stat sheet, with the first possession of the second half serving as a perfect example of her basketball IQ.
For context, on the play in question, UK had Amoore, Strack (who finished with 22 points) down low and three players who combined for 37 points around the duo.
After the dribble handoff from Dazia Lawrence, Strack sealed her man before coming up for a pick-and-roll. However, instead of passing the ball back to Strack on the roll, Amoore noticed that Strack drew help from Upstate’s man and instead made a cross-court pass to Lawrence.
By making that pass, Strack was able to post up on the edge of the paint against someone smaller than her, leading to an easy bucket with a foul drawn instead of a dribble drive into heavy traffic.
“I mean that’s my job,” Amoore said postgame. “I’ve been under [Brooks’] leadership and plays for so long that I just know spots and I know kind of who he is leaning on to get involved.”
The Wildcats will return to Historic Memorial Coliseum Thursday at 6 p.m., where they will take on the Northern Kentucky Norse on SEC Network+.
