KENTUCKY WILDCATS (14-6, 3-2 SEC)
vs. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS (11-8, 2-3 SEC)
Thursday, January 25, 2007 – 7:00 p.m. ET
Rupp Arena (23,000) ? Lexington, Ky.
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The Kentucky women?s basketball looks to grab another ?first? this season when the Wildcats take on Mississippi State in Rupp Arena Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. EST. The teams meet in the downtown venue for the first time in school history and the Wildcats hope to capture their first win over the Lady Bulldogs at home in almost 10 years. UK?s last win over MSU in Lexington was Feb. 15, 1998 in Memorial Coliseum.
Single-game general admission tickets are available for $5 adults/$2 senior citizens and children 6-18. Ages five and under are admitted free. UK students, faculty and staff also are admitted free with valid identification based on availability. For ticket information, log on to ukathletics.com or call the UK ticket office at 859-257-1818 or 1-800-928-CATS (2287).
?It?s always exciting to be back at home, and especially getting to play in Rupp Arena is just a little added excitement for the players to be over there,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?The fact that we haven?t beaten Mississippi State in Lexington since 1998 will, I hope, provide a little extra incentive for the team tomorrow night. They?re a good team and have had some quality wins. They beat South Carolina soundly and won at Arkansas, which is not easy to do, so we?re expecting a very, very tough game with them tomorrow.?
Kentucky, which returns home after playing four of its last five games on the road, split a pair of games last week. The Wildcats dropped a 76-58 decision to No. 8 LSU on Thursday in Baton Rouge before defeating Auburn, 68-65, in Auburn. Kentucky’s win was its first on the Plains since the 1998 season and snapped an eight-game winning streak by the Tigers in the series.
Senior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey (Memphis, Tenn.) scored a season-high 16 points and brought down a career-high 20 rebounds to record her 12th career double-double. Humphrey is just the fourth player in UK history to grab 20 or more rebounds in a single game and it is has happened just seven times in school history, the last in 1982 by Valerie Still. She also is just the third Wildcat in school history to chart 800 or more rebounds in a career. She is just the second player in the Southeastern Conference this season to pull down 20 rebounds in a game. Lauren Ervin of Arkansas also accomplished the feat vs. Florida (1/21/07).
Junior center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.) and junior guard Samantha Mahoney (Detroit) lead the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 and 13.3 ppg, respectively. The duo also averages a team-high 15.6 and 15.4 ppg in that order, in league action. Mahoney is just two points shy of becoming the 25th Wildcat to score 1,000 points in a career. Elliott also is nearing the century mark as she has tallied 982 career points. Humphrey, who ranks third in the SEC in rebounding, is the team’s leading rebounder with 9.6 boards per game.
Mississippi State enters Thursday?s game with an 11-8 overall record and a 2-3 mark in SEC play. The Lady Bulldogs are coming off an 87-73 win over South Carolina on Sunday and defeated a tough Arkansas squad in their other league win. MSU?s three SEC losses came against nationally-ranked Georgia, LSU and Tennessee.
Former Kentucky coach Sharon Fanning relies heavily on her group of newcomers, as her probable starting lineup consists of three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior college transfer. Freshman forward Imesia Jackson leads the team in scoring with 12.1 ppg while freshman Bethany Washington is the team?s top rebounder, averaging 6.9 boards per game. Fanning coached at Kentucky for eight season (1987-1995), compiling a 134-97 overall record.
This is the 31st meeting between Mississippi State and Kentucky. The series is tied at 15 apiece but the Wildcats lead 7-6 when the game is played in Lexington.
This is the second of four games for the Wildcats in Rupp Arena this season. UK defeated Arkansas Pine-Bluff earlier in the year, 83-46. UK is 18-6 all-time in Rupp Arena, 7-2 under DeMoss.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – JAN. 24
Head Coach Mickie DeMoss
?It?s always exciting to be back at home, and especially getting to play in Rupp Arena is just a little added excitement for the players to be over there. The fact that we haven?t beaten Mississippi State in Lexington since 1998 will, I hope, provide a little extra incentive for the team tomorrow night. They?re a good team and have had some quality wins. They beat South Carolina soundly and won at Arkansas, which is not easy to do, so we?re expecting a very, very tough game with them tomorrow.?
On playing in Rupp Arena?
?I think just the tradition that?s in Rupp, the aura that?s there and the excitement that the men?s team draws in its crowds brings that added excitement for our players. We?ve been able to draw well when we?ve gone to Rupp. It?s just a different-type atmosphere than it is at Memorial. It doesn?t make it better or worse, it?s just different, and it adds a little bit more excitement to change venues.?
On the difference in practices following wins vs. following losses?
?It seems that the energy level is usually different. I think when players feel good about themselves and feel good about what they?ve done, they tend to handle constructive criticism better. They seem to have more energy, and I felt like yesterday we had a very energetic practice.?
On challenging players to step up against Auburn?
?I think they certainly took that challenge to heart. Sometimes you don?t even know if players pay attention to what you say, but that seemed to really hit home with several of the players. In the press conference [after the Auburn game], they brought that up. I thought that Jennifer Humphrey certainly had a great game against Auburn ? maybe the best game of her career as a Kentucky Wildcat. I thought Chant? Bowman had a very good game with six points in the first half and nine assists and zero turnovers. Nastassia Alcius came off the bench and gave us really quality minutes. I thought Carly Ormerod had one of her better games and Lydia Watkins came in for just a few minutes, but gave us quality minutes at really a crucial time in the game. It was when Sarah Elliott picked up her fourth foul and I think there was maybe six or seven minutes left in the game. I put her in for about three minutes down that stretch, and she scored twice and knocked a free throw down.?
On the attributes of Chant? Bowman that keep her in the starting lineup?
?She has such intangibles about her game. She brings a spirit that just will not be broken. That is a character trait that you would want in all of your players. She certainly exemplifies it every day. She brings a spirit and she brings an enthusiasm about the game that, even when she?s not scoring points, is something special. I think our players feed off of that determination. She?s one of the hardest workers on the team. On her days off, she comes in and works on her shot. She just has an unwavering spirit for the game, and that?s something that I appreciate as a coach. I guess that?s my way of rewarding that and letting her know that I do believe that she can get the job done.?
On Chant? Bowman?s career-high nine assists at Auburn?
?It was a little unusual for your three player to have that many assists, but the thing was that she was feeding it to players who were finishing their shots, and that certainly helps your assist statistic a lot. I think she had some nice post feeds to Jennifer Humphrey and she was knocking her shots down. She had a couple of feeds to Carly [Ormerod] on ball reversal and Carly was knocking her shots down. I thought it was just very unselfish play and people were finishing at the end of her passes.?
On the strengths of Mississippi State?
?There are still some unknowns about them. They?re playing three freshmen a lot, so when you go against three freshmen, particularly if they are having some success, you don?t really know what?s making them click consistently. Their three-point shooting is one thing that they have been consistent with, and they get their shots off in a variety of ways. They don?t have tremendous size, so they try to negate that lack of size with a lot of double-teaming on the post.?
Sophomore Point Guard Carly Ormerod
On playing in Rupp Arena?
?I love playing in Rupp. We always draw a huge crowd there, which is a good advantage for us. We?re excited about playing a home game. We?re ready to get out there and get a win.?
On losing three of the last five games?
?We have been struggling a bit lately. Our offensive production hasn?t really been there the last couple of games. By halftime in the Ohio State game we had shot 18 percent, but we stilled kept it to a two-point game. I think we?ve regrouped, and got a big win at Auburn. Coach DeMoss has challenged each and every one of us to step up our game, and I think we have each taken that personally. I think things are looking up now.?
On Samantha Mahoney?s leadership abilities ?
?Sam can create her own shot. As a junior she does lead the team. We felt comfortable with the ball in her hands at the end of the game. She may have come up short [at Ohio State], but at the Alabama game she hit a big shot for us. I think Sam is definitely a good player to have at the end with the ball.?
On Coach DeMoss challenging players to step up against Auburn…
?We were sitting in the film room when coach challenged us. She spoke of how Sam (Mahoney) and Sarah (Elliott) had really stepped up their games, and they?re bringing it every night. She turned to everybody else and told us, ?its time for you all to step up, its time for you all to do something on the court. Sam and Sarah need you all and obviously we can?t win with two people.? I definitely took it really personally. I have been really hard on myself lately. We just need to relax, have fun and get back to playing basketball.?
