KENTUCKY WILDCATS
vs. SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE SPARTANS
Saturday, Nov. 10 ? 7 p.m. EST
Lexington, Ky. ? Memorial Coliseum (8,500)
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The 34th season of varsity women?s basketball at Kentucky and the Matthew Mitchell era officially begin Saturday when UK plays host to the South Carolina-Upstate Spartans in the 2007-08 season opener. Tip-off in Memorial Coliseum is slated for 7 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio) with Neil Price.
The former top assistant coach at Kentucky under Mickie DeMoss, Mitchell returned to take over the reigns after two seasons as the head coach at Morehead State University. Mitchell welcomes back nine letterwinners and four starters from last season?s squad, including three-time All-SEC selection Samantha Mahoney (Detroit), All-SEC senior center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.) and junior All-SEC point guard Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.).
?We have completed our preseason and are ready to go with the start of the season here at Kentucky,? Mitchell said. ?I am very excited to get that going. We feel like we have learned a lot in the preseason. We have definitely made some strides towards where we want to be. I think the focus in tomorrow?s game is some improvement on defense and I thought the last exhibition was a great test for us. It exposed some weaknesses we had defensively. I think we?ve worked hard to correct those in the last couple of days. We?re excited to play. It?s the start of the season and we?re ready to go.?
The Wildcats look to get back on track after dropping an 88-79 decision to the Ohio Legends on Monday. Playing without veteran post players Eleia Roddy (Columbus, Ohio) and Elliott due to nagging injuries, the Wildcats were out-rebounded 43-38 and allowed the Legends to hit 38-of-49 from the free-throw line. Mahoney led UK with 18 points, while sophomore forward Brittany Edelen (Springfield, Ky.) came off the bench to score what would have been a career-high 16 points.
?Our players practiced very hard Wednesday and very hard Thursday,? Mitchell said. ?Certainly, I want them to be in tune with how well we?re going to have to play. We have some tough games coming up with tomorrow as the start of a very tough stretch for us. Are we approaching this with a little heightened sense of awareness because of Monday night? I would say that?s fair.?
South Carolina-Upstate, located in Spartanburg, S.C., is a new member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Spartans are entering their first year of NCAA Division I competition. Four letterwinners, including two starters return from last year?s team that finished 11-17 overall and 6-10 in the Peach Belt Conference. Returning scoring leaders are junior guard Courtney Bradley, who averaged 8.1 ppg last season, and sophomore guard Courtney Hawkins, who averaged 7.8 ppg a year ago.
Saturday?s game marks the first all-time meeting between Kentucky and USC-Upstate. UK is 5-1 vs. teams from the Atlantic Sun Conference. The last time that the Wildcats met a foe from that conference was in the 2005-06 season when the Cats defeated the Hatters 84-38.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – NOV. 9
Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
?We have completed our preseason and are ready to go with the start of the season here at Kentucky. I am very excited to get that going. We feel like we have learned a lot in the preseason. We have definitely made some strides towards where we want to be. I think the focus in tomorrow?s game is some improvement on defense and I thought the last exhibition was a great test for us. It exposed some weaknesses we had defensively. I think we?ve worked hard to correct those in the last couple of days. We?re excited to play. It?s the start of the season and we?re ready to go.?
On some of the weaknesses he saw in Monday?s game vs. the Ohio Legends?
?I didn?t think there was a problem with effort. I thought our effort was pretty good, especially after going back and watching the film. The Ohio team had some good players who made some pretty incredible shots. We weren?t always in the wrong place. Sometimes we were in the right place and they made shots. There were several breakdowns in rotations. When you play pressure man-to-man defense ? what we have been working on and what we were working on the other night ? mistakes are exposed much more than if you?re playing a little bit more protective of the basket. I thought we showed some progress there against a team like that. We went about correcting those in practice and I think we have made progress in the last couple of days. Certainly, we still have room for improvement, but I think we?ll see some improvement from Monday night to tomorrow and that?s the plan ? to play better tomorrow than we did Monday.?
On how the offense is different without Sarah Elliott and Eleia Roddy on the court?
?From the standpoint of being able to finish inside, we?ve had some challenges there. I with the lack of Sarah and Eleia, you?re definitely going without two players who know how to finish inside. Against those players we played against on Monday night, we needed to play well inside, so the offense when you are lacking an inside presence makes it harder to score. When a team gets on a run like the Legends did Monday night, one of the ways you can stop that run is to call something for Elliott and make a concerted effort to get the ball inside. Our players didn?t respond to that well on Monday night, but they don?t have the experience that Sarah has. We?re working with that and I think we?ve gotten better at that over the last couple of days. For me, I?m not as concerned about the offense because I think it?s going to progress with time. We got some good shots the other night, we didn?t finish. I told the players in practice that they can sit around and talk about 17 missed lay-ups, but if they don?t go about finishing in practice, they can?t expect to finish in the game.?
On the state of the injuries to Sarah Elliott and Eleia Roddy?
?Eleia is just day-to-day. She is not available tomorrow and is not going to play in the game. Sarah came back from the hip pointer and now has injured her back. She did not practice yesterday. She practiced Wednesday on a limited basis and is suffering from back spasms right now. She is a practice-time decision today. I don?t know if she?ll go or not. That?s certainly a concern to go into the game, knowing we?re not going to go in with Eleia and Sarah is iffy. I told the players that until we know who we?re going to have, our players are going to have to step up and play better than they did Monday.?
On coaching his first regular-season game at Kentucky?
?I?m excited to coach tomorrow. I?ve said before that it?s always a privilege to coach at the University of Kentucky. For me, it?s exciting to practice every day and I?m certainly excited to go out and coach a game. Our fans have been great in coming out to the first two exhibition games. We hope we have a good crowd tomorrow and I?m very pumped up to coach tomorrow.?
On whether the team?s exhibition loss was a ?wake-up call? to the players?
?I didn?t think the problem was the players not taking the game seriously. Where I thought we had a problem in the exhibition game was when we did run into a rough patch and perimeter shots weren?t falling, I thought that affected our performance. If you let up at any time and start thinking about yourself and not making shots and letting up on defense, that team was good enough to expose that. That?s where I really think the problem was. They practiced very hard Wednesday and very hard Thursday. Certainly, I want them to be in tune with how well we?re going to have to play. We have some tough games coming up with tomorrow as the start of a tough stretch for us. We need to always be giving our best in practice. I try to give them a wake-up call every day we go to practice. Are we approaching this with a little heightened sense of awareness because of Monday night? I would say that?s fair.?
On whether Sarah Elliott?s injuries are a cause for concern?
?It?s a concern from the standpoint of us wanting her to be healthy. We know that we?re going to have a different dimension offensively when she?s in the game. From that standpoint, you always want your experienced players to be healthy. It?s back spasms. It?s something that we think we can get under control. With the timing of it, we may not be able to get it under control today and her mobility may be limited tomorrow. We?re certainly not going to risk further damage because we all want her back on the court. Her body has got to allow her to get back out there.?
