UK turns in consistent performance against Ole Miss
February 14, 2014
By Kevin Erpenbeck
Consistency from his players was something head coach Matthew Mitchell was looking for coming into UK Hoops’ matchup against the University of Mississippi.
The Cats delivered it by shooting over 47 percent while holding the Rebels to 35 percent from the field in their 30-point victory.
From the start of the game, UK had two goals to achieve if it wanted to succeed against lowly Ole Miss: Play a full-court defense early and take better shots.
The Rebels struggled to get points for the entire game. The exceptions were junior guard Valencia McFarland, who had 21 points, and junior forward Tia Faleru, who scored 31.
Despite their scoring outputs, McFarland and Faleru actually struggled against the Cats’ defensive pressure. After McFarland scored 15 in the first half, UK held her to six after the break. Meanwhile, Faleru scored almost half of her points from the free throw line while shooting just 8-for-23 from the field.
The Cats came out determined to involve nearly every player on their roster in their offensive game plan. Junior point guard Jennifer O’Neill led the team with 27 points, going 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Senior forward DeNesha Stallworth contributed as well, securing a double-double with 19 points and 11 boards. Overall, UK had four players score in double figures for the game, a stat that harps back to their 11-game win streak early on in the season.
Mitchell said he noticed more of a pep in his players step tonight.
“More players played well tonight,” Mitchell said. “Shooting the ball well helps you a whole lot. Instead of 2-for-16 from the three, we were 8-for-16. Then everybody gets fired up and gets a boost of confidence.”
While the Cats played well from both sides of the court, it is important to remember that it was against the worst team in the SEC.
Four more ranked teams remain on UK’s schedule. All are ranked higher than UK. If the Cats want to continue to hang in the top of the conference, they will have to sustain Thursday’s consistency.
Getting the first two-game win streak since mid-January by defeating the No. 8 University of Tennessee on Sunday would be a start.