Kentucky women’s basketball calls on ‘mental toughness’ as player shortage takes its toll

Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy was cognizant of the moment things started slipping away from her basketball team against Minnesota in Rupp Arena on Wednesday night.

What she could do about it, considering she had only seven available players, was another matter.

Elzy called for a timeout just 2:06 into the third quarter. Kentucky’s two-point halftime lead had quickly become a four-point deficit. However, the coach’s pause for a reset was not enough to put her team back on the path it followed to first-half success.

Minnesota (8-1) expanded its second-half opening salvo to 11 consecutive points and never trailed again on the way to a 76-57 victory in front of an announced crowd of 3,386. Kentucky fell to 4-6 and has a road game looming Sunday against archrival and 18th-ranked Louisville.

“I thought we played really hard in the first half,” Elzy said. “Second half, we talked about, you know, our mental toughness needed to kick in ... but still thought we had some chances to get some stops. We had to defend the three-point line, so we were slow there. And then stagnant offensively.”

Kentucky was outscored 40-19 in the second half by the Gophers, who avenged an 80-74 loss last season in Minneapolis on Wednesday night.

Elzy made no excuses afterward, but she had plenty at her disposal.

Five players from Kentucky’s 12-woman roster could not participate Wednesday night. Sophomores Amiya Jenkins and Zennia Thomas have both been unavailable since the team’s return from the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam showcase over Thanksgiving weekend. Jenkins is considered day-to-day with a shoulder injury, while Thomas is suspended indefinitely due to “a disciplinary matter that is being handled internally.”

Starting guard Maddie Scherr remained in concussion protocol for a second straight game after suffering a hard fall in the Wildcats’ victory against Boston College on Nov. 30. Sophomore guard Cassidy Rowe suffered an injury in Sunday’s win over Tennessee Tech and was also unavailable Wednesday. All that, and UK has been playing the entire season without senior forward Nyah Leveretter, who is recovering from a torn ACL suffered late last season.

As Elzy said, Kentucky was on top of things during the first half Wednesday. Ajae Petty worked the Gophers over inside to the tune of 14 points and seven rebounds. Eniya Russell contributed 11 points and four assists. Defensively, Kentucky limited Minnesota to 13-of-30 shooting in the first half (43.3 percent), but there were cracks. While Petty was peppering them with two-point baskets, the Gophers were racking up threes, making 7 of 12 in the opening half to keep things close.

The threes kept coming in the third quarter. Minnesota strung together a trio of deadly long-range shots as it pulled away then made three more in the fourth quarter to finish the night 13-of-22 from beyond the arc (59.1 percent)

By the end of the third quarter, UK had lost its quickness and the aggressive offensive attack that had kept things competitive. Minnesota increased its lead to as large as 23 to ice the victory. After the game, first-year Minnesota coach Dawn Plitzuweit referenced last season’s home loss to Kentucky, which, despite the fact that the Gophers had a different coaching staff, was fresh on her mind during her team’s lackluster first half.

“I think Kentucky scored 46 points in the paint against us (last year) and they were right on track to do that in the first half,” Plitzuweit said. “And so, honestly, when we saw kind of how things worked out, and that they were gonna be down to seven players, I really had a major pit in my stomach at that point in time because I thought, ‘This can go one of two directions. And chances are, in knowing how Kentucky plays, this provides them the opportunity to keep some really special athletes out there playing hard to prove that they can do things and they can play while their teammates are injured or whatever the case is. And so I thought they played really, really hard and I didn’t think we understood what that looked like.”

Mara Braun led Minnesota with 25 points. Freshman Grace Grocholski added 15. Mallory Heyer tacked on 13 for the Golden Gophers.

Petty led the Wildcats with 20 points, and added 12 rebounds. She also made three steals. Russell finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal. Each of Kentucky’s five starters — Petty, Russell, Brooklynn Miles, Saniah Tyler and Emma King played more than 35 minutes. Lightly used freshmen Jordy Griggs (9:25) and Janae Walker (3:51) saw limited action as UK’s only bench players.

The Wildcats don’t know who will be healthy to suit up for Sunday’s rivalry game at Louisville, but Petty said, one way or another, the Wildcats will find a way to adapt.

“I think that just comes from each individual player and how they choose to go about it,” Petty said. “Everyone just knowing we just lost, going back watching, seeing what we could do better. And just having their own mental toughness where we just don’t want the same thing to happen again.”

Next game

Kentucky at No. 18 Louisville

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

TV: ACC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630

Records: Kentucky 4-6, Louisville 8-1

Series: Kentucky leads 34-24 but Louisville has won the last six in a row

Last meeting: Louisville won 86-72 on Dec. 11, 2022, in Rupp Arena