KENTUCKY WBB POSTGAME NOTES
Kentucky vs. No. 7 Tennessee
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.
Dec. 31, 2017
 
FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 49, No. 7 Tennessee 63
 
Team Records and Series Notes
-Kentucky falls to 8-7 this season, while Tennessee is 13-0.
-Today’s game marked Kentucky’s third against a top-10 team this season, having fallen to No. 9/9 Baylor and No. 3/4 Louisville.
-Matthew Mitchell is in his 11th season as head coach at Kentucky. He is the winningest head coach in program history at 249-107.
-Tennessee leads the all-time series between the two teams, 55-11, including a 23-8 mark in games played in Lexington.
-This was the second game of the series played inside Rupp Arena.

• UK claimed the victory in the first game, 66-63, vs. No. 1 Tennessee on Jan. 26, 2006.

-Kentucky is set to play its first SEC road contest on Thursday, traveling to College Station, Texas, to take on No. 22/21 Texas A&M. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network and on the UK Sports Radio Network with Darren Headrick calling the action.
 
Team Notes
-Kentucky used the starting combination of senior Alyssa Rice, senior Makenzie Cann, junior Taylor Murray, junior Maci Morris and freshman KeKe McKinney.

• UK is 2-4 with that starting-five combination.

-Tennessee started the game on a 10-0 run as UK went 0-of-6 from the floor in the first four minutes of the game.

• UK closed the first quarter with a 26-7 deficit.

-The Wildcats were able to find some momentum in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Vols 13-10 and holding UT scoreless for the final 4:24 of the first half.
-Kentucky went on to outscore the Lady Vols 29-27 in the second half, paced by 13 second-half points from junior guard Maci Morris.

• In total, UK posted a 42-37 lead over Tennessee in the final three quarters.

-UK held the seventh highest scoring offense in the country to a season-low 63 points.

• The Lady Vols were averaging 88.3 points per game before today’s game.
• Their previous low this season was 68 points vs. Wichita State on Nov. 20.

-The Wildcats forced a season-high 21 turnovers from its opponent in the contest, and gave up just 12 turnovers.
-Kentucky’s 49 points scored is the first time the Wildcats have scored less than 50 points in a game since posting 48 vs. Louisville on Dec. 2, 2012.
 
Player Notes
–Maci Morris led all scorers in the contest with 18 points to go with two rebounds and three steals.

• She’s scored in double digits in all but one contest this season.
• Morris hit three 3s in the game, taking her career total to 139, which ranks seventh most in program history.
  • She needs just 23 more to tie Jenny Pfeiffer (2003-07) for sixth most.
• Morris eclipsed the 900-point mark in today’s game and has 912 career points.
  • Morris needs just 88 points to become the 33rd member of UK’s 1,000 point club. She needs 111 points to tie Sandy Harding for 32nd all-time on UK’s career scoring list.
  • She’s averaging 16.1 points per game this season.
• She’s led UK in scoring 10 times this season.
• Her three steals also matched a career high.

–Dorie Harrison added nine points in the contest.

• Her nine points matches her second-highest scoring production of the season and her highest since Nov. 16 vs. Montana.

• Alyssa Rice posted eight rebounds with six points in the game.

  • Rice now has seven or more rebounds in 11 games this season.
  • She has recorded five or more rebounds in every game but one this season.