No. 20 Kentucky Blasts Evansville 100-62
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman Tatyana Wyatt had a career-high 20 points and a career-best 10 rebounds as the 20th-ranked Kentucky women’s team thumped Evansville 100-62 on Tuesday night at Memorial Coliseum.
Maci Morris scored 20 points for the Wildcats, Alyssa Rice added 14, Taylor Murray had 11 and Jaida Roper added 10. In all, 13 Wildcats played in the game, and 11 of those players scored.
Kentucky (8-1) opened the game on a 19-0 run and never looked back, winning their second straight game. And for the second straight game, it was Morris who had the hot hand. The junior hit eight of her nine shots from the field, including four of her five attempts from beyond in the arc. In the last two games, Morris has connected on 14 of her 16 shots (87.5 percent), including six of seven (85.7 percent) from three-point range.
The Wildcats forced 20 Evansville turnovers in the contest, turning those miscues into 31 points on the offensive end. Kentucky turned the ball over only six times in the game, and Evansville only scored two points off of the UK mistakes. Kentucky used its size advantage to dominate second-chance points, as the Wildcats outscored the Purple Aces 22-3 in that category.
During the opening 19-0 run, Morris had six points and Murray had five as the Wildcats hit eight of their first 11 shots from the field, including three of their first four from behind the arc. After Evansville got on the board, on a three-pointer by Hannah Noe with 5:06 left in the first period, Kentucky scored 14 of the game’s next 16 points to take a 33-5 advantage. The Wildcats would lead 35-8 at the end of the period behind 11 points from Rice.
In the second quarter, Kentucky hit six of its first eight shots to lead by as many as 32 points. And when Morris closed the half by hitting a three-pointer as time expired, Kentucky again held that margin, carrying a 55-23 lead into the half. Morris hit all seven of her shots from the floor in the first half, including four from behind the arc, for 18 points.
The third period saw Evansville (2-5) assemble a modest 12-6 run to cut Kentucky’s lead to 62-35. But Kentucky answered with a 7-1 run near the end of the quarter to lead 75-45 after three periods of play. Wyatt had seven points in the quarter for the Cats, while Roper added six. The Wildcats would build the lead to as many as 38 in the fourth quarter, and that would be the final margin of victory.
Kentucky returns to action on Friday, as the Wildcats visit Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Fla. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on the ESPN App.
