NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Kentucky women?s basketball team will face fifth-seeded and No. 23/21 Georgia in Friday?s second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. EST at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn. The game will be carried live on FSN South and the Big Blue Sports network (radio) with Neil Price.
The fourth-seeded Cats received a first-round bye for the second time in the last three seasons after finishing 8-6 in the SEC. Georgia (21-7, 8-6 SEC) earned the fifth seed after falling to No. 3 Tennessee in Athens, Ga., in its regular-season finale. The Lady Bulldogs defeated Alabama 71-62 in the opening round of the tournament to advance to Friday?s game.
Georgia owns a 29-10 advantage in the all-time series, including a 5-0 lead in the SEC Tournament. In the teams? only regular-season matchup, Kentucky upset the then-ranked No. 17/14 Georgia in Athens, Ga., snapping a four-game losing streak to the Lady Dawgs. It also gave the Wildcats their first win over the Lady Bulldogs since 2005, marked their first over UGA in Athens since 1994 and snapped UGA?s 16-game home winning streak.
Kentucky is 18-28 overall in SEC Tournament action. UK?s last win in the tournament came last season with a 72-57 win over Arkansas in the first round. The Cats then fell to Georgia in the second round, 72-40. UK?s semifinal appearances in 1992 and 1999 mark the highest SEC Tournament finishes for the Cats since winning the tournament in 1982.
The winner of Georgia/UK will face the winner of top-seeded LSU and eighth-seeded Ole Miss on Saturday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. EST.
QUICK NOTES
This marks just the second time since 1991 that Kentucky has earned a first-round bye in the SEC tournament.
A UK win would advance the Cats to the quarterfinal round for the third consecutive season; give UK its second straight win over Georgia and third straight over Alabama; if UK defeats Georgia it would mark the Wildcats? first win over the Lady Bulldogs in the SEC Tournament; if UK defeats Alabama it would mark UK?s fifth consecutive win over the Tide in the SEC Tournament.
A school-record five Wildcats earned postseason SEC honors. Samantha Mahoney and Sarah Elliott were named to the second team, Victoria Dunlap and Amber Smith were selected to the All-Freshman Team and Chelsea Chowning was named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Mahoney is No. 5 on UK?s all-time scoring list with 1,523 career points. She has scored in double-figures in all but nine games this season. She is now 40 points shy of the No. 4 spot held by Sara Potts with 1,563 points.
Elliott moved up to No. 9 on UK?s all-time scoring list. She needs 24 more to move up to No. 8. She also has pulled down 778 career rebounds and is just seven boards shy of moving up to No. 4 on the all-time rebounding list.
Elliott needs 22 more rebounds to become just the fourth Wildcat in school history to chart 800 or more rebounds in a game.
Elliott is eighth in the SEC in blocks (1.43 bpg). She holds the school record for blocks in a career with 179.
Dunlap has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week three times this season, the most for any Wildcat freshman in school history. Dunlap, who averages 7.2 points per game, scored five points vs. South Carolina and now has 201 points in just her first season.
UK has held 31 of its last 33 opponents to 50 percent shooting or less, dating back to last season. The Cats have held 16 opponents to under 40 percent this season, including 12 of the last 16. UK?s defense has held three of its last six opponents to under 30 percent, including a mere 28.3 by Georgia.
The Cats have tied or won the rebounding battle in six of the last seven games, including its largest margin (+16) over Ole Miss. UK also outrebounded Vanderbilt (38-34), Alabama (33-32), LSU (46-34) and Arkansas (40-28). UK is 11-6 when tying or outrebounding its opponent.
UK has won nine of its last 16 games and in those 16 games, the Wildcats have allowed only five opponents (Tennessee – twice, LSU, Vandy, Arkansas and USC) to shoot over 35.7 percent from the floor.
In the last 19 games, UK has seen eight different scoring leaders and eight different leading rebounders and only one player (Mahoney) has led the Cats in scoring in consecutive games.
In SEC play, Kentucky is 7-2 when the game is decided by 10 or fewer points; 6-1 when it is decided by five or fewer; 6-0 when scoring more points in the paint than the opponent; 4-1 when leading at halftime; 3-0 when scoring 60 points or more.
In 28 games this season, UK has used 10 different starting fives.
Chowning was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Third Team as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She is UK Hoop?s first Academic All-American in school history.
Senior Chant? Bowman was chosen as one of 53 participants for The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association?s (WBCA) sixth annual Nike’s So You Want To Be A Coach program. This two and a half day workshop will be held in conjunction with the WBCA National Convention April 4-6 in Tampa Bay, Fla.
UK outscored Alabama by a 20-margin (64-44), its largest margin of victory against a league opponent this season.
UK blocked a season-best 11 shots vs. Mississippi State. That mark broke the MSU school record for most blocks by an opponent.
UK has had two freshmen honored this season four times as the SEC Freshman of the Week in Victoria Dunlap (three times) and Amber Smith.
UK currently ranks 19th nationally and third in the SEC in average attendance, bringing in 5,357 fans per game. No. 3 Tennessee leads the nation with 15,796 per game. The Wildcats have ranked in the top 20 in national average attendance three consecutive seasons. UK?s current single-season home attendance average ranks No. 2 in the school record books.
The 2007-08 season marks the 34th season of varsity basketball for Kentucky and the first year for head coach Matthew Mitchell.
SEC Tourney Info
Kentucky is 18-28 overall in SEC Tournament action … This is the 28th SEC Tournament … Last season, UK received a seventh seed in the tournament and defeated Arkansas in the first round before falling to No. 2 seed Georgia in the second round (72-4) … UK is 4-0 vs. Alabama and 0-5 vs. Georgia in the SEC Tournament … This is Matthew Mitchell?s first appearance as a head coach in the SEC Tournament … Kentucky is 1-2 in the The Sommet Center, formerly the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
UK?s semifinal appearances in 2006, 1992, and 1999 mark the highest SEC Tournament finishes for the Cats since winning the ournament in 1982.
UK?s last SEC All-Tournament Team selection was Stacy McIntyre in 1992. That year, the Cats defeated Arkansas and Auburn in the first and second rounds before falling to Tennessee in the semifinal game, 94-80.
Kentucky is 144-242 (.373) all-time vs. teams in the SEC, including a 110-194 (.361) record since the 1982-83 season when women?s basketball first came under the auspices of the SEC.
UK?S SEC GREAT
Nancy Johnson came to Kentucky in 1993 and walked on the rifle team. Because of her tremendous drive and work ethic, she would go on to become one of the most decorated Wildcats in school history. She earned three All-American honors (?94, ?95, ?96) and was the Individual NCAA Championship in Air Rifle in 1994. Her numerous first-place finishes during the regular season helped the team secure three consecutive third-place NCAA finishes from 1994-96. After graduation, she went on to capture a spot on the 1996 Olympic Team where she won a Gold medal in women?s Air Rifle in 2000. She brought both national and international exposure to Kentucky as she received the first medal awarded in the new millennium. Presently, Nancy resides in Florida where she is the proud mother of Greta and wife of Ken Johnson.
UK?S SEC HONORED GUESTS
Brett and Billie Jo Setzer – The Setzers are co-owners of a third generation commercial general contracting company located in Lexington, Ky. They serve in many capacities in several charitable and civic organizations. Brett currently serves on the boards of Traditional Bank, Lexington Theological Seminary and Camp Horsin’ Around, a camp for terminally ill special needs children. Billie Jo serves on the Board of The Lexington Foundation and teaches Junior Achievement classes in several local schools as well as volunteering with a number of other local charities. The couple were married in May of 2003 and are proud parents of five beautiful daughters. They are active UK Athletics contributors, often donating their time and dollars to support its student-athletes.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement?
?We are heading down to a great tournament in my opinion. It is one of the best in the country and one of the hardest tournaments to win. You play three or four games in as many days against Southeastern Conference teams. The winner of this tournament is always a very good basketball team. We are heading down with the mindset to win the tournament. It is the only option for us to guarantee ourselves a spot in the NCAA tournament. It is something that we still have an opportunity to do. That is what we are focusing on right now. We are not sure who we will play at this point. It will either be Alabama or Georgia and we have had success against both of those teams.?
On rebounding from a disappointing loss to South Carolina on Sunday?
?We are very disappointed in the way we played this past Sunday. It was a big game as all of them have been in the SEC. It was really the first time since we started SEC play this year that we did not perform the way we needed to when we had an opportunity to clearly win the game. We have been big underdogs in a few games and got away with some wins in those games. It is disappointing to come as far as we have in the SEC then play the way that we did. It is very upsetting from a coach?s perspective. I am always trying to get my team ready to play and it appeared that we were not ready to go and that is very disappointing. I?m concerned about the psyche of the team so we are going to get together and talk about that before we hit the practice floor today. Once we get to practice we will have all of our energy focused on winning the SEC tournament.?
On if his team plays better as the underdog?
?It is pretty clear to me, after talking to everyone at length, that this team is a pretty unique collection of individuals. We really don?t have that one older player that has taken the reigns and tells everyone what is going on. It is not that kind of team. I have been working all year to know where we are emotionally and trying to figure out what kind of things I need to do to motivate this team. As a coach I have tried to take each game one at a time. This is like a NCAA tournament game, if we win this game then we are still alive but if we lose then our season will be over at 14-15.?
On how the team responds to big games and if they were too tight on Sunday?
?I don?t think we were tight at the beginning of the South Carolina game. I could have lived with tight and making some mistakes because we were trying so hard. I think it was the exact opposite and that is what makes it so disappointing. We haven?t played great all year long but we have just been able to make some things happen in SEC games by playing good enough defense every night and rebound. We started doing a pretty good job at the end of games and find ways to win. Against South Carolina we came out sluggish and did not play good defense or rebound.?
On the team?s awareness of how important the next game is?
?In about 30 minutes we will have a team meeting if they are not already, they will be. We have players on this team that it is their fourth year in the program and they have been in the post-season every year. If they aren?t aware then they are not paying close enough attention. Everyone will know how important this next game is in a few minutes if they don?t already.?
On playing either Georgia or Alabama first in the SEC tournament?
?We had more success over Alabama as we beat them by 20 points and only beat Georgia by three. We did not play very well against Georgia. It was a gritty game, we only shot around 30 percent but, defensively it was a great effort. I watched Georgia play Saturday night and they are very strong. Either team will present different problems for us. Alabama is very difficult to guard and Georgia has a lot of experience and tradition going for them and one of the best players in the league.?
