Three takeaways from No. 23 Kentucky women’s basketball’s loss to Ole Miss

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After Thursday night’s blowout home loss to Florida, Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy demanded more commitment and intensity from her team.

She got that on Sunday afternoon against Ole Miss at Rupp Arena, but it still came in a losing effort.

The significantly short-handed Wildcats — who had only seven available players on Sunday — fell 63-54 to Ole Miss. It was a result that condemned UK to its fourth straight loss in Southeastern Conference play.

UK has lost both of its games this season at Rupp Arena and the four-game losing streak is Kentucky’s longest skid since the 2017-18 season. Kentucky failed to make a three-point shot in either of its two games at Rupp Arena this season.

It’s the longest losing streak for UK with Elzy as head coach.

Ole Miss 63, Kentucky 54

The star: Rhyne Howard, as she so often is, was the key offensive cog for Kentucky with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Howard now has 21 double-doubles in her college career. Shakira Austin was excellent for Ole Miss, particularly down the stretch, and finished with 24 points and eight rebounds.

The stats: No other UK player scored in double digits. No other UK player had more than six rebounds. It was the third game in a row where UK had single-digit team assists.

The status: Ole Miss improved to 17-2 overall and 5-1 in the SEC. Kentucky dropped to 8-7 overall and 1-4 in the SEC.

Kentucky’s Jazmine Massengill (3) celebrates after forcing a turnover by Mississippi’s Mimi Reid (2) during Sunday’s game at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky’s Jazmine Massengill (3) celebrates after forcing a turnover by Mississippi’s Mimi Reid (2) during Sunday’s game at Rupp Arena.

Three takeaways

1. KENTUCKY’S DEPTH WAS NON-EXISTENT BEFORE THE GAME EVEN STARTED.

Kentucky only had seven players available to play Ole Miss on Sunday afternoon.

Redshirt junior froward Dre’una Edwards — UK’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder — continues to serve a team-imposed suspension. Edwards also missed Thursday’s loss to Florida. UK has said that Edwards is suspended “due to a disciplinary matter that is being handled internally.”

When asked by the Herald-Leader after Sunday’s game about Edwards’ suspension and whether Edwards would travel with UK to its next game Tuesday night at Auburn, Elzy said, “Right now we’re still handling that internally, and no further comment about Dre.”

This is the second team-imposed suspension placed on Edwards this season.

Senior guard Robyn Benton — UK’s fourth-leading scorer — missed Sunday’s game with an ankle injury. Benton also missed UK’s Dec. 19 non-conference home game against South Carolina Upstate with an ankle injury, and Benton has left both of UK’s last two games against Tennessee and Florida with injuries.

Elzy said after Sunday’s game that Benton is day-to-day with the injury.

Add in the season-ending Achilles injury suffered by senior guard Blair Green during the preseason and the fact freshman walk-on guard Kristen Crenshaw-Gill was also unavailable for Kentucky on Sunday due to an ankle injury, and the Wildcats were left with just seven players against Ole Miss.

Redshirt junior center Olivia Owens started for the third time this season and for the second straight game in the place of Edwards. UK’s only options off the bench Sunday were sophomore forward Nyah Leveretter and junior guard Emma King.

“It is difficult because you don’t have as many subs, but you have to make it work somehow,” Rhyne Howard said of having only seven available players. “We can’t just focus on how many players we have, we have to focus on how hard we work.”

Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard (10) looks to pass the ball while guarded by Mississippi’s Shakira Austin (0) and Lashonda Monk (1) during Sunday’s game at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard (10) looks to pass the ball while guarded by Mississippi’s Shakira Austin (0) and Lashonda Monk (1) during Sunday’s game at Rupp Arena.

2. SUNDAY FEATURED A MATCHUP OF POTENTIAL TOP WNBA DRAFT PICKS.

In front of WNBA scouts from three teams with top picks in April’s draft, Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard and Ole Miss’ Shakira Austin displayed the skills that will see them continue their basketball careers in the professional ranks.

Representatives from the Washington Mystics (who have the No. 1 overall pick), the Indiana Fever (who have the No. 2 overall pick) and the Dallas Wings (who have the No. 4 overall pick) were courtside to watch Kentucky host Ole Miss, and more specifically watch Howard and Austin play.

Howard shot just 2-for-11 from the field in the first half, missing both of her three-point attempts and struggling to make contested mid-range shots. She found ways to reach the foul line, though, and entered halftime with nine points and seven rebounds.

Austin started strong against a UK interior defense that was missing the presence of Edwards, but UK did well to use a zone defense to thwart her success around the rim. Austin entered halftime with eight points on 4-for-10 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds.

Both players came alive in the second half and finished the game leading their respective teams in scoring: Both Austin and Howard finished with 24 points and were go-to options down the stretch.

3. UK ENTERS CRITICAL STRETCH OF SEC PLAY ON A DAY IT HONORED PAST CHAMPIONS.

It might still be early in the SEC season, but Sunday marked the start of a critical stretch of games for UK.

The Wildcats have now lost four straight games, all conference contests, and find themselves with a 1-4 mark in league play. The chance to finish in the top four in the league and secure a double bye in the end-of-year SEC Tournament in March has likely slipped away from Kentucky.

UK, which is still without a road win this season, will now play its next three games at Auburn, Vanderbilt and LSU, with all of those games coming in the next seven days.

“One game at a time … that is our focus,” Elzy said. “Go back to work tomorrow, we’ll watch this game, start to prepare for Auburn and we can’t look ahead … we’re going to put all of our energy and effort into one game.”

As this season’s SEC schedule hits a critical juncture for UK, the Wildcats took time Sunday to honor one of the legendary teams in program history.

In between the first and second quarters of Sunday’s game at Rupp Arena, the 1982 Kentucky women’s basketball team was honored on the court. The 1982 squad remains the only team in program history to win the SEC Tournament, a feat the current Kentucky squad will attempt to match in March.

The Kentucky women’s basketball team from 1982 is honored during Sunday’s game against Mississippi.
The Kentucky women’s basketball team from 1982 is honored during Sunday’s game against Mississippi.

Up next

Sunday marked the start of a stretch of four games in eight days for Kentucky. A three-game road trip for the Wildcats begins Tuesday night at Auburn. UK was originally scheduled to open SEC play at Auburn back on Dec. 30 before COVID-19 issues in the Tigers’ program postponed the game. Auburn is 8-9 overall and 0-6 in SEC play, the only SEC school without a conference win. Auburn lost at home to Alabama, 75-68, on Sunday.

Next game

No. 23 Kentucky at Auburn

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday

TV: SEC Network Plus (online)