In the first year of the Kenny Brooks era at Kentucky, the Wildcats’ 22-7 record earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This season was a significant jump from the disappointing 12-20 finish last season.
As a No. 4 seed, the Wildcats earned the right to host the first two tournament rounds in Historic Memorial Coliseum. This marked just the sixth time since 1982 that Kentucky has hosted the first two rounds.
Big Blue Nation has provided a great home environment all season, and Kentucky hosting gives the fans a chance to provide a home-court advantage when it matters most.
“We played against Alabama, it was a close game, and the crowd pushed us over,” Georgia Amoore said. “The energy, the momentum, it changes the dynamic of the game.”
In the first round, Kentucky is set to take on No. 13 Liberty on March 21. Tip-off is scheduled for noon ET and the game will be shown live on ESPN.
Going into the contest, the seeding can be deceptive. Liberty is a good basketball team.
“You can look at it… Liberty is a No. 13 seed, they’re not… you’re not a No. 13 seed if you win 26 games,” Brooks said. “They’re a good basketball team, and they can come in here and they can beat you.”
The game will be UK’s first in two weeks. The Wildcats’ most recent game was their 69-65 loss to Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on March 7. Liberty has won four games in that stretch.
This two-week break is six days longer than UK’s longest break during the regular season, but Brooks is confident that this stint will result in rest rather than rust.
“This time off, it’s much needed,” Brooks said. “They were able to rest a little bit, rest their brains, rest their bodies.”
The players also believe the break allowed them to work on their game and get to where they need to be.
“(We) had a few days to just go back to the basics,” Dazia Lawrence said. “You lose that when you just focus on a lot of games back to back to back.”
Amoore echoed the sentiment.
“I think it was so important for someone like Amelia (Hassett) to get back to what she was good at,” Amoore said. “Hitting shots and being critical on defense for us and being that anchor.”
Liberty has a record of 26-6, winning 11 straight and 17 of the last 18. This streak included the Conference-USA title, allowing Liberty to end a five-season NCAA Tournament drought.
On the flip side, the Flames don’t have a great history in true road NCAA Tournament games: they are 0-11 in such games. Liberty is currently on a 42-game losing streak against AP top 25 opponents, which is notable against No. 13 Kentucky.
Brooks has played Liberty multiple times at his previous schools. While at James Madison, Brooks was 7-2 against Liberty, 3-1 while at Virginia Tech. All nine matchups were against Liberty Head Coach Carey Green.
“Carey does a good job, we’ve had some battles,” Brooks said. “I know Carey and a lot of the things he wants to do.”
Liberty is led by All-C-USA first-team center Bella Smuda, who leads the team with 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Smuda recorded her seventh double-double of the season in the C-USA Championship, scoring 10 points with 13 boards. This performance cemented her as the C-USA Tournament MVP.
“(Smuda) is a great rim protector, but she’s also active on the offensive end,” Brooks said. “We know (she) can be a problem for us.”
Asia Boone and Emma Hess are the only other players to average more than 10 points per game.
The Flame bench averages 27.7 points per game, which ranks ninth in the nation. This is a stark difference from the Wildcats’ 8.4, the third least in the country.
“Liberty’s bench, they’re deep,” Brooks said. “They have player after player after player, and they come in and contribute. We don’t have that.”
Liberty also excels on the boards; The Flames have a +8.6 rebound margin, which ranks 11th in the country. Liberty is an above-average rebounding team, but where it makes a difference is by limiting defensive rebounds. Opponents average 20.6 defensive rebounds per game against Liberty, the ninth best in the nation.
This should create an interesting dynamic against Kentucky. The Wildcats’ 29.5 defensive rebounds per game ranks ninth in the country.
Liberty is 23-0 when outrebounding its opponent. Kentucky is 16-3 in such games. Both records prove that the battle on the boards will be vitally important.
The Wildcat defense averages a nation-leading 6.9 blocks per game, but Liberty only allows 1.8 blocks per game, which is the fourth lowest in the country. Kentucky’s shot-blocking is the backbone of its defense, meaning it will be interesting to see what it looks like against a team that avoids blocked shots.
Liberty is one of the top 25 3-point shooting teams in the country. The Flames have shot 36.1% from three this season with 33.8% of the team’s total points coming from behind the arch.
Unfortunately for the Flames, the Wildcats’ defense is one of the best against 3-point shots. Opponents have shot 26% from three against Kentucky, the fourth-lowest mark in the country.
It is unlikely that Liberty will be able to shoot well from behind the arch, and if the Flames settle for threes all game, Kentucky should outpace them with relative ease.
The Flames turn the ball over 17.1 times per game, while Kentucky isn’t great at creating turnovers, UK should be able to win the turnover battle.
Kentucky has a unique skill set that poses matchup problems for many teams, Liberty is no exception. Nearly everything Liberty is good at, Kentucky is just as good if not better. Liberty still cannot be overlooked by any means.
“I’ve often said a fan base can make a good team great,” Brooks said. “(Big Blue Nation) come on over here. Be loud, be proud, help a good team be great.”
