UK Hoops bounces back at Ole Miss

[trublue4life]

UK responded well to the clunker against Auburn by picking up another important road win in the SEC, 81-75 over the Rebels this afternoon.Did not get to hear the first half but apparently Mickie DeMoss shook up the lineup and sat Samantha Mahoney & Sarah Elliot, instead starting Nastasa Alcius & Aleia Roddy (not sure about Roddy but that would be my best guess). She just wanted to send a message that she will not tolerate the kind of performance she saw last Thursday. Apparently the move paid off: Alcius scored 16, Mahoney and Elliot came off the bench to score 15 each and Elliot grabbed 13 rebounds, by far her most aggressive board work of the year. The team shot 90% from the free throw line, hitting 26-29. Awesome!

It's time to see if we can compete with the big boys...er...I mean, girls;)... as thenumber 1 rankedVols roll into Ruppon Thursday. Go Cats!

[TRexSmarts]

The team is still a few years away but I'm glad to see them winning in the SEC lower level teams! Right now, LSU and Auburn are in the top level of the SEC. I'm looking more at this game as a measuring stick game. It will be hard for me to root for one team though.

TRexSmarts

[trublue4life]

TREX, you must mean LSU & UT. Auburn was actually in last place in the conference when we lost to them at Rupp. DeMoss was extremely unhappy with that (lack of) perfromance. LSU really intimidated us to the point that we simply did not play our game. You are right, youth is the biggest factor that's keeping us from taking that next step. What impresses me though, is the way DeMoss has gotten this young team to respond after a loss. They are growing up pretty quick, and I expect to see them competing at the top level by this time next year and especially the year following. Thursday will be a good measuring stick. Basically we will see if we have learned not to play scared since the LSU massacre and if we have developed more toughness. Winning against UT is a tall order (they are pretty darn good!), but we can feel good about our team's development if we simply come to compete and don't back down. It should be interesting.

[adamspt2]

Go ahead and shoot me. Against Tennessee, all I want is a good competitive game and to lose by less than 20. We played them at Knoxville last year and you could just see the nerves jangling on the court. Another really bad shooting night for the cats. If they can keep their composure, they can certainly play much better than that.

This year, Mickie is shooting to finish in the middle four, hopefully, at the top of that group. Next year, I'd look for us to consolidate that position and be ready should any of the big four (UT, LSU, GA, Vandy) falter. Mahoney/Elliott's senior year we should be able to make a run at one of the top spots. If DeMoss continues to bring in the talent (and even better), we should be able to make a few back to back trips to the NCAA.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Way to go Lady Cats...........Could Thursday be an upset??????

[trublue4life]

adamspt2, you nailed it as for what this year's expectations vs. next year. I don't see an upset Thursday (stranger things have happened), but I do want to see us come out unafraid. Against LSU our inside players looked (and played) like deer caught in headlights. And Simone (player of the year last year and probably again) looked like she knew she could score whenever she wanted (and basically did). Hopefully, we learned enough from that disaster to be better prepared against UT. Again, an upset at this point is probably too much to expect, but if the girls want to prove me wrong then, by all means, go ahead!

Also, for whatever it's worth, out previous two outings at Rupp have been two of our worse performances. Both winnable games (UL & Auburn) with less than winning efforts.