LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky women’s basketball head coach Matthew Mitchell earned his 200th win at UK on Sunday afternoon as the No. 12/11 Wildcats beat the Jackson State Lady Tigers 92-24 in Memorial Coliseum.
Mitchell, who is in his ninth season at Kentucky and 12th season of being a head coach, is now 200-81 (.711) in his nine years at UK and moves his overall record to 230-110 (.676) as a head coach. Mitchell became UK’s all-time winningest coach on March 4, 2013 after just six seasons of coaching, and becomes the fifth UK basketball coach to eclipse 200 wins at UK joining Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith.
The margin of victory for UK was 68 points on Sunday, its largest since a 60-point win over Grambling State in 2013.
Kentucky had four different runs of 10-0 or more during the game, including a season-high 22 straight points in the first half, which led the Wildcats to a 47-17 lead at the half. The 30-point lead at the half was UK’s largest halftime lead of the season, as the Wildcats were led by Evelyn Akhator in scoring, with 13 points and three rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. The 13-point performance for the junior from Lagos, Nigeria marked the fifth time in six games this season that she had scored in double figures. Akhator ended the game with 20 points and 13 rebounds. The 20 points scored was a career high, and her third double-double of the season.
UK’s defense was also clicking on Sunday after returning from Thanksgiving break, forcing the Lady Tigers into a season-high 37 turnovers, scoring a season-high 42 of those points off of turnovers. Defensively, Kentucky charted 28 defensive rebounds out of its total of 50 and only committed eight personal fouls in the entire 40-minute affair. In the final three periods, UK held JSU to seven, four and three points after just a 10 point opening quarter. The 24 points allowed is the second-lowest in program history, one less than the 25 points allowed vs. Jacksonville State in 2011.
Kentucky moves to 6-0 on the young season, marking the fourth time in nine seasons at UK that Mitchell has led UK to a 6-0 start. The Wildcats will look to make it seven wins in a row to start the season on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Northern Kentucky. The game will start at 7 p.m. ET from the BB&T Arena in Highlight Heights, Ky.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, follow @UKHoopCats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
