KSR’s top takeaways from Kentucky’s 22-point win over Missouri

Welp. The game of basketball giveth, and the game of basketball taketh, and it took away Teonni Key from us. Of course, there was some other (positive) stuff that took place as Kentucky beat Missouri handily.

So, here are KSR’s top takeaways from the 74-52 win over the Tigers.

Get better soon, Teonni Key

First and foremost, let’s extend some well wishes to Teonni Key. In what was truly a freakish play, the 6-foot-5 forward dove for a loose ball and awkwardly landed on a Missouri player and the court, resulting in a dislocated elbow, according to Kenny Brooks. We’re rooting for a speedy recovery, 7!

I am no medical expert and I won’t even try to pretend to be, so to look at the situation differently, it’s going to be really important for players like Asia Boone and Kaelyn Carroll to step up in her place, assuming she will be out of action for an extended period of time. We’ve seen this team without Key in two games already, and they both played an important role in making sure her lost production wasn’t a killer.

Obviously, the top priority here is her health in general, but just looking at the basketball aspect, life is going to get even tougher. Her presence on the defensive end and on the glass will almost certainly be missed sorely. It’s just a matter of the next man stepping up and providing their own unique punch.

Tonie Morgan’s confidence is on another planet right now

After a 24-point, 12-assists, 0-turnover outing against the No. 5 team in the country is awesome enough. But then hitting the game-winning three to add the cherry on top? Should it really come as a surprise that Tonie Morgan‘s confidence is through the roof right now?

She nailed her first three shots against Missouri — even hitting a three from about where that game-winner was from a few nights back. Against the Tigers, Morgan went off, recording 18 points on 7-11 (2-3 3PT) shooting while dishing out 14 assists along the way. FOURTEEN! Just absolutely brilliant stuff from the Georgia Tech transfer.

If she can continue to play like that — not the same ridiculous stat lines, but just taking over games and doing anything at will — she may very well end up being the best point guard in the SEC when this season is all said and done.

All things considered, that’s a really good win

Missouri is a good team, and after the LSU game, Kentucky could have very easily slept-walked into Sunday’s contest, laid an egg and lost. Instead, they beat a very solid Tigers squad by 22 points, leading by double digits pretty much the whole way.

The Tigers have had an interesting season, but they entered Sunday’s game 12-4, and in their last game, they were within a possession or two against No. 2 Texas for the majority of that game — even leading after the first quarter.

Brooks admitted that Kentucky was a bit “sluggish” out the gate against Missouri, and when you couple that with the emotionally taxing part of Key’s injury, being able to get themselves together to get a win like they did is, at the end of the day, something that Kentucky can hang its hat on.

KSR’s Rapid Reaction

Kenny Brooks, Tonie Morgan Postgame Press Conference

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