Wildcats Hope to Continue Momentum Sunday at No. 8 South Carolina
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Looking to continue its momentum following a strong performance Thursday against Arkansas where five Wildcats scored in double figures, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team returns to the road to play at No. 8 South Carolina on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET inside Colonial Life Arena.
The game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network with Pam Ward and Gail Goestenkors on the call. The action can also be seen through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones or tablets. Darren Headrick, 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.
Kentucky (13-14, 5-8 Southeastern Conference) is coming off its third straight win inside Memorial Coliseum, defeating Arkansas 78-57 on Thursday. The Wildcats had five players score in double figures with junior guard Maci Morris leading the way with her third-straight 20-point game while senior post Alyssa Rice had 13 points and nine rebounds, going 6-of-6 from the field. Freshmen KeKe McKinney and Tatyana Wyatt each had 11 points with McKinney adding four rebounds and Wyatt hitting a season-best three 3s. Fellow rookie Dorie Harrison had 10 points and four rebounds in the game. UK shot 48.3 percent from the field overall and had a 38-12 advantage in points in the paint and 32-7 edge in bench points.
 |
||
| Kentucky at No. 8 South Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Sunday, February 18 – 3 p.m. ET |
||
| Coverage | ||
|
TV: SEC Network |
Morris leads Kentucky in scoring this season at 16.2 points per game. The native of Pineville, Ky., ranks ninth nationally and second in the SEC in 3-point field-goal percentage at 46.5 percent. Fellow junior Taylor Murray is averaging 11.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game with a team-best 109 assists, while Wyatt is averaging 7.2 points per game and hitting 36.1 percent from long range this season. Rice is averaging 7.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while Harrison is averaging 6.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
South Carolina enters Sunday’s game coming off an impressive 77-65 win at No. 20 Georgia on Thursday. The Gamecocks shot just 39.7 percent from the field and were 4-of-11 from long range, but went 27-of-35 from the free-throw line while Georgia attempted just nine free throws. USC had a 16-8 edge in points off turnovers and 18-8 advantage in second-chance points. A’ja Wilson recorded a double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds.
The Gamecocks enter the weekend with a 21-5 record, including a 10-3 mark in SEC play. USC is 11-2 at home this season with both losses coming to highly ranked teams in No. 1 UCONN and then-No. 6 Tennessee. As a team, South Carolina is averaging 78.7 points per game and hitting 47.7 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from 3.
Wilson leads the Gamecocks averaging 22.5 points per game and 11.6 rebounds per game. The reigning SEC Player of the Year is hitting 54.9 percent from the field and is 126-of-186 from the free-throw line. Alexis Jennings is averaging 12.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, while Tyasha Harris is averaging 11.0 points and has a team-best 164 assists.
Kentucky leads the all-time series in games played against South Carolina 33-29 but the Gamecocks have won seven straight in the series, which is the second longest winning streak in the series for either team. South Carolina leads the series 17-10 in games played in Columbia and has won five straight home games against the Wildcats. UK’s last win in Columbia was a 66-58 victory on Jan. 15, 2012. The two teams have met twice in the regular season every year since 1996.
Kentucky rallied early in the second half but could not erase a 14-point halftime lead by then-No. 10 South Carolina in the two team’s first meeting on Jan. 21 inside Rupp Arena. The Wildcats scored 44 points in the second half, including outscoring the Gamecocks 28-25 in the third quarter but USC shot 60.4 percent from the field in the game, including 19-for-24 overall and 5-for-7 from 3 in the second half to secure the win.
UK forced the Gamecocks into 17 turnovers and scored 23 points off those miscues, while also earning 15 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points.
Wilson led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting with four blocks and three steals. Morris led Kentucky with 19 points adding four assists while Murray had 17 points. McKinney earned a career-best 12 points with seven rebounds, while Harrison had 11 points and seven boards.
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.
Kentucky WBB Pre-South Carolina News Conference
Joe Craft Center – Lexington, Ky.
Friday, Feb. 16, 2018
Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement …
“Tough road game coming up here on Sunday vs. South Carolina. They have a great team and are always well coached and prepared for our two games that we always play every year. It is a tough place to play. They always have a great crowd. We will have to prepare well and that is what we are going to work on this afternoon is trying to prepare to go over and get a victory.”
On how different they look without Lindsey Spann …
“Listen, any time you lose a great shooter like her, I doubt they are thinking it doesn’t have something to it. I think where you start with them and what makes it so difficult is A’ja Wilson is playing great and Ty Harris is shooting the ball well and scoring from outside. They are so well balanced that I don’t think losing one player affects what we are going to try to do. We have to go over there and try to be a the aggressive and be tough and fight and scrap for a victory. I am really proud of our team. I thought in the second half vs. them is when we started to find ourselves and started on a road to improvement. We are better than when we played them but I think they have been improving too. So it will be a tough game and we will really need great preparation these next two days.”
On any trend to the team putting together solid fourth quarters …
“I think it is just the improvement of the team and a bit of maturity developing in the team where we are able to make some adjustments and turn things around and dig deep when things are going poorly. We had done a good job in the Arkansas game and then they went 11-0 on us and we were able to turn that around and so that has happened in a few games for us. I just think it is the overall improvements of the team.”
On if the team’s confidence has grown …
“They are working hard at trying to stay connected during the game. Our leaders have been working really hard at staying engaged during the timeouts while the coaches have been trying to get together what our message is going to be. I think our team has been active. I do think they have made so much improvement in trying to stick together and keep their poise and trying to go out and make plays. You cannot manufacture confidence. It has to come through achievement. I do think their confidence has grown as we try to play better this second half of the season.”
On the team’s goals heading down the stretch run of the season …
“Victories right now are important there is no doubt about that, but we have a very difficult final three games. Two out of the three are against top ranked teams that are at the top of our conference and then another road game. So it is a difficult stretch. I still keep coming back to trying to focus in on getting the most out of our practice time. Our players just continue to get better. I was so proud of our post group last night really using some skills that we have been working on in practice and they have brought it to the game. That is the kind of thing that I am looking for. Can you go out and prepare well and then bring it to the game. When you do that well enough then the victories will happen. It is a fun group to work with right now, they are very passionate about playing and getting better and working hard. We are trying to get the most we can out of our practices.”
On NCAA Tournament chances and what he has the team playing for …
“Well, until those are extinguished you just keep playing and it’s a big game Sunday for that. Then, you just focus on what you can control. When there is a chance, you just have to keep fighting for it and remarkably there is still a chance. We just have to prepare well. You try to control what you can take care of here and then whatever the outcome of the season, we will evaluate it and see what happens. I think the team is getting better so obviously we want to play in postseason and we would love to play in the NCAA Tournament, but for us to be able to continue to play and make improvement it’s very important this time. It is still a little too early to figure out exactly what is going to happen, but for now we are staying focused on Sunday.”
