How Rhyne Howard can be at her best

Kentucky Women’s Basketball loss against Louisville was a disappointment. Yet, perhaps even more disappointing was senior Rhyne Howard’s performance.

On Sunday afternoon, No. 14 Kentucky (6-3) lost to the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals (8-1). For the second game in a row, Howard underperformed. The two-time SEC Player of the Year recorded nine points and seven rebounds during the Wildcats’ loss to the Cardinals. Howard was inefficient, shooting 3-13 from the field and 1-6 from beyond the arc.

Despite averaging nearly double the number of points as Louisville’s leading scorer, Howard wasn’t even one of Kentucky’s top three scorers on Sunday. So, what exactly is going on with Howard? The Kentucky legend’s recent performances can be explained by a few key points.

Shot selection

Howard’s shot selection isn’t where it needs to be. The 6-foot-2 guard has undoubtedly improved while at UK. This growth has led to Howard being fearless to take shots, even when contested. Nonetheless, just because you can make shots, doesn’t mean you should shoot them.

This season, Howard is shooting worse from deep than ever before, only making 35% of her attempts from range. This figure doesn’t come from a decrease in skill, but a decrease in shot value. Many of Howard’s 3-point attempts are step-backs or shots at the end of the shot clock.

On the flip side, Howard is shooting better from inside the 3-point line than ever, connecting on 53% of her two-point attempts. The math adds up to an easy solution: Howard needs to be driving to the basket more.

Howard’s highest-scoring season was her sophomore year, when she averaged 23.4 points per game. In what isn’t a coincidence, it was also the season with her most free-throw attempts. If Howard can make a living inside the 3-point line, it’ll make life easy behind it.

Where’s the aggression?

While Howard is taking too many tough shots, she isn’t taking enough good ones. The veteran guard is only shooting 13.6 shots per game this season, the second-lowest amount in her career. In her sophomore campaign, Howard put up 18.2 shots per contest. In her junior season, Howard shot 16.3 attempts per game.

Now, part of this issue could come back to more scorers on this year’s team. This season marks the first time in Howard’s career that there have been four ‘Cats averaging double-digit point totals. On the surface this seems fantastic, but is there a sweet spot lying somewhere in between to maximize Howard’s abilities?

Simply put, yes. Specifically, Howard must activate takeover mode when necessary. In the past, Howard has averaged more against ranked opponents than those outside of the AP Top 25. Unfortunately for Howard, this statistic hasn’t held true during her senior year.

When taking the composite of Howard’s scoring against Kentucky’s two ranked opponents this season, she is scoring three fewer points per game than her season average. Of course, Howard could score more if she really wanted to.

Mindset change for Rhyne Howard

Howard is a stoic player, there’s no doubt about that. Whether it’s a deep 3-ball, a tough and-one, or a heated exchange, Howard will simply flip her hair and move on. Although her unshakeable mentality is valuable, so is passion.

At times, Howard’s passion seems questionable. From an outside perspective, there are moments when Howard seems content with letting her teammates do the work. She’ll idly sit in the corner on a big possession; she’ll jog on the fastbreak instead of beating the defense down the floor, or settle for a jumper instead of going that extra mile.

While there are no statistics to show effort, there is the eye test. Howard seemingly passed this judgment with flying colors in her early seasons at UK, but has just been scraping by this season.

In spite of her downfalls, Howard knows the Big Blue Nation. She knows what they value. In fact, Howard went as far as to say this summer a motivator for her is to “not let down” the fans.

If Howard wants to achieve this goal, she’ll play with tenacity. There’s not much more this fan base values than unfiltered, raw hustle. Let out a classic Rhyne Howard stomp every once in a while, get on the floor for a loose ball and be the player that Big Blue Nation fell in love with.