Kentucky Women’s Basketball Postgame Notes
No. 19/19 Kentucky vs. Rhode Island 
Memorial Coliseum – Lexington, Ky.
Thursday, December 6, 2018
 
No. 19/19 Kentucky 75, Rhode Island 52 – FINAL
 
Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky moves to 9-0 on the season while Rhode Island is now 5-3. 
  • The Wildcats will return to action next Sunday at 2 p.m. ET at No. 4/5 Louisville. The game will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra while Darren Headrick will have the call on radio on the UK Sports Network.
• This was the first all-time meeting between Kentucky and Rhode Island in women’s basketball.

• UK is now 807-532 all-time in program history.
  • Matthew Mitchell is in his 12th year with the Wildcats and holds a 265-117 record. Mitchell is 295-146 overall in 14 years as a head coach.

• Kentucky is ranked No. 19 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today/Coaches Top 25. The Wildcats entered the rankings this week for the first time since December of 2017.
• UK has started the season with 9-0 record, which is its best start to a season since beginning the 2015-16 season 10-0.

 
Team Notes

• Kentucky used the starting combination of senior guard Taylor Murray, senior guard Maci Morris, freshman guard Rhyne Howard, sophomore forward KeKe McKinney and sophomore forward Tatyana Wyatt.
  • Kentucky is now 8-0 this season with this starting combination.

• Kentucky held a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to ending the quarter on a 6-0 run.
  • Maci Morris scored eight first-quarter points going 3-of-6 from the field with two 3s.
  • UK forced URI into nine turnovers in the first quarter but scored just five points off those miscues.
  • UK hit just 1 of its last 11 field goal attempts in the first quarter.
• The Wildcats scored 14 points in the second quarter to take a 30-22 lead into the break at halftime.
  • UK’s 30 points were the second fewest the Wildcats have scored in the first half of a game this season. The previous was 21 against Virginia.
  • Maci Morris had 15 first-half points with three 3s while Rhyne Howard had 10 points and four rebounds.
  • UK shot just 31 percent from the field while Rhode Island shot 41 percent.
  • The Wildcats held Rhode Island to 10 points in the second quarter, marking the 11th time this season that UK has held an opponent to 10 points or less in a quarter.
• UK opened its biggest lead of the game with a large run in third quarter of 19-2. UK began with a 9-0 run followed by a URI layup and a 10-0 UK run to grab a 20-point lead.
  • Overall, UK outscored Rhode island 29-13 in the third quarter.
  • The 29 points were the most that UK has scored in a quarter this season. It was one off the program record for points in the third quarter, which was 30.
  • Taylor Murray led with nine points in the quarter, while Maci Morris had eight. 
• Kentucky limited Rhode Island to 52 points in the game which was the Rams second lowest scoring total this season.
• UK forced Rhode Island into 30 turnovers and scored 21 points off those miscues.
  • This was the third time this season that UK has forced a team into 30 or more turnovers.
• The Wildcats tied for their lowest shooting performance of the season at 33.3 percent from the field in the game.
• UK won the battle on the offensive glass, 20-7, scoring 15 second-chance points.
  • UK has now had 20 or more offensive rebounds in two games this season.

 
Player Notes

• Senior guard Maci Morris scored 29 points, hitting five 3s with five rebounds and four assists.

  • Morris now has 1,366 career points, which ranks 16th most in program history. She needs 67 more to tie Jodie Whitaker for 15th all-time in school history in points scored.
  • Morris has 204 career 3-pointers made which ranks second in program history. She needs 67 more 3s to tie Sara Potts for most all-time.
  • Morris has scored 20 or more points three times this season, including back-to-back games. For her career, Morris has scored 20 or more points 16 times.
  • Morris has led Kentucky in scoring 28 times during her career.
• Senior guard Taylor Murray scored 11 points with four steals and two assists.
  • Murray now has 1,094 career points and ranks 27th all-time in points scored. She needs 41 more points to tie Karen Mosley for 26th all-time.
  • Murray has 366 career assists which ranks 10th most in program history. She needs 1 more to tie Tracye Davis for ninth all time. 
  • Murray has scored in double figures in every game this season.

• Freshman guard Rhyne Howard continued her strong start to the season with 19 points, adding seven rebounds and seven steals.

  • Howard has scored in double figures in every game this season.
  • Howard’s seven steals were a career high and tied the most by any UK player in a game this season.