Kenny Brooks and Kentucky took a tough loss in Knoxville, but the head coach had a lot on his mind after the game.
During the contest, Tennessee was very physical, and sometimes that crossed a line, especially with Clara Strack. There were some fouls called, but on plenty of others, the refs swallowed the whistle. Kentucky was terrible from the free-throw line, but they could have prevented some of those 21 turnovers if the officials had called the game a bit tighter. It is much easier to pressure when you can pull on bodies, jerseys, or hand-check all the way down the court.
There was a particular sequence in the third quarter where Strack nabbed a rebound and was hit across the arm. She was trapped but spun out, only to get body-checked by a Vol before turning it over into a layup for Tennessee. Anytime the Vols sent a double team, there was some jersey tugging going on. They clearly got the memo that she struggles with physicality.
To be fair, Strack has to learn to play through it, but you can't play through everything. And Kenny was not shy in letting the league know about it.
'You call it scouted, I call it mauled'
When a reporter asked about how Tennessee had "scouted" Strack to force turnovers, Brooks didn't back away from what he thought was more than a few missed calls.
"Yeah, you call it scouted, I call it mauled," Brooks said. "We're sitting there watching replays, and her jersey is being tugged, and she's being pushed on. But you know what? Obviously, that is the scout. And that is what people are able to do. We have got to learn how to play through it. She's got to learn how to play through it and adjust."
Strack finished the game 2-7 from the floor, 9 points, 15 rebounds, but had 4 turnovers.
If the refs are going to allow teams to get by with that level of contact, all you can do is adjust and try to replicate it on the other end. But that doesn't mean Brooks enjoyed the product on the floor.
"I wouldn't pay to watch that game," Brooks admitted. "I wouldn't have even streamed it. Just the level of crashes and everything that was going on there."
The Cats are back in action Sunday at 12:00 PM EST against Georgia, if the weather holds up. The men’s team already had to move their Saturday game an hour ahead to avoid the worst of Winter Storm Fern.