No Legs, Lots of Support: Morris Catches Fire vs. Morehead
The shots just kept falling, but Maci Morris wasn’t entirely sure how.
“I was joking with my teammates, like ‘I don’t know how any of these shots are going in right now because my legs are so dead,’ ” Morris said.
Days removed from a long trip to the Virgin Islands where No. 25/25 Kentucky won three games in three days, Morris and the Wildcats took the floor in Memorial Coliseum to face Morehead State. All Morris did was score her season high by halftime and finish with 31 points – the second-highest total of her career – as UK (8-0) dominated Morehead State (6-2) in an 87-57 win. She shot 12 of 20 from the field, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
“She’s shooting the ball great right now,” Matthew Mitchell said. “She was really on rhythm, on balance. Just did an outstanding job. So much fun to watch because you know how much she’s put into it. You know how much it means to her. You know how much she cares about her teammates. As a coach, you just love to see hard work pay off and she’s really, really hard worker.”
Morris was especially impressive in the second quarter, when she scored 19 points. Morris made her final six shots before halftime, including a deep 3-pointer as time expired. Taylor Murray found Morris for the buzzer beater, her fourth assist on seven made baskets by Morris in the second quarter.
“Tay always does a great job,” Morris said. “She always knows where I’m at. We work really well off each other and so she knew where I was at and got me the ball. I just had to get her the assist.”
During her junior season, Morris had no choice but to carry a heavy offensive load. She was up for the task, but UK was not able to overcome the lack of balance as a team.
Contrast that with this season, one in which Morris entered Wednesday as UK’s third-leading scorer behind Rhyne Howard and Murray. Morris moved up to second on the strength of the 31-point outburst, but the fact remains that the offensive dynamic has completely changed.
“I think it’s a big difference for her,” Mitchell said. “I noticed that in Italy when Rhyne joined us and started making some plays in the game. I just think it just lifted everybody, but particularly Maci and Taylor. It just makes such a big difference where you don’t have to just be so perfect every possession.”
Now, Morris can play free. Sometimes that means she’ll take 20 shots like she did Wednesday. Other times she’ll take a step back and shoot just seven times like she did against USF less than a week ago. The thing both games have in common: They were wins for the Wildcats.
“Taylor’s playing amazing right now and so is Rhyne,” Morris said. “It takes a lot of stress off of me and I can just play off of them instead of just always looking for my shot. I can look for my shot, but I always know they’re going to be available to score as well.”
Morris doesn’t bat an eye when she considers the possibility of taking shooting a few times less on a night when Murray or Howard have it going. There’s one reason for that.
“She’s very excited because she wants to win and she wants Kentucky to win and she wants Kentucky to be successful,” Mitchell said.
So far, so good.
