Cats Taking Things One Step at a Time in NCAA Tournament

Kentucky finds itself in the River Walk Regional of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. It’s a region that has plenty of star power, with UK’s Rhyne Howard, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and UConn’s Paige Bueckers. It would be easy for the Cats to look past Idaho State in anticipation of potentially meeting Clark’s Iowa team in the second round and Bueckers’ UConn squad in round three.

But UK head coach Kyra Elzy is focused on the task at hand. Elzy knows that her team needs to be worried about its first-round opponent, Idaho State, rather than looking ahead.

“Our region is extremely tough with talented players like you just mentioned with Paige and with Caitlin Clark, but you know, your focus has to be one game at a time. You have to respect every opponent, play the game.”

Elzy knows that the Bengals are a quality team that can pose problems.

“Idaho State is a great team,” Elzy said. “They were 15-2 this year. They won the Big Sky, so they know how to win. They’re extremely smart and they play well together. They have four players averaging in double figures, and one that is 9.9.”

Senior guard Chasity Patterson has also been impressed with what she has seen from Idaho State.

“We just went through film and I know that they are undersized but a great team,” Patterson said. “They are very efficient on offense and they are going to make us work defensively. We are going to have to stick to the game plan and I think it will be a good game.”

Elzy knows what the Cats need to do to be successful.

“The keys for us, one defensively, they’re going to try to spread us out,” Elzy said. “They play small ball. Making sure that we’re aggressive defensively, but really hammering in on our one-on-one defense, which is what we have talked about all year. We want to make them play fast, use our athleticism, and also, offensively, we have to look to push the basketball on a make or a miss. But, we talked about it, our X factors, we have to have at least four people in double figures to make sure that we are efficient offensively.”

Patterson knows that she and the Cats must stick with the team strategy.

“Being intense on both ends of the court,” Patterson said. “Knowing our game plan and following the game plan that the coaches give us and just playing our game. Getting out in transition and just being aggressive on both ends.”

Patterson thinks that the Cats will be ready, especially after playing a tough SEC schedule.

“Definitely a tough conference and every game is a big game,” Patterson said. “That gave us a mindset that you cannot take days off or games off. Every game matters. Moving forward, that is going to be good for us because we are going to take every game like it is our last and that is the mindset that we will have coming into every game.”

Elzy wants her team to be ready for this moment.

“This is what you play for, it’s March Madness,” Elzy said. “It’s the time you’ve prepared for all year. I’m hoping that our team has a great showing.”

To have that great showing, Kentucky must first set its sights on Idaho State, Sunday’s opponent.