Women’s Basketball No. 19 in USA Today/Coaches’ Preseason Top 25

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the seventh straight year, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team will begin its season ranked inside the top 20 of the USA Today/Coaches’ Preseason Top 25, sitting No. 19 in the annual listing, which was released Thursday afternoon. 

Kentucky has been ranked in both the USA Today/Coaches’ Top 25 and The Associated Press Top 25 since week 13 of the 2009-10 season, which is a program-record streak. Last season, UK was ranked No. 17 in the USA Today/Coaches’ Preseason Top 25. The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 is expected in early November. 

Entering his 10th season as head coach, Matthew Mitchell has again put together a challenging schedule for the Wildcats in 2016-17. Kentucky is scheduled to play 10 games against teams inside the USA Today/Coaches’ Preseason Top 25, including No. 3 South Carolina (twice), No. 8 Louisville, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 14 Tennessee, No. 16 Arizona State, No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 20 Miami (Fla.), No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 24 Florida. UK is also scheduled to play Missouri (twice), Duke, Auburn and Georgia (twice), who are each receiving votes in the poll. In all, 16 of Kentucky’s 29 regular-season games will come against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the preseason listing. 

Kentucky will start its 2016-17 season with the Kentucky Classic at Memorial Coliseum on Nov. 11-13 with No. 20 Miami (Fla.) and Albany, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a season ago. UK and Miami (Fla.) will begin the event Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. ET, followed by Kentucky and Albany on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. ET and Albany and Miami (Fla.) concluding the event Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. ET. Both Kentucky games will be broadcast live on SEC Network+ through WatchESPN. 

Season tickets for the 2016-17 season are available for $65 in upper level chairbacks, lower level bleachers and general admission upper level bleachers. Purchasing season tickets offers the best option and price savings for fans. Current and future season ticket holders are also encouraged to join the Victory Club, the official booster program for Kentucky women’s basketball. More information on the Victory Club can be found at bit.ly/VictoryClub.

Single-game tickets are also available through ticketmaster.com. Single-game tickets are $9 for reserved seating (all ages), $8 for general admission seating (adults) and $5 for general admission seating (youth 6-18/seniors 65+). General admission seating is free for ages five and under. 

On top of local schools receiving free admission to UK’s game on Nov. 17 against New Hampshire through RSVP online at ukathletics.com/page/wbbeducationgame, there are several other group offers for fans this season, including $3 tickets for groups of 10 or more, free admission for UK faculty and staff, birthday party packages and the Matthew Mitchell Winning Tools Ticket Program. For information on all special group tickets, visit ukathletics.com/page/tickets-womens-basketball. 

For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.

2016-17 USA Today/Coaches’ Preseason Top 25

1. Connecticut (38-0)

2. Notre Dame (33-2)

3. South Carolina (33-2)

4. Baylor (36-2)

5. Maryland (31-4)

6. (Tie) Ohio State (26-8)

6. (Tie) Texas (31-5)

8. Louisville (26-8)

9. UCLA (26-9)

10. Stanford (27-8)

11. Mississippi State (28-8)

12. Florida State (25-8)

13. Syracuse (30-8)

14. Tennessee (22-14)

15. Washington (26-11)

16. Arizona State (26-7)

17. Oregon State (32-5)

18. Oklahoma (22-11)

19. KENTUCKY (25-8)

20. Miami (Fla.) (24-9)

21. DePaul (27-9)

22. Michigan State (25-9)

23. Texas A&M (22-10)

24. Florida (22-9)

25. West Virginia (25-10)

  

Others receiving votes: South Florida (24-10) 65; Indiana (21-12) 51; South Dakota State (27-7) 38; Colorado State (31-2) 17; Missouri (22-10) 17; Duke (20-12) 16; Auburn (20-13) 14; Creighton (17-18) 10; Michigan (21-14) 10; Western Kentucky (27-7) 10; St. John’s (23-10) 9; Northwestern (18-17) 7; Oklahoma State (21-10) 7; Wisconsin-Green Bay (28-5) 7; Pennsylvania (24-5) 6; Georgia (21-10) 5; North Carolina State (20-11) 5; California (15-17) 4; Temple (23-12) 4; Brigham Young (26-7) 3; Iowa (19-14) 3; Duquesne (28-6) 2; George Washington (26-7) 2; Gonzaga (19-14) 2; Oregon (24-11) 2; Drake (23-10) 1; Georgia Tech (20-13) 1; Troy (20-13) 1; Tulane (23-12) 1.

Kentucky’s 2016-17 opponents in bold.