Freshmen Step up in Murray’s Absence

Taylor Murray has been an indispensable part of Kentucky’s early-season formula, serving as the Wildcats’ facilitator and third-leading scorer from her point guard position.

But on Sunday in a loss to Arizona State, she sustained a broken finger. The length of her ensuing absence is indefinite.

“Big blow for us not having Taylor Murray,” Matthew Mitchell said. “She’d been playing probably the best basketball of anybody on our team.”

With a 7-1 Radford team coming to Memorial Coliseum on Sunday afternoon, that was more than enough reason for worry.

“I was very concerned about this game,” Mitchell said. “Radford had played really good basketball, had just beaten Wake Forest before they came over and have some really great athletes on the interior.”

UK capably handled the challenge without its floor general, dispatching the visiting Highlanders, 59-36. Two freshmen guards – Jaida Roper and Paige Poffenberger – were major reasons why.

Roper stepped into Murray’s spot in the starting lineup, and she did so with a simple mentality.

“I had many talks with the coaches,” Roper said. “They just said, ‘Get out there and hustle. So if you get tired, let us know and we’ll get you out, get you back in.’ My head was just—do your job. Go out there, play hard, play hard defense, try not to turn the ball over.”

Roper scored two points, but she had only two turnovers against four assists in playing a career-high 25 minutes. 

“What I love about Jaida is Jaida’s some intangibles that you can’t teach,” Mitchell said. “Jaida’s a very confident young player. Jaida believes in herself and believes in her ability to get things done. She’s got a ways to go as far as sharpening and rounding into the player that she’ll want to be, but that’s part of the process and part of being a freshman.”

Poffenberger also saw a career high in minutes – 16 – and her contributions were similar. She took a single shot and snagged three rebounds, but it was her pressure on the ball that made the biggest difference.

“She came in and gave us a jolt defensively and really got after and harassed their point guard. Their point guard was uncomfortable. And then she didn’t turn ball over offensively, made an open 15-footer, just kept it real simple and played terrific today.”

Thanks in large part to Murray and Poffenberger’s defense, UK held Radford to a season-low point total and 26.4-percent shooting and forced 19 turnovers.

The attitude those two showed exemplifies exactly what Mitchell is demanding of his team. With a shorter bench and a lack of depth on the front line, the Cats going to need to scratch and claw to get where they want to go.

“That’s why this group more than any other we’ve had, we’ve gotta rely on each other and everybody’s gotta come in and be ready when their number’s called,” Mitchell said. “I thought those freshmen did a great job today and that’s gotta give us some confidence heading into the Washington State game, that those kids stepped up and filled a role that was important and we found a way to win today.”