Kentucky Begins SEC Tournament Run Thursday vs. Mississippi State
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After ending the regular season on a six-game winning streak, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team looks to continue its winning ways Thursday in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Wildcats earned the seventh seed in the vent and will take on 10th-seeded Mississippi State at 7 p.m. ET inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Thursday’s second-round game will be broadcast live on SEC Network with Courtney Lyle and Carolyn Peck on the call. Darren Headrick will have the call on the UK Sports Network (630AM in Lexington). Live stats and free live audio will be available online at UKathletics.com.
With a win, seventh-seeded Kentucky will move into the quarterfinals and face second-seeded LSU at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. The semifinals of the event will be held Saturday with the championship game Sunday.
Kentucky is coming off a win vs. Auburn on Rhyne Howard Day on Sunday, finishing the regular season on a six-game winning streak. It is the first time the Wildcats have won six-straight league games since February 2019. The six-game winning streak has seen wins at Alabama, vs. Mississippi State, vs. Vanderbilt, at Arkansas, at Missouri and vs. Auburn. This is the first time Kentucky has won six straight games to end the regular season since 2016. UK went to the SEC Tournament semifinals and NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 that season. UK has won each of their final three games of the regular season by at least 15 points for the first time since 1980-1981.
Trends from the winning streak when compared to the first 10 SEC games show UK stepping up its game on both ends. UK has a higher field-goal percentage and 3-point field-goal percentage, are averaging 17 more points per game, hitting three more 3s per game, limiting teams to seven fewer points per game and averaging eight more assists per game. UK turned a -5.7 rebounding margin into a +3.0 margin the last six games and a -1.6 turnover margin to a +4.0 mark.
This is the fifth time since 1986 that UK has been the seven seed in the event. The Wildcats were also the seven seed in 1987, 1994, 1999 and 2007. In 1987, 1994 and 2007, Kentucky won its first-round game and then fell in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats advanced to the semifinals of the event in 1999 as the seven seed, defeating Ole Miss and LSU before UGA took down UK in the round of four. This is the first time UK has been the seven seed in the event since it went to a 14-team format in 2013. The seven seed is the lowest for Kentucky since it was a 9 seed in Nashville in 2018.
UK is 4-0 all-time in second-round games. UK played in the second round of the event last season, defeating Florida before falling to Georgia in the quarterfinals. This is the only the second time since the tournament went to 14 teams in 2013 that UK has not received a double-bye in consecutive years. Kentucky holds a 37-42 (.468) all-time record in the SEC Tournament. This will be the 10th time Kentucky and Mississippi State have met in the SEC Tournament with UK holding a 5-4 edge in the series in those games. MSU has won each of the last two.
Kentucky leads the all-time series in games played against Mississippi State, 30-22. UK has won three of the last four meetings after MSU had won four straight. Kentucky won the annual meeting earlier this season in Lexington, 81-74 in come-from-behind fashion.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
