Kentucky WBB prepares to put a leash on Georgia Bulldogs

There are no clever lines left for the Kentucky women’s basketball team. There’s winning and there’s losing. The ‘Cats must win.

On Thursday, Kentucky (10-14;2-10 SEC) will defend its home court against the Georgia Bulldogs (17-9; 6-6 SEC) at 7 p.m. This isn’t the first meeting between these two programs this season. On Jan. 5, the Bulldogs defeated the ‘Cats 74-70 in Athens.

Only ✌️ more home games are left, and tomorrow is one of them. 😇

Join us in Memorial Coliseum at 7 p.m. ET as we play host to Georgia.

— Kentucky Women’s Basketball (@KentuckyWBB) February 16, 2023

While Kentucky’s home hardwood should provide more than a four-point boost, the team’s progression has come to a halt lately. UK is on a three-game losing streak, most recently falling to Ole Miss in an embarrassing 74-52 fashion. After the blowout defeat, UK head coach Kyra Elzy discussed the team’s future.

“They’re competitors and they’re resilient. We battled adversity all year and the next game will be the most important game,” Elzy said. “We don’t have any quit in us.”

Georgia will put Elzy’s closing statement to the test.

Breaking down the Bulldogs

The Bulldogs are on a feeding frenzy, winning their last two games by an average margin of 22 points. Despite the team’s recent top-dog performances, its record is middle-of-the-pack. With a 6-6 conference mark, UGA sits eighth in the SEC standings.

Diamond Battles isn’t responsible for the Bulldogs’ underwhelming record. Battles leads the team with 14.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. The 5-foot-8 guard was even more impressive against UK, dropping 19 points and four steals while shooting 7-14 from the field.

Battles wasn’t the only Bulldog who bit the ‘Cats. Brittney Smith added 17 points and three rebounds on 6-10 shooting in the victory. The fifth-year senior averages 12.2 points and 5.5 boards per outing while connecting on 53% of her field-goal attempts.

📍 Lexington, KY pic.twitter.com/FulGB0NhEb

— Georgia Basketball 🏀🐶 (@UGA_WBB) February 15, 2023

Fifth-year guard Audrey Warren is the final head of Georgia’s veteran trio. Warren regularly adds 8.0 points and 2.8 boards a night to the Bulldogs’ effort. Warren dropped 11 points, five rebounds and five, shooting 2-3 from downtown.

The solid shooting performance is a rare occasion for the group. Georgia hits just 29.4% of its attempts from range this season, ranking 244th in the nation. However, the team makes up for the subpar shooting with nearly 11 steals per game — 10th most in the country.

Keys for Kentucky WBB

Luckily for the ‘Cats, turnovers have not plagued the squad as of late. Kentucky has won the turnover battle in its past three games, forcing 17 opponent turnovers per game. Nonetheless, UK’s wave of defense hasn’t been enough to turn the tide.

In Kentucky’s past three losses, the team has not shot above 40% from the field. The team has dished out more than seven assists in just one of those contests. Elzy believes the recent offensive slump is a significant step back for the ‘Cats.

“We got some of the shots that we wanted early. They did not go in,” Elzy said after Kentucky fell to Ole Miss. “We regressed and let our offense affect our defense.”

If it didn’t affect the defense, it certainly affected the team’s rebounding. Ole Miss grabbed 21 more boards than Kentucky on Monday night. In the two games prior, Kentucky’s foes combined to out-rebound UK 69-48.

The backslide hit just after Kentucky’s bigs began to find their roles. Now, Adebola Adeyeye and Nyah Leveretter have snagged a mere 12 rebounds in the Wildcats’ three-straight defeats. Elzy knows her team needs to increase its interior presence.

“We need them and they got to continue to learn and grow but they do make us different,” Elzy said after Kentucky lost to Alabama on Feb. 9.

Something has to be different for the ‘Cats. Watch Kentucky try to make the change at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Memorial Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.