Kentucky Hosts Morehead State for Thanks4Giving Game
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fresh off an impressive 2-0 road trip with wins over Montana and Washington State, the No. 22 University of Kentucky women’s basketball team returns to Lexington and will play host to Morehead State on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum.
The game will be a Thanks4Giving Game as fans can bring canned food items or new clothing items such as gloves, winter hats and socks to the UK Ticket Office Lexington Avenue entrance to receive free general admission tickets to the game. The donations will go to God’s Pantry Food Bank and Salvation Army.
“Looking forward to being back home after a successful road trip,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “I was proud of how the team handled that and it was great to get two victories on the road, but glad to be back home. We are looking for a great crowd tomorrow afternoon. We would love to have a great crowd to lift our player’s energy levels and keep them in great spirits but also an opportunity to bring in some canned goods to help some folks who need it this time of the year. Would love for great participation in that tomorrow, so I hope we can get a good crowd.”
With the early tip, several normal parking and shuttle procedures have changed. The Joe Craft Center E-Lot and East High Street E-Lot will be available for fans to park free starting at noon ET, while Parking Structure 5 on the corner of Limestone and Avenue of Champions will also be available. Fans that park in PS5 will receive a parking voucher upon entry into Memorial Coliseum. More parking and shuttle information can be found below.
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| Kentucky vs. Morehead State | ||
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Wed., Nov. 22 – 2 p.m. ET |
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TV: SEC Network+ |
The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network+ with Jeff Piecoro and Christi Thomas on the call. The action can also be seen through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones or tablets. Darren Headrick, now in his first year with the program, will be calling the game on the UK Sports Radio Network. Fans in Lexington can hear Headrick’s call on 630AM WLAP. Live stats and free audio will be available online at ukathletics.com.
Single-game tickets are $9 (all ages) in reserved seating areas, while general admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children (ages 6-18) and seniors (age 65+). Children ages five and under do not require a ticket in general admission areas.
Purchasing season tickets offers the best option and price savings for fans. New season ticket purchases are available in upper-level reserved chairbacks (sections AA-JJ), lower-level reserved bleachers (sections R-Z) or general admission bleachers (sections RR-ZZ) for $65 per ticket. Lower-level reserved chairbacks (A-J) sections are sold out again this season.
Kentucky (4-0) is coming off a strong 2-0 road trip that saw the Wildcats take down Montana and Washington State, who was receiving votes in The Associated Press Preseason Top 25. Kentucky started the trip by defeating Montana 71-54 at Dahlberg Arena. After the game was tied 27-27 at halftime, the Wildcats outscored the Lady Griz 44-27 in the second half behind the third career double-double from junior guard Taylor Murray, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Fellow junior guard Maci Morris and sophomore guard Jaida Roper each scored in double figures in the game with Morris posting 16 points on 3-of-6 from long range while Roper had a career-high 14 points with 5 rebounds and three assists. UK won the points in the paint 26-20 and points off turnovers 18-10.
UK followed a similar script against Washington State, starting slow in the first half getting down 11 early in the second quarter before senior guard Makenzie Cann hit three 3s to help UK close the gap to 35-34 at halftime. After just shooting 26.7 percent from the field in the first quarter, UK shot 56.3 percent in the second, 40.9 percent in the third and 41.7 percent in the fourth. Cann was the star for the Wildcats, recording her first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Morris posted 17 points in the second half for her second career 20-point game. Murray had a near triple-double with 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
A key development in the Washington State game was the clutch 15 minutes of play by junior college transfer Amanda Paschal, who came off the bench midway through the third quarter and never left the game. During that time, Paschal had eight points with three assists and three rebounds. She had a clutch with 2:07 left in the game to tie the score 68-68 and the Wildcats would not look back from there, finishing the game on a 7-0 run to earn the win.
The wins moved Kentucky up three spots to No. 22 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. UK is still receiving votes in the USA Today/Coaches Top 25.
Morehead State is 2-2 entering Wednesday’s contest, coming off a 61-56 loss to North Florida on Nov. 17. Five Eagles are averaging double-digit scoring this season, led by senior Eriel McKee who is adding 14.3 points per game. Junior center Tierra McGowan is second on the team in scoring with 13.5 points per contest, while also leading the Eagles on the boards with 15.5 rebounds per game. Redshirt-junior guard Darianne Seward is averaging 10.3 and leads MSU with 6.3 assists per game. The Eagles are outrebounding their opponents, 58.2-34.2, a differential of 24 per game.
On Nov. 15, the Eagles def. Brescia, 120-41, which was the largest margin of victory in program history. The Eagles are 1-1 in the Matthew Mitchell Classic, having defeated Sacramento State, 75-71, and fell to Gardner-Webb, 68-60.
Kentucky holds a 29-4 all-time record against Morehead State, including a 19-1 mark in games played in Lexington. Kentucky has won each of the last 12 meetings in the series with the last loss coming Jan. 3, 1989 in Morehead. The two schools have played each other eight of the last nine seasons since Mitchell left the Eagles to take the UK head coaching position. Mitchell is 7-0 all-time against Morehead State as a head coach.
UK earned a 74-47 victory over Morehead State last season in Memorial Coliseum, limiting the Eagles to just 22.8 percent shooting from the field while the Wildcats hit 42.9 percent. Kentucky dominated down low by outscoring the Eagles 40-6 in points in the paint and outrebounding MSU 46-34. Murray led Kentucky with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Makayla Epps scored 18 points with nine assists. Morris had 14 points and six rebounds, while Evelyn Akhator had 11 points and nine rebounds. The Eagles were paced by Brianna McQueen, who had 14 points, while Aaliyah Wells had 10 points and seven rebounds.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
Parking
- Spectator parking is available in Parking Structure 5 on the corner of Limestone and Avenue of Champions. Spectators will be given a parking voucher upon entry into Memorial Coliseum.
- The Joe Craft Center E-Lot and East High Street E-Lot will be available for fans to park free starting at noon ET.
- Overflow parking for fans will be available at the Kroger Field Green and Red Lots starting at 11 a.m. A shuttle from the Kroger Field lots will be located at Gate 4 of Kroger Field.
- Limited disabled spectator parking is available with a valid, state issued disabled hang tag in the E-Lot (Employee Lot) North of the Craft Center. These spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis until full.
Transit Center Parking Garage
- There will be a limited number of spaces available in the Transit Center Garage, which is accessible from Vine Street of High Street.
- Push the green flashing button upon entry, take the yellow token and store it in a safe place. Park in the garage and find the UK Athletics event staff member at the entrance of the garage near Lexington Avenue for a free parking token to use after the game when you exit the garage. Staff will remain on site until 20 minutes after tip.
- Please do not lose your token. If you lose your token, you will be charged an $8 fee for a lost token fee. If you lose your token, visit the pay on foot station located in the seventh floor elevator lobby of the garage and choose “lost token.” You will be charged $8 and given a new token that can be used to exit the garage.
Shuttles
- Shuttles are available beginning two hours prior to tip and pick up and drop off near the South Limestone Garage (Parking Structure #5) (blue route) and near the Transit Center Parking Garage and High Street Lot (green route).
- Shuttles will start back up after halftime to return guests to their parking areas, the shuttle will discontinue service one hour postgame.
- Shuttles from Kroger Field Lots will begin at noon and the drop off/pick up is located at Gate 4 of Kroger Field.
- A shuttle map with route information is available here.
Game Day Information
- Doors to Memorial Coliseum open 1.5 hours prior to tip.
- UK Athletics encourages women’s basketball fans to arrive early to ease traffic and parking congestion around the Coliseum.
- For more information on parking around Memorial Coliseum and other game-day questions visit ukathleticsgameday.com.
Kentucky Women’s Basketball
Matthew Mitchell Pre-Morehead State News Conference
Memorial Coliseum – Lexington, Ky.
Nov. 21, 2017
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement…
“Looking forward to being back home after a successful road trip. I was proud of how the team handled that and it was great to get two victories on the road, but glad to be back home. We are looking for a great crowd tomorrow afternoon. We would love to have a great crowd to lift our player’s energy levels and keep them in great spirits but also an opportunity to bring in some canned goods to help some folks who need it this time of the year. Would love for great participation in that tomorrow, so I hope we can get a good crowd.”
On how the trip out west went …
“Well, it was a great trip. The team has been coming together since June and they’re a close group. We didn’t necessarily need a team bonding experience, but it just happened anyhow because of the work that they’ve done and the people that they are and the relationships that have been built. It was one of the most fun trips that I can remember just from being in their presence and being around them. We were so fortunate to have smooth travel and we didn’t have any travel complications and all of that went smoothly. Still, it’s a long way out there and you’re in unfamiliar surroundings – so you are together a lot, and I just so enjoyed being with the team. They’re a great group of people. They’re not perfect and we all have flaws, and everything just doesn’t go just right – but for the most part – you know what you’re going to get and there are not a lot of cranky, bad attitudes. Folks just come out there with a good attitude, pretty good work ethic and get their job done most of the time with a smile on their face. In our time off the court, we just had a lot of fun. It was a great trip. What I took from it just being around them was it’s a group I like being around and very little to manage off the court and they do a great job of that. There are just so many things we need to get better doing and so many improvements that we need to make that you can see out there that aren’t going great – but gosh – they made so many plays out there that you can build off of. The things we are messing up on right now, I feel like we can correct with attention to detail and being coachable. And then some of the things that they did showed how far they have come and a lot of them are developing as great leaders, so it was a really, really good trip and we got a lot out of it.”
On Amanda Paschal …
“Amanda I’m sure has felt healthier at some point in her career. She continues to try and get back all the way from the knee (injury). She continues to do a good job at that and I’m just saying that I think she will continue to get better and better as she gets further away from the injury. She is looking good physically. Then on top of that, I just thought she was being so tentative and careful to a point of experiencing a little bit of paralysis by analysis and not turning it loose and playing. That was a ball game where plays had to be made because they were just so aggressive in trying to take away your first option as we had to break out of that so many times that we had to make some plays and she was one of the deciding factors in the game. She really made some plays – a back-door cut here, she got a post-up, some good action that we had not been hitting on. She made some really good jumpers, just some things that we knew she could do. She hadn’t been shooting the ball well and had been playing kind of tentatively, so hopefully that was a big step for her confidence wise. You can just look at her contributions along with her teammates so we really needed her contributions to win that game at Washington State. I was really happy for her and proud of her. She loves basketball, she loves to play, she loves her teammates, loves this opportunity at Kentucky and you root for somebody like that and you’d like to see someone like that do well.”
On Jaida Roper’s offseason …
“Well, it’s pretty amazing. You know if you think about a year ago this time, I was watching back the Washington State game – which was December. So, it wasn’t quite a year ago, but 11 months ago. Watching her on film in that game and then you know and you fast forward 11 months. You know, she has just done the work. She has put in the time. I commented to the team after our last home game, she was 5-for-5 from the field and it’s funny how she’s the last one in the gym every night and how that improves her shooting percentage. I don’t know that there is a lot of luck involved in that. The next practice, everybody stayed late and was working and that is leadership she is helping us with. She has worked on her fundamentals of movement. She was a little bit tied up last year and didn’t move that great as a freshman, so she has really worked on her strength and her agility and her movement and her footwork. She is doing so many little things well right now that show you she is dedicated to the process and doing things the right way. It is probably a combination of just a million little things done well over the last year that are now paying off for her. I believe she will continue to get better. She is always going to be one of the smaller players on the court, so she has always got to be one of the smartest players on the court to make up for that. She is really making plays with her mind right now and then paying attention to all the little things with her physical part of her game, making sure her footwork is really clean and sharp. So that is where she needs to stay and she needs to continue to try to get better. I would say it has been a real strong and consistent dedication to working hard.”
On her potentially surprising him by her play this season …
“I think a lot of people at the beginning of the process, including me, let’s just face it I didn’t offer her a scholarship early. She signed at Louisiana Tech and they have a great program, but I don’t know that there were a ton of SEC offers out there for her. That is why I just feel so fortunate and like it was a blessing that we both needed each other at that time and it has been so beautiful to watch her develop. She is a little bit smaller than a lot of the players. But listen, you just never know. I try not to ever put any limits on players. Once we get someone under the roof and she is a Wildcat, I just try to coach them like they are the best player in the world because what we are trying to get them to be is their best. So I just always have a lot of optimism and enthusiasm about everyone’s development and growth. So I don’t really know that I have ever said what she was going to be or wasn’t going to be. I think the best way for me to describe it was that I am extremely impressed with where she is. Everybody has the same opportunity and the same hours that they practice. Everybody has access to the gym and to the training room and the weight room and all those things. You have a fair shake here at Kentucky to become your best. She appears to be on that path and I am really impressed by that and respect that.”
On Morehead State …
“Well, Greg Todd is I think one of the great coaches that has come through Kentucky. He is an outstanding coach and has another team that is well-coached. I think they have upgraded their talent, I think their returners are better. Their ability to get on the offensive glass really concerns me. We must over the next month or six weeks going into SEC play get that corrected where that is a habit that we are boxing out and keeping people off the boards. That is a hustle/effort category that the Wildcats have to be excellent in. We have to limit easy buckets from the offensive glass. Morehead can really get on the offensive glass and they space the floor well and move the ball well and they have players that can break you down off the dribble and get to the rim. I think there is a great toughness about them and so it is going to be a tough game on one day of preparation. We were off yesterday, but we really have to pick up and pay attention to our fundamentals and try to out hustle them tomorrow and put our best foot forward and have a great performance.”
On if Tatyana Wyatt will play …
“I do not expect her to play. She is still working her way through concussion protocol.”
On Coach Elzy’s return …
“Kyra is back and we are really happy about that.”
On Ogechi Anyagaligbo …
“One more thing, Ogechi (Anyagaligbo) has surgery tomorrow. She will have her knee operated on and we will be wishing her well. She has done a fantastic job getting ready for surgery and really compliment her on how she has handled a very difficult injury and situation. She has had a great attitude and I am really proud of her. We are going to work hard and get her back to full speed as soon as we can.”
