Kentucky-McNeese State Postgame Notes

March 17, 2012

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Kentucky is now 26-6, while McNeese State is 26-8.
Kentucky leads the series 2-0. This was the teams’ first meeting in the NCAA Tournament.
- UK is 5-0 all-time against teams from the Southland Conference.
UK is now 9-8 all-time in its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance.
- UK is 6-3 in first-round games and has won five-consecutive first-round games.
Coach Matthew Mitchell is now 142-84 overall and 112-55 at UK.
- UK is 5-2 under Mitchell in the NCAA Tournament, including 3-0 in first-round games.
Kentucky is 654-470 in 38 years of varsity play.
Kentucky advances to the second round Monday at 9:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. CDT in Ames) against the winner of the Green Bay vs. Iowa State game.

Kentucky used the starting lineup of Amber Smith, A’dia Mathies, Bria Goss, Kastine Evans and Samantha Drake for the eighth time this season but the first since Dec. 21. The Wildcats are 7-1 with this lineup.
- o UK has started a freshman in 134-of-166 games in the Matthew Mitchell era, including 100 straight.
Trailing 12-11, UK went on a 10-0 run for a 21-12 lead.
With the score 23-15, McNeese roared back with a 12-0 run for a 27-23 lead.
UK bounced back to close the half on an 8-1 spurt and took a 31-28 advantage into intermission.
Amber Smith paced the Cats with eight points, five rebounds and three assists in the first half.

UK got its first three-pointer of the game by Kastine Evans at 13:33, putting UK up 42-33.
UK led by as many as 12 at 57-45.
McNeese got within six points in the closing minutes but got no closer.

UK won the rebounding, 58-40, UK is 19-0 this season when outrebounding the opponent.
- 58 rebounds is a season high for the Wildcats.
UK won second-chance points, 18-12. UK is outscoring its opponents by +6.9 per game this season on second-chance points and is 21-1 this season when having more second-chance points by the opponent.
UK dominated bench scoring, 31-8.
UK held McNeese State to 30 percent from the field, the fourth game this season UK has kept an opponent at 30 percent or less.
UK blocked eight shots, tying a season high.
The Wildcats hit two three-pointers today and now have 189 on the season, breaking the UK single-season record of 187 set in 2009-10.
- UK extended its streak of consecutive games with a triple to 288.
Kentucky forced only 13 turnovers in the game, a season low for the Wildcat defense.
- UK has forced double-digit miscues in 114 consecutive games. The Cats are 82-31 during that span.
- Kentucky has forced an SEC-high 887 turnovers this season (27.7 per game), also a single-season school record for UK.

Keyla Snowden led the Wildcats with 11 points, all coming in the second half.
Samarie Walker had eight points and led the Cats with 13 rebounds, her second-best rebounding game at UK.
Amber Smith had eight points, season-high seven rebounds and four assists.
- Most points for Smith since Jan. 15 at South Carolina.
- Smith played the 120th game of her career, moving into a tie for eighth place on the UK career list.
Making her first start since Dec. 28, Samantha Drake gathered eight points, six rebounds and blocked four shots.
- Most points since Dec. 21 and tied her career best for blocks.
Azia Bishop came off the bench to score 10 points, her best since the Arkansas game on Jan. 5.

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