Nov. 28—NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Illinois women’s basketball team picked the wrong night to have a poor shooting performance.
Against the No. 14 team in the country in Kentucky, the Illini struggled to find any sort of offensive consistently.
A second half that saw the Wildcats take control after the game was tied at halftime.
What it meant is No. 19 Illinois couldn’t reach 7-0 for the first time under third-year coach Shauna Green.
A 76-53 loss to Kentucky on Wednesday night at Trojan Fieldhouse in the marquee game of the three-day Music City Classic on the Trevecca Nazarene University campus that saw the Illini (6-1) lose for the first time this season.
Illinois, which came into the nonconference matchup with Kentucky (7-0) having trailed for just 44 seconds, only led for three minutes, 43 seconds on Wednesday night. The Wildcats, meanwhile, led for 30:47.
“We literally could not buy a bucket,” Green said. “We had 11 missed layups at halftime. It was just not our night offensively and you just can’t have those offensive lapses against a team as good as Kentucky. We got what we wanted. I mean the zone stifled us a little, bit but we just couldn’t make shots.
“I thought we fought like crazy and defended our butts off the first half and then our defensive intensity to start the second half I was not happy with. I called a timeout and then we picked it up and we started defending, but it’s deflating when you keep missing shot after shot. When they blew it open, they just got a lot of easy buckets in transition after some of our misses.”
Still, the Illini found themselves tied with Kentucky heading into the locker room at halftime with both teams with 28 points apiece.
Kentucky, however, outscored Illinois 22-16 in the third quarter to grab a 50-44 lead. A Wildcats lead that ballooned in the fourth quarter, thanks to an 18-0 Kentucky run that allowed what was a close matchup in the first half to get out of hand at the end.
Illinois finished 16 of 60 from the floor (26.7 percent). Their issues really were from beyond the three-point arc, with Illinois unable to solve Kentucky’s 2-3 zone defense, as the Illini went 1 of 16 on three-point attempts.
Clara Strack dominated her matchup with Illinois. The Wildcats sophomore produced an impressive double-double of 25 points and 15 rebounds.
Adalia McKenzie led the Illini with 18 points, but more than half of those points were the result of made free throws (10 of 12).
Next, Illinois will play its only true road game of the nonconference season at 5 p.m. on Monday at Canisius (1-5).
