Big Blue Preview: No. 16/18 Kentucky Women’s Basketball Plays at Auburn on Thursday, Final Regular-Season Road Game
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 16/18 University of Kentucky women’s basketball program (20-8, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) will play at Auburn (14-14, 3-11 SEC) in Neville Arena in Auburn, Alabama, on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. ET.
Fans in the Auburn area can purchase tickets by clicking here.
Darren Headrick will have the Kentucky-Auburn radio call for UK Sports Network on 630 AM WLAP in Lexington and on 790 AM WKRD in Louisville. It also will be carried on SiriusXM channel 145 and on the SiriusXM App.
Big Blue Nation also can watch the game on SEC Network+, with Lyn Rollins and JJ Jackson on the call.
The Wildcats enter their final regular-season road game with a 20-8 overall record, including a 7-7 mark in the SEC. Four of those eight losses were without veteran starter Teonni Key, as the team worked to reinvent itself and play out of position, while the other four losses were to top-10 teams with some silver linings.
That includes Kentucky’s most recent loss at No. 5/6 Vanderbilt on Sunday, dropping the contest by just two points, 81-79, in Memorial Gymnasium. Kentucky led for more than 30 minutes and by as much as 12 points, while Vanderbilt led for three minutes and by as much as just two points. However, a 20-14 fourth quarter in favor of Vanderbilt meant the Wildcats took its second loss to the Commodores by two points or fewer this season.
Despite the loss, UK is coming off 79 points on 46.0 percent from the field, 81.0 percent from the line and 10 3s to go along with just 10 turnovers in Nashville. UK became the only Division I women’s team to accomplish all of those stats in a true road game against an Associated Press Top Five opponent since at least 2002-03.
Nonetheless, UK is No. 16 in the latest NET rankings and is currently projected to host the NCAA Tournament First and Second Rounds, according to Charlie Crème.
The Wildcats, who have already broken numerous single-season school records this season, including Clara Strack’s single-season school record in blocks (currently at 75) and Tonie Morgan’s single-season school record in assists (currently at 237), are on the heels of a handful more benchmarks.
The team is 10 3s from breaking the single-season school record for 3s, which was set in 2019-20 (252). Asia Boone is just five more 3s from resetting Rhyne Howard’s single-season school record set in 2019-20 (84). Boone also needs 10 more points to eclipse 1, 000 for her college career.
Thursday’s game will mark the 57th all-time meeting between the two teams. Kentucky is tied with Auburn, 28-28, in the series, and tied, 12-12, in games played in Auburn.
The Wildcats have won nine of the last 11 meetings, including their last meeting, 80-61, last season in Lexington. Kentucky’s last win at Auburn was Jan. 25, 2022 (67-55).
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
