Wildcats Hope to Give Opponents Fewer Second Chances

Kentucky women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell knew he was fielding an undersized team for the 2016-17 season. The Wildcats’ roster is made up primarily of guards and wings, and only a couple of inside players. In fact, only senior Evelyn Akhator and junior Alyssa Rice are true post players on this year’s squad.

So it comes as no surprise to Mitchell that, in his team’s losses this season, opponents have been able to take advantage of his team’s size.

“Second chance points have been a problem for us in the losses,” Mitchell said. “That’s one thing I can point to (as being a trending problem).”

In the Wildcats’ six losses, opponents have outscored Kentucky 97-46 in second-chance points, a difference of more than eight points per contest. Kentucky has been outscored on second-chance points in nine of 16 games this season, including all three games in SEC play. On Sunday, Texas A&M got 22 second-chance points, compared with just eight for the Wildcats. 

Mitchell knows that this is something his team needs to fix quickly.

“We’re trying to find some way to improve on our box outs and being able to hold off really strong players,” he said. “We’re going to run up on teams that maybe are a little bit bigger. We’re going to have to find some way in practice to box out a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger.”

Kentucky will have its first chance to show improvement in this area when the Wildcats visit Alabama on Thursday night. The Crimson Tide are off to a blazing 14-2 start, and Mitchell knows that his team will face another physical challenge against Alabama.

“Big challenge for us, going on the road,” Mitchell said. “Alabama has been outstanding all year. They’ve been incredible at home, averaging over 80 points a game. Really, really potent offensively, very athletic, very strong. It will be a tough test for us. We’re excited to go play and we’re going to go down there and try to earn a victory.”

The road has not been kind to the Wildcats this season. In true road games, Kentucky is 0-4 on the season, having lost at Colorado, Louisville, Duke and Tennessee. But Mitchell doesn’t think being away from the friendly confines of Memorial Coliseum is a problem.

“I don’t think it is the road,” Mitchell said. “The Colorado trip, it was not ideal. They had a football game and we couldn’t get to the gym. The other ones, it is not like we showed up and were completely distracted and was like a deer in headlights.”

Playing with three or four guards on the floor, while sometimes playing a zone defense, has proven to be a challenge for this year’s Wildcats, as has playing on the road. But both of those items are something that Mitchell and his team continue to work on, and hope to correct in Thursday’s game in Tuscaloosa.