3 ways Kentucky WBB can turn its season around

Although the Kentucky women’s basketball team has lost three games in a row, the ‘Cats aren’t jumping ship. Instead, they’re sailing into deeper waters.

On Monday, UK dropped their third-straight contest in a painful 69-63 loss to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Before Sunday’s loss, the ‘Cats suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Murray State. Five days prior to that, the team took an expected loss to Louisville at Rupp Arena. Kentucky is still 7-4 on the year, but has looked overmatched against the top teams and struggled against weaker competition.

Nonetheless, head coach Kyra Elzy hasn’t lost hope for this team’s season quite yet.

“It’s a long season. This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Elzy said following the loss to FGCU. “We can’t bury our head in the sand. We have got to find a way to go back, go to work and find a way to get a win.”

Luckily for Elzy, she won’t have to do much digging to find ways to get wins. In reality, if Kentucky can fix three issues, not only will they win their final non-conference game, but they’ll succeed in the SEC.

Figuring it out from beyond the arc

In modern basketball, you won’t win games if you can’t knock down an open shot from outside. The ‘Cats have shot 21.2% from 3-point land over the last three losses. These contests aren’t outliers. UK is shooting a slightly better 24.1% from downtown for the season.

However, Elzy doesn’t believe her team lacks shooters. With sharpshooters such as Blair Green, Robyn Benton and Maddie Scherr on the team, Kentucky’s strength should be its perimeter shooting. Perhaps the issue isn’t a lack of skill, but a lack of confidence.

“I think it’s more mental now, of seeing the ball not go into the basket. So, we’ll continue to work on it, and just try to give them confidence, because we’re a better shooting team than what we’re showing,” Elzy said after the loss on Sunday.

Time to hit the glass

Of course, you don’t lose three-straight games because you miss a few shots from the outside. Kentucky’s issues fall somewhere far more fundamental than that. Kentucky is losing the battle of the boards.

The Wildcats’ loss to Murray State is the most prominent example of the team’s rebounding problem. Despite being far smaller than UK, the Racers grabbed seven more rebounds and three more offensive boards than the ‘Cats.

With that in mind, rebounding can come down to effort, and effort is controllable. Elzy plans for her team to increase their ferocity.

“There’s an intensity that I’m looking for, a motor that I’m looking for that we just didn’t have. I thought we were flatlining again. That’s on me and I’ll go back to work and get them ready,” Elzy said after the loss to Murray State.

Take care of the ball or lose them all

Kentucky can grab every rebound. They can shoot 100% from beyond the arc. They can play nearly a perfect game. But, if they can’t get the ball up the court, they’ll continue to flounder.

Kentucky committed 20 turnovers in their loss against FGCU. In turn, the Eagles scored 32 points off the ‘Cats’ mistakes. UK is averaging 17 turnovers per game this season. For reference, that’s a turnover on just short of 20% of the team’s possessions.

At the end of the day, junior transfer Maddie Scherr realizes this issue is holding her team back from accomplishing their goals.

“It’s definitely unacceptable. I think (FGCU) scoring 32 points on our turnovers lost us the game right there, too. We have to take better care of the ball and playing like every possession matters.”

Kentucky isn’t way off course. They’re certainly not irredeemable. With plenty of time left in the season, the ‘Cats can turn things around. We saw it happen last season (although Rhyne Howard isn’t walking through the Memorial Coliseum doors). Nevertheless, if the team pushes off the inevitable, they’ll inevitably have a disappointing season.