In
Tuesday night’s marquee matchup, the No.11 Ranked Kentucky Wildcat’s (14-2)
welcomed the No.12 ranked Texas A&M Aggies (14-2) to Memorial Coliseum for
an SEC showdown.
LEXINGTON – January 17, 2020 – NOAH BANKS
Kentucky entered Tuesday night’s battle looking to not only stay hot after a dominating performance in Gainesville on Sunday, but to also pass the Aggies and claim 2nd place in the SEC, falling behind only the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Showing no
signs of disappointment for the much-anticipated matchup, both teams came out
scratching and fighting early, as it was a battle for every position in the
first period of play.
While the
effort was there for both squads, the baskets were not. Defense was what won
the 1st period for the aggies as Kentucky shot a staggering 30% from
the field and ended the period trailing 13-12.
While the 1st
quarter might have been all about defense, the 2nd was far from it.
The Cats found their stroke, and they found it in a hurry dropping in a pair of
threes along with a couple of layups to force an Aggies timeout with 6:27
remaining and a 22-15 lead.
As much as
Texas A&M wished the timeout helped, it just did not.
The
remainder of the 2nd quarter was all Kentucky as the Aggies had no
answer on either end of the court and allowed the Cats to finish the half with
a 33-21 lead, their largest of the game to that point.
Kentucky
tallied 5 threes and shot 53% while also turning up their defensive pressure to
force the Aggies to shoot only 18% from the field and turn it over 6 times in
the 2nd quarter.
Texas
A&M was not to be put away quietly, but still had no answer for Sophomore
Guard Rhyne Howard who had the hot hand and chipped in 6 points of her own in
the 3rd period.
Led by their
own defensive’s intensity that forced 2 more turnovers and Rhyne’s offensive
explosion, Kentucky was able to sustain and end the period with a 49-40 lead.
As expected,
when two top 15 teams meet, it was a fight until the very end, but maybe not as
much of a fight as Aggie fans would’ve liked.
The final
period had Kentucky written all over it, as the Cats were able to keep their
defensive intensity up and began pouring in threes, shooting 5-6 from deep and 83% from the field in the
quarter to leave the Coliseum with a commanding 76-54 victory over the No.12
ranked team in the country to improve to 15-2 on the season.
Kentucky was
led by Howard who recorded her 3rd double-double of the season as
she finished tallying 24 points 11 rebounds and 4 assists. When asked after the game about her
performance Rhyne stated that “We were just making sure we were having fun,
things could always turn and not go our way, so we just try and have fun with
it.”
“We had to
fight hard for that one and I am extremely proud of the team for this big big
win for us,” stated head coach Matthew Mitchell.
“Super proud
of Blair on the great hustle and hard defensive work she gave us tonight…I
think Texas A&M did a great job trying to control the tempo and it wasn’t
until the fourth we were able to play at our pace and have a phenomenal
quarter” Stated Coach Mitchell.
With the
dominant performance over A&M, Kentucky improves to 15-2 on the season and
takes the 2nd place role in SEC standings. The Cats will take the
floor again this Sunday at 2pm in Baton Rouge against the hosting LSU Tigers.
