‘Far from where we need to be.’ Kyra Elzy’s immediate reaction to another lost UK season.

Following Kentucky’s 76-62 women’s basketball’s loss to Tennessee in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Thursday, head coach Kyra Elzy spoke highly about the future of the program, rooted in the team’s emphasis on player development.

“Obviously, it’s been an up-and-down season and we go back to work,” Elzy said. “But I want to let it be known that our future is bright in Kentucky. We had 10 players who had to step up in new roles. … Now, we are far from where I want to be, far from where we need to be. But we have fight in us and we go back to work. We are built different. I told the players in the locker room, ‘Not a lot of players could withstand what we have dealt with this year. But we continue to fight, and for today, we left it on the floor.’ I asked them to have a blue heart and they did just that. We came up short. But we go back to work. But very confident in what we bring back at Kentucky.”

After UK ended the 2022-23 season with a record of 12-19 (2-14 SEC), guard Maddie Scherr was the only starter to return. The team graduated forward Adebola Adeyeye, Blair Green and leading scorer Robyn Benton. Over the summer, Kentucky gained junior point guard Brooklynn Miles (Tennessee) via the transfer portal and signed a pair of freshmen in guard Jordy Griggs and forward Janaé Walker.

Of the seven returning players still with the team (sophomore forward Zennia Thomas was dismissed in early January) that Elzy has leaned on to embrace a starting role at one point or another during this season — Miles, sophomores Saniah Tyler, Amiya Jenkins and Cassidy Rowe, juniors Eniya Russell and Ajae Petty and graduate student Emma King — nobody averaged more than 15.1 minutes per game last year. Only King had ever started a game prior to this season.

The Wildcats’ season ends with a record of 12-20. UK finished 12th in the regular season SEC standings, and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the second time in Elzy’s four seasons at the helm. She owns an 8-3 record in SEC Tournament games.

When asked if she met program expectations this season, Elzy said no.

“Well, no,” Elzy said. “The expectation of this program is to go to the NCAA Tournament and compete in the SEC. So we were not where we need to be. But we’ll get there, and so, no. Not satisfied we’re still hungry. We have work to do, and my staff and I will continue to do that along with the players.”

Kentucky cruised to a 64-50 victory in Wednesday’s first-round matchup against 13-seeded Georgia behind three Wildcats — Miles, Ajae and Russell — in double figures.

UK remained competitive with the Lady Vols for two-and-a-half quarters Thursday, going shot-for-shot with the 5-seed before Tennessee took full control of the game in the final 10 minutes. Elzy praised her team’s fight in the loss, and said her rosters seem to play with a new sense of fight when the SEC Tournament rolls around each year.

“Maybe I need to put SEC Tournament logos up all year,” Elzy said. “Because when we get to the SEC Tournament it’s like we’re a different team, different hunger, different mentality. You know, obviously we had a win yesterday. Thought we had a lot of fight of today, and obviously Tennessee is an unbelievable team coached by a great coach, my former teammate (Kellie Harper), but against that caliber team, you know, there was some momentum plays that we had to make and that we didn’t that they were able to capitalize. But if this is the standard, where we want to be, we got to continue to learn and grow. But I liked our fight. I liked our intensity. I thought our defensive tenacity is what we need. And we can continue to build off this.”

Following the Wildcats’ 75-45 home loss to Ole Miss on Feb. 29, Elzy made the following statement in response to a question concerning her future as Kentucky’s head coach:

“Well, I believe I’m gonna be back here. No one’s told me any different. And so until then, my job is to continue to coach this team and get us ready. Heading into postseason, that’s where my mind is. I’m sure that I’ll meet with the administration after the season, but right now I am the head coach here and I’m gonna put my head down and grind and continue to work.”

When asked if anything had changed on that front in Thursday’s postgame, Elzy said no.

“No, it hasn’t.”

Two tough years in a row

Elzy’s tenure at Kentucky smoothly transitioned from her predecessor Matthew Mitchell, the program’s winningest head coach.

The team went 18-9 in 2020-21 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2021-22 season, superstar Rhyne Howard’s final year in the program, brought a 19-12 finish that included the school’s first SEC Tournament championship in 40 years.

The Cats were upset by Princeton in the first round of that year’s NCAA Tournament, and things have gone mostly downhill since then.

After going 12-19 in 2022-23, Kentucky won 12 games again this season, even putting together a four-game winning streak at one point but, in many games, the Wildcats were barely competitive.

UK’s 20 losses this season included defeats to mid-majors Austin Peay and Florida Gulf Coast. The Wildcats suffered losses to No. 1 South Carolina by 62 and 48 points. They were also beaten by 37 by Colorado, 30 by Ole Miss, 29 by North Carolina State, 28 by Auburn and 27 by Arkansas. Seventeen of their 20 losses were by double digits.

The Wildcats were also dire statistically, ranking among the nation’s worst teams in numerous categories.

Entering its final game Thursday, UK ranked 347^th (out of 349 NCAA Division I teams) in field goal percentage defense (46.3) and 332^nd in scoring defense (allowing 74.3 points per game).

Offensively, Kentucky ranked 338^th in free throw shooting percentage (63.2), 227^th in field goal percentage (39.5) and 236^th in 3-point field goal percentage (29.4). The Wildcats ranked 268^th in rebounds per game (268).

Elzy’s teams not only lacked punch on the court the past two seasons but the UK coaching staff struggled to bring highly rated high school recruits into the program, relying more heavily on the transfer portal.

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart addressed the program’s struggles following a UK Board of Trustees athletics committee meeting a couple of weeks ago.

“Women’s basketball is struggling to find a way to get to the top half of the league,” Barnhart said. “There’s no mystery in that. You can look at the record and see that. We’ve got a little bit of time left to do some things in the regular season, and then you get to the (SEC) tournament.

“Kyra has always had some success in the tournament. But at the end of the day, Kyra is one of ours and she has worked diligently hard to represent this program the right way, and we’ll just keep battling with her and our women on our team.”

Elzy’s message to the fan base?

“We did grow up,” Elzy said after Thursday’s game. “It didn’t always show in the win and loss column, but if you go back and look at the stats, the minutes, they did grow up. They grew up on the job, and it usually takes you to about a junior before it really clicks. And now you know, you go to the transfer portal, get some more veterans. But the group that I have here returning, you know, we’ll be grown up, and that does matter. Experience. And we’ll get some. ... No excuses, not where we want to be. But it does take time to build and we’ll get to where we need to be.”

SEC Tournament

At Greenville, S.C.

Wednesday

▪ No. 13 seed Kentucky 64, No. 12 seed Georgia 50

▪ No. 11 Florida 66, No. 14 Missouri 60

Thursday

▪ No. 9 Texas A&M 72, No. 8 Mississippi State 56

▪ No. 5 Tennessee 76, No. 12 Kentucky 62

▪ No. 7 Auburn 67, No. 10 Arkansas 48

▪ No. 11 Florida 62, No. 6 Vanderbilt 59

Friday

Noon: No. 1 South Carolina (29-0) vs. No. 9 Texas A&M (SEC Network)

About 2:30 p.m.: No. 4 Alabama (23-8) vs. No. 5 Tennessee (SEC Network)

6 p.m.: No. 2 LSU (26-4) vs. No. 7 Auburn (20-10) (SEC Network)

About 8:30 p.m.: No. 3 Mississippi (22-7) vs. No. 11 Florida (16-14) (SEC Network)

Saturday

4:30 p.m.: First semifinal (ESPNU)

About 7 p.m.: Second semifinal (ESPNU)

Sunday

3 p.m.: Championship game (ESPN)

Kentucky’s women’s basketball season is over. Vols wear down feisty Cats in SEC tourney.