Kentucky Women’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Kentucky vs. (rv/rv) UCLA   
UVI Sports & Fitness Center – St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Friday, November 23, 2018
 
Kentucky 75, UCLA 74 – FINAL (Overtime)
 
Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky moves to 6-0 on the season while UCLA is now 3-3.
  • The Wildcats will return to action Saturday at 1 p.m. ET for their final game of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands vs. North Carolina. The game will be streamed on FloHoops.com while Darren Headrick will have the call on radio on the UK Sports Network.
• Kentucky is now 2-4 all-time against UCLA.
  • This was the first win for Kentucky in the series against the Bruins since Dec. 21, 1981 when UK took down UCLA in Lexington.

• UK is now 804-532 all-time in program history.
  • Matthew Mitchell is in his 12th year with the Wildcats and holds a 262-117 record. Mitchell is 292-146 overall in 14 years as a head coach.
• The Wildcats are now 2-0 in the 2018 Paradise Jam after defeating South Florida in the first game, 85-63. A win tomorrow against North Carolina would clinch the Paradise Jam Island Division title for Kentucky.
• UCLA is receiving votes in both national listings marking back-to-back days that UK has won games against teams either ranked or receiving votes.

 
Team Notes

• Kentucky used the starting combination of senior guard Taylor Murray, senior guard Maci Morris, freshman guard Rhyne Howard, sophomore forward KeKe McKinney and sophomore forward Tatyana Wyatt.
  • Kentucky is now 5-0 this season with this starting combination.

• UK played without redshirt junior forward Ogechi Anyagaligbo and sophomore forward Tatyana Wyatt (started but played just 1 minute) due to injury.
• With two UK posts out, UCLA used its advantage down low to earn an early lead in the game. The Bruins out-rebounded UK 14-7, including six offensive rebounds and seven points off turnovers in the first 10 minutes.
  • UK shot just 5-of-16 from the field in the first quarter, while UCLA was 6-of-14.
  • The Wildcats did force six turnovers in the first quarter and had six points off those miscues.
• The Wildcats outscored UCLA 27-16 in the second quarter after ending the period on a 12-2 run over the last 4:17.
  • UK went 8-of-14 from the field in the second quarter, including 4-of-7 from 3.
  • Morris led Kentucky with 14 first-half points while Murray played all 20 minutes and had 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
• UCLA outscored Kentucky 14-6 in the third quarter to cut the Wildcats’ lead to two.
  • UK was just 2-for-11 from the field in the third quarter.
  • The six points were the fewest points UK has scored in a quarter this season.
• UCLA was 9-of-11 from the field in the fourth quarter, while Kentucky shot just 8-of-21.
• The Bruins shot 51.7 percent from the field in the game, going 30-for-58 overall and 2-for-8 from long range.
  • Most of those makes came in the paint as UCLA scored 48 of its 74 points in the paint in the game, including 20 second-chance points on 17 offensive rebounds.
• Kentucky forced UCLA into 19 turnovers and scored 19 points off those miscues.
• UK had a 20-14 edge in bench points, winning the bench-point battle for the second-straight game.
• UK is now 30-26 all-time in overtime, including a 11-3 mark under head coach Matthew Mitchell.
  • This was UK’s first win in overtime since Feb. 23, 2017 when it defeated Mississippi State at home.
• Kentucky is now 213-27 under Matthew Mitchell when leading at halftime.
• UCLA’s 74 points scored was the most UK has allowed in a game this season. The Bruins are the only team to score 10 or more points in every quarter against UK this year.

 
Player Notes

• Senior guard Maci Morris scored 17 points in the game with seven rebounds and three 3-pointers.

  • Morris now has 1,288 career points, which ranks 19th most in program history. She needs 28 more to tie Bria Goss for 18th all-time in school history in points scored.
  • Morris has 190 career 3-pointers made which ranks third in program history. She needs 7 more to tie Jennifer O’Neill for second all-time in program history.
• Senior guard Taylor Murray scored 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting adding three assists and one steal.
  • Murray now has 1,047 career points and ranks 30th all-time in points scored with Debbie Miller. She needs 16 more points to tied Kim Denkins for 29th all-time.
  • Murray has 348 career assists and needs 1 more to tie A’dia Mathies for 10th all-time in program history.
  • Murray went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in the game and is now an impressive 23-for-25 on the year from the line.
  • This was the third time in Murray’s career that she has played over 40 minutes in a game.
• Junior guard Jaida Roper scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from long range with an assist and a steal.

• Freshman guard Rhyne Howard led Kentucky with 20 points, adding seven rebounds, one assist and six steals.

  • Howard has scored 10 or more points in every game this season and has led Kentucky in scoring three time this year.
  • This was the second 2-point scoring game in Howard’s short career at UK.
  • Howard’s six steals were a season best.
  • Howard is the second UK player this year to record 6 or more steals in a game, joining Taylor Murray.
  • Howard’s seven rebounds ties a season best for the rookie.
• Sophomore forward KeKe McKinney played a career-high tying 35 minutes.