Kentucky-Florida Postgame Notes

March 2, 2012

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Kentucky improves to 25-5, while Florida is now 19-11.
With the win, Kentucky advances to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament and will face the winner of Arkansas/LSU
- It is the third straight year UK has advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.
Kentucky is now 24-22 against Florida all-time, and 4-2 against the Gators in the SEC Tournament.
- The win is Kentucky’s third straight over Florida and third win over the Gators this season.
- Kentucky beat Florida 59-56 in Gainesville, Fla., on Jan. 1 and 57-52 in Lexington, Ky., on Jan. 22.
- Matthew Mitchell is 6-2 against the Gators as a head coach, and 6-1 against Florida as Kentucky’s head coach.
Coach Matthew Mitchell is now 141-83 overall and 111-54 at UK.
Kentucky is 653-469 in 38 years of varsity play.
- Kentucky is 23-31 in SEC Tournament play, and 6-4 under Mitchell.
Kentucky will play in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament against the winner of the Arkansas-LSU game. The semifinal clash will be at 4:00 p.m. ET at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Kentucky used the starting lineup of Maegan Conwright, A’dia Mathies, Bria Goss, Kastine Evans and Samarie Walker for the third time this season. The Wildcats are 3-0 with this lineup.
- UK has started a freshman in 132-of-165 games in the Matthew Mitchell era, including 99 straight.
UK led 6-4 when Florida went on a 16-0 run for a 20-6 lead, UF’s biggest of the game.
The Wildcats responded with a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 20-18.
Florida kept the Cats at bay the remainder of the half and took a 32-25 advantage into intermission.

Trailing 40-27, UK went on an 18-4 run for a 45-44 Wildcat lead.
With the game tied at 54, Florida made a huge play to break the tie. Trapped by two Wildcats with the shot clock expiring, Jaterra Bonds managed a lob to Azania Stewart, who tipped it in to put the Gators ahead.
UK battled back, regaining the lead with two fouls shots each by A’dia Mathies, Bria Goss and Samarie Walker to go ahead 60-56.
Florida bounced back with a 7-0 surge, breaking a 60-60 tie with a three from Lanita Bartley.
UK came back with more foul shots, two each from Goss and Mathies for a 64-63 UK advantage.
Trailing 65-64, Goss’ layup at 1:24 put the Wildcats up for good and was UK’s first basket in almost eight minutes. Mathies followed with a rebound and two foul shots with 30 seconds left for a 68-65 lead.
Florida countered with a layup with 20 seconds to go. Mathies was fouled with 15 seconds and she made the second of two to make it 69-67.
After a Florida miss, Kastine Evans came up with the loose ball and was fouled with five seconds to go; Evans made both foul shots to ice the 71-67 win.

Kentucky overcame a 14-point deficit to win, the biggest comeback of the season. Previously, UK trailed Georgia by 10 on Jan. 19 before rallying to win.
Kentucky won despite only scoring one basket in the last nine minutes. The Wildcats hit 16 of their last 19 foul shots of the game.
Kentucky forced 22 turnovers in the game.
- UK has forced double-digit miscues in 112 consecutive games. The Cats are 82-30 during that span.
- UK has forced at least 20 turnovers in 27 of 30 games this season.
- Kentucky has forced an SEC-high 850 turnovers this season (28.3 per game), also a single-season school record for UK.
- Kentucky has forced at least 10 turnovers in 50 of 60 halves this season.
- The Wildcats are now 93-25 when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent in the Matthew Mitchell era.
Kentucky won the turnover battle (16-22).
- The Wildcats are 22-4 when committing fewer turnovers than the opponent.
The Cats bench outscored the Florida bench 22-7.
- UK is 22-2 when its bench outscores the opponent’s bench.
With eight made 3-pointers, UK extended its streak of consecutive games with a triple to 287.

After scoring only three points in the first half, SEC Player of the Year A’dia Mathies finished with a game-high 24.
- Mathies scored 14 of UK’s final 26 points.
- Mathies now has 1,378 points and moved past Kristi Cushenberry (1,358) for 13th place on the career scoring list.
- Mathies had two steals, giving her 243 in her career and tying LaTonya McDole for No. 7 on UK’s career steals list.
SEC Co-Sixth Woman of the Year Keyla Snowden had 17 points, her biggest tally since getting 22 vs. Mississippi State on Jan. 18.
SEC Freshman of the Year Bria Goss missed her first eight shots from the field, but put the Wildcats ahead for good, 66-65, with a layup that was her only basket of the game.
- Goss also claimed three crucial rebounds in the final seven minutes of the game, all of which led the UK points.
- Goss also made 4-of-4 foul shots in the closing minutes.

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