KENTUCKY WBB POSTGAME NOTES
Kentucky vs. LSU
Rupp Arena – Lexington, Ky.
Feb. 4, 2018
FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 70, LSU 72
Team Records and Series Notes
-Kentucky falls to 12-12 overall, 4-6 in Southeastern Conference play this season, while LSU is 15-6, 7-3 SEC.
-Matthew Mitchell is in his 11th season as head coach at Kentucky. He is the winningest head coach in program history at 253-112.
-The Wildcats trail the all-time series between the two teams, 26-17.
- This was LSU’s first win in Lexington in five visits.
-Kentucky will return to action Thursday, Feb. 4, traveling to Columbia, Missouri, to take on Missouri at 9 p.m. ET. The game will be shown live on SEC Network, as well as broadcast live back in Lexington on the UK Sports Network.
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 5-6 with that starting-five combination.
-The Wildcats struggled to get going offensively in the first quarter, going just 2-of-15 from the floor, while the Tigers shot 6-of-15.
-LSU led 16-5 at the end of the first quarter.
- Kentucky’s five first-quarter points matched its lowest scoring quarter of the season (vs. Georgia, 01/07/18).
-Kentucky was able to find some rhythm in the second quarter, shooting 90 percent (9-10) from the floor, but LSU still outscored UK 22-21 in the period.
-After LSU stretched its lead to as many as 15 with 1:18 left in the third, Kentucky ended the stanza on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to eight at 51-43.
-A layup from Taylor Murray with 27 seconds to go cut the deficit to two.
-Kentucky quickly fouled on the inbounds play to send LSU’s Raigyne Louis to the line, where she went 1-of-2 from the line.
-On the other end, Maci Morris was fouled and made two clutch free throws to bring the Cats within one at 71-70.
-Murray then fouled LSU’s Chloe Jackson to send her to the line, where she made the first but missed the second, and freshman Tatyana Wyatt grabbed the rebound with 16 seconds to play.
-Morris threw up a 15-footer with one second to go, but the shot did not fall.
-UK never led in the game.
-Kentucky’s 15 turnovers proved important, as LSU capitalized and scored 21 points off turnovers.
-After a rough first quarter of shooting, UK turned around the performance to finish the game with 51.9 percent shooting (27-52).
- LSU shot just 44.4 percent (28-63).
-The Wildcats outscored LSU 44-34 in the second half.
-Kentucky’s 20 assists marked its third-best sharing performance of the season and its best in conference play.
- UK had 25 assists vs. Morehead State and 23 vs. Evansville.
Player Notes
–Maci Morris led the Wildcats in scoring with 17 points.
- Of her 17 points, she scored 15 in the second half alone.
- Morris moved into a tie for 29th on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,031 career points.
- She surpassed Sandy Harding, Laura Meadows and Janee Thompson.
- Morris also matched her career high with four assists.
- She’s had double-figure scoring in all but three games this season, including five consecutive contests.
- Morris’ two clutch free throws with 18 seconds to go brought Kentucky within one point.
–Taylor Murray added 16 points and a team-high six assists.
- Murray has had five or more assists in four consecutive games.
- She’s added double-digit scoring in seven consecutive contests.
–KeKe McKinney scored 10 points to go with two rebounds, three assists and one block.
- It was her third game scoring double-digits this season.
–Amanda Paschal had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and one steal.
- Her four assists were a career-high for the juco transfer.
- The performance marked her fourth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
