Mindset Change Leads to Big Win over Tennessee
Matthew Mitchell was plainly unhappy on Friday.
Mere hours prior, Kentucky was dominated at South Carolina. The Wildcats, Mitchell said, were “fundamentally unsound in every facet of the game.”
To compete with Tennessee – similar to South Carolina in both size and talent – on Sunday, UK would have to play with much more toughness.
Mission accomplished.
“We needed a mindset change, is what we needed, from Thursday night to Friday,” Mitchell said. “Obviously we didn’t get a whole lot stronger or faster or taller between Thursday night and Sunday. We needed to come in and get our minds on playing with a blue-collar attitude, with a real tough approach in everything we did.”
No. 13 Kentucky (12-2, 1-1 SEC) scored an impressive win over the No. 22 Lady Volunteers (11-3, 1-1 SEC) inside Memorial Coliseum, a dramatic reversal of its performance from less than 72 hours prior. Led by Rhyne Howard’s career-high 37 points to go with nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks, UK took down Tennessee, 80-76.
“We just ask her to do everything,” Mitchell said. “It’s amazing. Amazing performance. It’s a really talented player who wanted to win today and wanted to help her team and she did it in so many other ways than scoring.”
In the first half, UK appeared poised to cruise to a comfortable victory when the Cats built a 13-point lead early in the second quarter. The Lady Vols, however, answered quickly and made a run to take a 33-31 halftime lead. That turned out to be another opportunity for the Cats to respond. Within seven minutes of the break, Kentucky had rebuilt a 13-point lead before holding on down the stretch.
“It was a big step forward,” Mitchell said. “I was so proud of us jumping on them early and building a lead, but more impressed with the response.”
No one was more important to UK’s second half than Howard, who bounced back from a 1-for-10 second quarter. Aggressive from the first possession on, Howard scored 26 points in the second half and secured two rebounds in the final minute to help seal the game.
“I knew it was going to be a good game and my coaches and my teammates started telling me to keep going,” Howard said. “That gave more confidence in myself and just knowing that I can do this and keep going and eventually those shots are going to fall.”
They certain did. Howard tied her own school record by hitting seven 3-pointers in 13 tries and accounted for nearly half of UK’s scoring.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: She is an amazing player and it’s really an honor to be able to play with her,” Sabrina Haines said. “And the fact that she’s so unselfish along with that. She had 37, but she won’t force a shot and she’ll make the best play for whatever is available. I’m just happy for her that she was able to do what she did.”
Howard, however, was far from the only contributor. Haines chipped in 11 points, Amanda Paschal scored eight off the bench and Ogechi Anyagaligbo had six points and five rebounds in 21 important minutes against Tennessee’s massive frontcourt. UK also was outrebounded only 41-36 by the nation’s top rebounding squad after facing a 40-20 deficit on the boards at South Carolina.
“Extremely proud,” Mitchell said. “I thought we really got on the offensive boards early in the game and that showed that we were hustling. That’s a great indication of a team hustling, and I would just say the biggest difference: We had a different mindset today. You credit our players for doing that.”
Now the Cats will work to carry that forward, starting with trips to Alabama and Florida this week.
“I think going forward this is a great lesson for our team that no matter what happens you can change your mindset if it’s going the way you want it to go,” Mitchell said. “Now we need to keep at this approach in practice and do a really good job and get ready for our next game.”
