KENTUCKY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
No. 17 Kentucky vs. No. 7 Louisville
KFC Yum! Center – Louisville, Ky.
Dec. 4, 2016
FINAL SCORE: No. 7 Louisville 69, No. 17 Kentucky 67
Team Records and Series Notes
– Matthew Mitchell is in his 10th season with Kentucky. Mitchell is 255-120 overall as a head coach and 225-91 during his tenure at Kentucky.
– Currently, UK is No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 20 in the USA Today/Coaches Top 25. Kentucky has been ranked in both the USA Today/Coaches’ Top 25 and The Associated Press Top 25 since week 13 of the 2009-10 season, which is a program-record streak of 135 weeks.
– Kentucky leads the all-time series 34-19 in the Battle of the Bluegrass
o This loss snaps a five-game winning streak in the series for UK.
o At Louisville, UofL leads the series 14-11.
o In Kentucky’s last stop in Louisville, the Wildcats earned a 77-68 victory over the Cards.
– Kentucky will return to action Friday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. ET, when the Wildcats host Middle Tennessee State inside Memorial Coliseum. The game will be stream live on SEC Network+ and will be broadcast on the UK Sports Radio Network in Lexington on 630AM WLAP.
Team Notes
– Kentucky used the starting five of Makayla Epps, Evelyn Akhator, Maci Morris, Makenzie Cann and Taylor Murray.
o This was the first time UK has used this starting lineup combination this season.
– Kentucky falls to 6-2 on the season.
– Kentucky is 2-1 this season against ranked opponents. The Wildcats started their season by defeating then-No. 14 Miami (Fla.) inside Memorial Coliseum and downed No. 12 Oklahoma on Thursday evening in Lexington as well.
o In 43 years of varsity women’s basketball, Kentucky has 87 wins over ranked opponents, including 46 of those wins coming under Mitchell.
– Kentucky is now 51-37 against ACC opponents.
– Today’s outing was the first overtime contest for the Wildcats this season.
o UK’s record in overtimes in the Matthew Mitchell era drops to 9-3 with the loss.
– UK committed 19 turnovers in the contest, resulting in 18 points off turnovers for the Cardinals.
o Kentucky’s 19 turnovers mark a season high.
– UofL controlled the paint, outscoring the Wildcats in the paint 32-24.
o Today’s game marked the first time this season UK has been outscored in the paint.
Individual Notes
– Makayla Epps scored 22 points to go along with 16 rebounds in the contest.
o With today’s performance, her career-points total climbs to 1,362.
o Epps needs 125 points (1,445 total) to enter Kentucky’s top-10 scorers in school history.
o Led Kentucky with 22 points in the game for her fourth 20+ point game of the season, and 68th of her career.
o Epps played a career-high 45 minutes in the outing.
o Has now scored in double figures in the last six games, including three-straight 20-plus point games.
o Also led all players in the game with 16 rebounds – all 16 of those coming as defensive rebounds.
? Her 16 rebounds were a career high, eclipsing that number by five.
? Her previous high was 11 total rebounds vs. Morehead State on Nov. 18, 2015
o Had a team-high six assists in the game.
– Taylor Murray had a career-high 21 points as well as five boards.
o Murray has recorded double-digit scoring in four of the last five games.
o The sophomore also played a career-high 44 minutes.
o This is the second time this season she has posted a new career-high scoring mark.
– Maci Morris finished the game with 10 points and three rebounds.
o The performance marked the fifth time in the last six games she’s had double-figure scoring, as well as two straight.
o Morris also set a new career-high in minutes played with 42.
o Going 2-of-4 from the 3-point line today, Morris has recorded multiple 3s in six games this season.
– Makenzie Cann added three points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal in her first career start for UK.
o Cann never came out of the game, playing all 45 minutes.
o Going 1-of-6 from the 3-point line, Cann has now recorded a 3-pointer in every contest yet this season.
– Alyssa Rice had two steals and five rebounds in the game.
o Her 26 minutes played tie her career high, which came against Morehead State on Nov. 23 of this year.
o Her two steals also tie a career high for the junior.
– Jess Hardin added three points, going 1-of-1 from beyond the arc.
o Hardin has made a 3 in each of the last three games and in 6-of-8 games this season
