KENTUCKY WBB POSTGAME NOTES
Kentucky vs. South Carolina
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.
Jan. 21, 2018
FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 64, No. 10 South Carolina 81
Team Records and Series Notes
- Kentucky falls to 9-11 overall, 1-5 in Southeastern Conference play this season, while South Carolina rises to 16-3, 5-2 SEC.
- Matthew Mitchell is in his 11th season as head coach at Kentucky. He is the winningest head coach in program history at 250-111.
- The Wildcats still lead the all-time series between the two programs, 33-29.
- South Carolina has won seven straight games in the series.
- This was the second-ever game between the two teams in Rupp Arena, and the Gamecocks own a 2-0 edge in those contests.
- Kentucky will be back in action Thursday, Jan. 25, returning to Memorial Coliseum to take on Alabama at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be shown live on SEC Network+ and broadcast on the UK Sports Radio Network with Darren Headrick calling the action.
Team Notes
-
Kentucky used the starting combination of senior Alyssa Rice, senior Makenzie Cann, junior Taylor Murray, junior Maci Morris and freshman KeKe McKinney.
- UK is 2-5 with that starting-five combination.
- The two teams went back-and-forth in the first quarter, but South Carolina held onto a slight 13-12 edge to end the stanza.
- The Wildcats were held to just eight second-quarter points, and the Gamecocks went into halftime with a 34-20 lead.
- Kentucky scored 28 points in the third quarter, which was its most scored in a single quarter in conference play this season.
- A 3-pointer from KeKe McKinney with 28 seconds to go in the third quarter cut South Carolina’s lead to eight, but the Gamecocks would hit a 3 on the other end to finish the quarter with an 11-point lead.
- The Gamecocks led by as many as 19 points in the quarter.
- UK was not able to cut the deficit to single digits again, as South Carolina shot 79.2 percent from the floor in the second half.
- The Wildcats had four players score in double digits in the game for the first time in SEC play this season.
- It was the first time since Dec. 8 against FGCU in which four UK players have scored in double figures.
- The Wildcats forced 17 turnovers in the contest, and scored 23 points off those turnovers.
- UK outscored the Gamecocks in second-chance points, 17-7.
Player Notes
-
Maci Morris led the Wildcats with 19 points and a team-high four assists.
- Morris has scored in double figures in 16 of her 19 games played this season.
- The junior has led UK in scoring 12 times this season.
- Morris is just 31 points away from becoming the 33rd member of Kentucky’s 1,000 point club, with 969 career points.
- Her four assists matched her career-high set earlier this season against Texas A&M.
- Taylor Murray added 17 points, two boards and two steals.
- In the past three games, Murray is averaging 19.6 points per game.
- It was her tenth double-digit scoring performance of the season.
- KeKe McKinney posted a career-high 12 points to go with seven rebounds.
- Her seven rebounds matched her career high, set on Nov. 11 vs. Gardner-Webb.
- Dorie Harrison scored a career-high 11 points to go with seven boards.
- The freshman’s only additional double-digit scoring effort came in the season-opener, where she scored 10 against Sacramento State.