A win is a win in the SEC, but as Kenny Brooks stood at the podium after Kentucky's wild 94-89 victory over Florida, he didn’t pretend it was a masterpiece. Especially coming off a huge win against Oklahoma on Sunday, he was expecting a better performance.
"I am extremely proud of the effort that they gave to really buckle down at the end, salvaging a win," Brooks said. "Although it wasn’t pretty."
"Not pretty" is definitely an understatement. After dominating the first quarter, Kentucky walked out for the third quarter and completely unraveled. The Gators exploded for 35 points after haltime shooting 84.6% (11-of-13) from the field during the third quarter. After a 17-point lead in the first quarter, Kentucky would be down 7 heading to the 4th.
"We did not play well in that third quarter," Brooks admitted. "I don’t think I’ve ever been associated with a team that gave the other team thirty-five points in a quarter, but we lost our focus."
Life without Teonni Key hasn't proven to be easy
The collapse highlighted a glaring issue that goes beyond just one bad quarter: the absence of Teonni Key.
When Key is on the floor, she is a defensive eraser and someone who can rebound when the Cats need one. Without her, the rotation is shorter, and the margin for error is razor-thin. Brooks was candid about how difficult it is to adjust on the fly.
"Where we are right now, we need to continue to get better, but we are reinventing ourselves," Brooks explained. "When you don’t have Teonni, and you have to switch everything up, it’s a body that is taken out and taken away from us... I don’t have very many plays in our playbook that don’t involve Clara or Teonni." Strack was on the bench for nearly the entire 4th quarter with 4 fouls.
Morgan and Strack carry the load
With the playbook limited and the defense leaking oil, Kentucky had to rely on its stars to simply outscore the problem.
Tonie Morgan played like a woman possessed, logging over 38 minutes and dropping a massive double-double with 26 points and 13 assists. She went toe-to-toe with Florida’s Liv McGill (20 points, 11 assists) and refused to let the Cats lose.
"We put her in predicaments that were rough tonight," Brooks said of his point guard. "She did a really good job."
Then there was Clara Strack. Despite battling foul trouble all night, eventually fouling out in the final 20 seconds, she finished with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. She was the anchor the Cats desperately needed down the stretch to close out the win.
"Clara also did a really good job defensively," Brooks said. "We put her in too many tough situations."
Strack acknowledged the challenge of leading without her frontcourt partner. "I think my main focus is improving my leadership... Teonni’s obviously still there for the bench, but I think that’s definitely been something I’ve been trying to do is get better at that game by game."
Surviving the storm
In the end, Kentucky shot 75% in the fourth quarter to reclaim the lead and hold on. Amelia Hassett hit huge threes (12 points), Jordan Obi added 12, and Lexi Blue chipped in 8 off the bench in a game that nearly got away from Kentucky.
But the story of the night was the defense. You simply cannot give up 35 points in a quarter and expect to win consistently in the SEC. Brooks knows it, and he knows his team dodged a bullet.
"We will watch this game and learn from it," Brooks said. "We will turn the page, because if you allow one game to snowball into two... You can find yourself looking up at a lot of good teams in the SEC."