No. 16 Kentucky women’s basketball (18-6, 5-5 SEC) fell to No. 7 Vanderbilt (22-2, 8-2 SEC) 84-83, and it was not attributed merely to the fact that the Commodores are a better team.
The Wildcats are making avoidable mistakes, and those in turn are leading to losses.
Vanderbilt was never going to be an easy game—the Commodores are one of the best teams in the country and Vandy’s Mikayla Blakes is currently one of, if not the, best players in the nation.
Kentucky, however, was not supposed to be an easy opponent. And the Cats proved that they could go toe-to-toe with the Commodores.
Kentucky spent over 16 minutes with the lead, and the 84-83 score is generally reflective of how the game was leveling out for the entire four minutes.
Sure, Vanderbilt found itself with a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, which is where it really took hold of the game. However, Kentucky similarly found itself leading with a margin of nine in the third quarter.
Its ultimate demise, however, was the consistent mistakes throughout the game.
“If you want to win a basketball game of that nature, you’re playing against, you know, one of the best teams in the country, you have to minimize your mistakes,” head coach Kenny Brooks said after the game. “I thought we lost focus several possessions, had careless turnovers or careless, just, miscommunications that could have been rectified if we just communicated.”
On Thursday, Kentucky nearly doubled its average turnover rate with 20. Vanderbilt only had six on the night and capitalized on 25 points from Kentucky turnovers.
The last time the Wildcats hit 20 turnovers, when they committed 21 at Tennessee, they allowed the Vols 21 turnover points and ultimately fell.
That game, similarly, was going to be a tough one no matter what, but the Cats fell 60-58 where they were said to be the favorites.
The Vols only allowed the Cats to claim five points from nine turnovers.
And yes, there are always going to be forced turnovers, and Vanderbilt’s quick and aggressive defense made sure of that.
However, a lot of miscommunication led to turnovers and easy points for the Commodores.
The first avoidable turnover came with 2:52 left in the first quarter, where Clara Strack was looking to find Tonie Morgan, and simply due to miscommunication, Morgan couldn’t manage to keep the ball in.
No pressure from the Commodores—they just weren’t on the same page.
Another between Strack and Morgan came with 7:32 left in the second, where Strack was looking to get a quick transition, but Blakes stepped right in and claimed an easy uncontested three.
Nine more of Kentucky’s turnovers would be bad-pass turnovers. If speaking realistically and taking Vanderbilt’s strength in defense into account, a little under half of Kentucky’s turnovers were preventable.
From bad-pass turnovers alone, Vanderbilt claimed 15 points.
Kentucky is a good team and has all the power in its wheelhouse to make a statement this season—it has made a statement this season.
The beginning of the campaign was moving so wonderfully in the Wildcats’ favor, with multiple top AP wins and a continuous rise in the polls.
Recently, the Cats just don’t seem to be on the same page, and they have even tougher competition on the horizon.
Their next opponent, No. 4 Texas, averages 28.5 points off turnovers by its opponents. If Kentucky is playing at its best, those points may be the ones that determine the margin in the Longhorns’ favor.
“It’s been a little bit of a frustrating period for us, just because, you know, we felt like we were going in a direction, and obviously Teonni got hurt, and then trying to put it back together, trying to find ways to get that chemistry down pat. But, we’ll continue to fight,” Brooks said.
Kentucky women’s basketball will hit the road to take on No. 4 Texas (21-6, 6-2 SEC) on Sunday, Feb. 9. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and can be streamed on the SEC Network.
