KENTUCKY WBB POSTGAME NOTES
Kentucky at No. 8 South Carolina
Colonial Life Arena – Columbia, S.C.
Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018
 
FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 63, South Carolina 81
 
Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky drops to 13-15 overall, 5-9 in Southeastern Conference play this season, while No. 8 South Carolina moves to 22-5, 11-3 SEC.
• Matthew Mitchell is in his 11th season as head coach at Kentucky. He is the winningest head coach in program history at 254-115.
• Kentucky leads the all-time series in games played against South Carolina, 33-30.
  • South Carolina has won eight straight games in the series, including six straight home games against UK.
  • The Gamecocks lead the series 18-10 in games played in Columbia.
• Kentucky will play its final true road game of the season Thursday, Feb. 22 at Ole Miss at 8:30 p.m. ET. The game can be seen live on SEC Network, while fans in Lexington can hear Darren Headrick’s radio call 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 6-9 with that starting-five combination.
• Maci Morris and A’ja Wilson traded baskets in the first quarter as Morris ended the first stanza with 10 points and Wilson led all scorers with 11.
• South Carolina scored the final three points of the first quarter and the first 11 of the second quarter for a 14-0 run to take control of the game.
  • UK scored its first points of the second quarter 5:43 into the period.
  • The Wildcats did not hit their first field goal in the game until the 3:44 mark, going nearly eight minutes without a field goal in the game.
• After committing just one turnover in the first quarter, UK committed eight in the second quarter and South Carolina scored 10 points off those miscues.
• At the end of the first quarter, UK and South Carolina were tied 10-10 in paint points but the Gamecocks scored 12 of their 19 second-quarter points in the paint.
• The Gamecocks outscored UK 29-18 in the third quarter. UK outscored USC 19-14 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late to clos e the gap.
• Kentucky shot 40.0 percent from the field and have not shot 40 percent or better in four of its last five games.
  • UK went 12-of-26 from the field in the second half for 46.2 percent thanks to finishing the game making five of its last seven field goals.
• The Wildcats turned the ball over 18 times in the game with the Gamecocks scoring 23 points off those UK miscues.
• South Carolina had a 40-26 advantage in points in the paint in the game.
• The Gamecocks had 21 assists on 26 made field goals in the game.
  • UK had only five assists, which was its fewest assist total on the season.

 
Player Notes

• Maci Morris led all scorers with 35 points in the game, going 13-of-23 from the field and 5-of-9 from 3.

  • The 35 points was a career high for Morris, besting her previous career high of 29.
    • The 30-point scoring effort was the first for a UK player since Makayla Epps had 31 against the Gamecocks on March 4, 2017 in the SEC Tournament.
    • Morris the first player to score 35 or more points in a game since Makayla Epps accomplished the feat with 42 points against Mississippi State on Feb. 12, 2015.
    • Morris is only the third player in school history to score 35 points or more in an SEC game, joining Makayla Epps and Valerie Still on that list.
  • Morris has hit five or more 3s in a game four times this season.
  • It was the fourth consecutive game in which she’s scored 20+ points and the ninth time this season.
    • The last player to record four straight 20+ point scoring games was Makayla Epps last season from Jan. 26 to Feb. 5.
  • Morris has 1,129 career points and still ranks 26th on Kentucky’s all-time scoring list. She needs six points to move to 25th on the list.
  • She now has 166 career 3-pointers made this season, which moves her into sixth place on UK’s all-time 3-point field-goal made list.
    • She needs nine more 3s to tie for fifth place with Stacey Reed (1991-95).
  • Morris’ 13 field-goals made is the most for a UK player in a game since Makayla Epps hit 13 vs. Washington on March 25, 2016.
• Makenzie Cann scored nine points in the game.
  • Cann went 1-for-3 from 3 in the game and has now hit a 3 in 23 games this season.