WBB Caps Doubleheader with Volleyball Sunday in Memorial
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Memorial Coliseum will be the place to be Sunday as the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team will bookend a doubleheader with the nationally ranked UK volleyball team. After Craig Skinner’s volleyball team squares off against Alabama at 1:30 p.m. ET, the coliseum will be cleared and turned over for women’s basketball with the Wildcats set to face the Southern University Jaguars at 7 p.m. ET.
The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Christi Thomas and Jeff Piecoro on the call. The action can also be seen through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones or tablets. Darren Headrick will have the call on the UK Sports Network on 630 WLAP in Lexington. Live stats and free live audio will be available online at UKathletics.com.
Single-game WBB tickets are $10 (all ages) in reserved seating areas, while general admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children (ages 6-18) and seniors (age 65+). Children ages five and under do not require a ticket in general admission areas. Purchasing season tickets offers the best option and price savings for fans. New season ticket purchases are available in upper-level reserved chairbacks (sections AA-JJ), lower-level reserved bleachers (sections R-Z) or general admission bleachers (sections RR-ZZ) for $69 per ticket. Lower-level reserved chairbacks (A-J) sections are sold out again this season.
Freshman guard Blair Green is scheduled to sign autographs following the game on the main concourse near the Lexington Avenue entrance. Other game day experiences include the massive new LED video board and LED ribbon board featuring a 5.2 mm display with a 4800-hertz refresh rate and additional snack options from Kroger’s popular Simple Truth brand, including peanut butter filled pretzels, chocolate covered almonds and gummy worms will be available at concession stands. Young fans are encouraged to take advantage of the Kid Zone pregame with games, poster making stations, coloring stations and more.
Spectator parking is located in all E-lots surrounding Memorial Coliseum and are off control 3 hours prior to tip. Additionally, the South Limestone Garage (PS#5) and the Rose Street Garage (PS#2) are available 2 hours prior to tip. With the Gatton Student Center lot and expansion of North Craft lot there are 238 additional parking spots for spectators this season around Memorial Coliseum. The Bill Gatton Student Center is available as a pay-to-park option. Availability is based on the Gatton Student Center Event Schedule.
The Lexington Parking Authority Transit Center Parking Garage, located between High Street and Vine Street is available for parking after 5 p.m. during the week and all day on the weekends. Additionally, a free shuttle service will pick up in the High Street lot beginning 2 hours prior to tip. UK Athletics Event Staff will be at the Transit Center Garage Entrance to assist with directing patrons to the correct shuttle pick-up location.
Parking is prohibited in any R (Residential) lots. Vehicles parking in R lots without a proper permit, along yellow curbs, grass spaces, or other non-specified and unapproved areas may be subject to ticket and/or tow. Disabled spectator parking is available with a valid, state issues disabled hangtag in the E lot North of the Craft Center. These spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis until full.
Shuttles are available beginning 2 hours prior to tip off and pick up and drop off near the South Limestone Garage (PS#5) and near the Transit Center Parking Garage and High Street Lot. Shuttles will start back up after halftime to return guests to their parking areas, the shuttle will discontinue service 1-hour post-game.
Doors to Memorial Coliseum open 1.5 hours before tip and UK Athletics encourages women’s basketball fans to arrive early to ease traffic and parking congestion around the Coliseum. For more information on parking around Memorial Coliseum and other game-day questions visit UKathletics.com.
Kentucky (1-0) forced 42 turnovers – the fourth most in a game in program history – and scored 51 points off those miscues to earn their 10th straight win in a season or home opener on Wednesday against Alabama State. Senior guard Taylor Murray led all scorers with 16 points going 7-of-12 from the field with five assists and six steals. Fellow senior Maci Morris had 11 points and hit three 3s. UK had 23 steals in the game, which is the sixth most steals in a game in program history. It was the first time Kentucky had recorded 20 or more steals since 24 vs. Georgia Southern on Nov. 13, 2013.
Both of Kentucky’s freshmen scored 13 or more points in their varsity debut against Alabama State, which is the first time in program history that two freshmen scored 13 or more in their varsity debuts. Freshman guard Rhyne Howard scored 15 points in the game, adding six rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Howard’s 15 points were the fifth most in a player’s varsity debut in program history. Freshman guard Blair Green had 13 points in the game, going 5-of-10 from the field and 1-of-3 from long range. Green’s 13 points tied the seventh most in a player’s varsity debut in program history.
Southern enters the game Sunday with a 2-0 record after wins over Millsaps College and Wiley College to start the season. Both games were at home and started head coach Carlos Funchess’ tenure off in style. The Jaguars are averaging 71 points per game so far this season while limiting opponents to just 36 points per game. SU is shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 31.4 percent from long range in its first two games. Southern has limited its turnovers early on with just 17.5 per game while they have forced 28 miscues per game.
Brittany Rose leads the team in points per game at 14 while she is 8-of-16 from long range in the early going. Amani McWain is averaging 10 points per game adding 3.5 rebounds per game. Sarai Blissett is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.5 per game while adding 8.5 points per game. Funchess is in his first season as head coach after former head coach Sandy Pugh led the Jaguars for 18 seasons, highlighted by 15 winning seasons and seven regular season titles, their most recent awarded just last season.
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Southern 1-0. The lone meeting was in December 2006 when the Wildcats posted a 70-44 victory inside Memorial Coliseum over the Jaguars. Kentucky is 14-0 all-time against teams that make up the current alignment of the SWAC after defeating Alabama State in the season opener.
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.
UK ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KENTUCKY VS. SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY
NOV. 9, 2018
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
UK Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening statement…
“Well, we’re coming back off of our game Wednesday night. We had an off day yesterday, and we have two important practices ahead of us to get ready for Southern. They’ve played a couple of exhibition games and have shown the ability to score a lot of points, and they’re athletic. It’s going to be another game where we will have to come out ready to play. I think for right now, for us, we really have to focus on improving. One thing that I thought was very positive in the game was we were able to improve steadily throughout the game. Some players made some strides throughout the game, and this time of the season it is very important that you take advantage of your game reps. The lead sort-of ballooned there to a spot where maybe you could have gone on cruise control, and I still saw players out there fighting for improvements, so that’s a positive. We have to make a lot improvement right now. We have to be more precise in what we’re doing, and so we’re looking forward to a great day of practice and try to get that done and see if can get prepared for Southern.”
On the improvement he’ll focus on ahead of Southern…
“Well, from a macro view it is a lot of little things throughout the team, both offensively and defensively. So, we need to just to get an overall attitude of hustle coupled with precision. Sometimes we were running around out there, expending some physical effort, but with not a lot of precision in what we were doing. So, that’s really going to be my overall message to the team as we gather for practice today. We have to be more precise with what we’re doing. I think some details, our positioning before the ball comes in the full-court press, really has to sharpen up. It’s not way off, but little things here and there can really get you beat in the full-court press, and people not in the right position can hurt you. So, we’ve got to clean some of that up. Offensively, the big thing coming in is on-balance shots. That’s one of the things we’ve committed to this year, and we’ve just missed so many shots right around the basket because we didn’t take the time to really get on balance and go to our fundamentals and finish there. So, I think among many things, those are two things that we’re not too far off on that we need to get it corrected before Sunday.
On forcing 54 turnovers in prior two games…
“Well, they’re good athletes, and they’re very aggressive, and they hustle and play hard, and they’re putting a lot of pressure on the ball, and that will make people do things that… you know, you’re looking on film and you’re like, ‘why did she throw that pass?’ Well, she threw that pass that, you know, everyone in the stands thinks it was not a great play, but because she had heat on her, and she had great ball pressure. So, they really try to do that, they try to mix it up and are an aggressive attacking defense. So, we are expecting… we’re going to go in the game well prepared. We are working hard throughout practice to prepare for full-court press and for that to be 40 minutes. So, we really need to get sharp on ball security. You know, we turned the ball over too much the other night. The turnover margin was excellent. But, on the part where we can control, we turned the ball over four or five times too many. We’ve got to sharpen that up. But, if we’re careless Southern can cause problems by creating turnovers.”
On Rhyne (Howard) and Blair (Green) in their varsity debuts…
“What’s so exciting about watching both of them is that, where they are producing is so much on just their giftedness. One game in you don’t have a full understanding of what needs to happen at this level, but that’s what is so exciting about them, is they’re able to produce. But, I think Rhyne just has to understand that there is another gear that you’ve got to get to and stay there, and when she does that it’s going to be something else. And then Blair, her motors are really great right now. I think she gets to processing a little too much and thinking a little too much, makes some positional mistakes, but I’ll tell you the thing about Blair – one minute she’ll make a really bad play, and you don’t have much time to get upset about it because the next thing, she just lets it go and here she comes running down the floor, and running as fast as she can, there she is diving on the floor and getting a hustle play. With Rhyne, she’ll have some defensive breakdown, and she’ll come down and make some unbelievable pass or shoot a three with ease. And so, they’re just both gifted and they’re great character people, have high character and they’re intelligent. So, it’ going to be fun coaching them and watching them grow. There’s a lot more there that they can do, but we’re sure happy they’re here now and playing as well as they’re playing right now.”
On Blair at the top of the press…
“Well, she has great length, athleticism and energy. So, she just has all of the ingredients to be at the top of our zone press and she is just relentless, is able to mask if she is tired – she doesn’t look tired. She just really has to bottom out before you understand that she needs a break. She’s not looking for a break, but is trying to put pressure on the other teams and trying her best to bring something positive to her team. So, athletic, agile, long, got great length and just a really outstanding tenacity at the top of the press. She and KeKe (McKinney) both bring that energy that we need, and they both will get better and better at that as we sharpen up on our fundamentals and our details in that.”
