Big Blue Preview: No. 17/19 Kentucky Women’s Basketball to Play Arkansas in SEC Tournament First Round on Wednesday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 17/19 University of Kentucky women’s basketball program (21-9, 8-8 Southeastern Conference) will play Arkansas (12-19, 1-15 SEC) in the Southeastern Conference Tournament First Round (Game 1) on Wednesday, March 4 at 11 a.m. ET.
The tournament bracket can be found here.
Darren Headrick will have the Kentucky-Arkansas radio call for UK Sports Network on 630 AM WLAP in Lexington and on 790 AM WKRD in Louisville.
Big Blue Nation also can watch the game on SEC Network, with Sam Gore and Tamika Catchings on the call.
Kentucky is 44-45 in all-time Southeastern Conference Tournament games. Kentucky has won seven of the last 10 games in the SEC Tournament.
Last season, UK was the No. 4 seed and earned a double-bye in head coach Kenny Brooks’ first season in the Bluegrass.
The Wildcats are 12-11 in the first round. They haven’t lost a first round game since 2009, while this is just the third time they have played in the first round since then.
Kentucky enters the game with a 21-9 overall record, including an 8-8 mark in the SEC. The team went 4-5 against Associated Press ranked teams during league action, including defeating two top five teams for the first time in a regular season in program history.
Moreover, while four losses in league action were without starting forward Teonni Key, the other four were to AP Top Six teams in the nation, while three were by a combined seven points (lost by one against Vanderbilt, lost by two at Vanderbilt, lost by four against South Carolina).
The Wildcats are coming off a loss to the No. 3/3 Gamecocks, 60-56, despite the Cats holding the Cocks to their fewest points this season and outrebounding the Cocks, 40-34. All-SEC First Team selection Clara Strack scored a game-high 24 points in that meeting, adding a team-high nine rebounds.
UK broke the single-season school record for 3s in that game, combining for 255 going into the tournament.
The upcoming game is the 46th all-time meeting between Kentucky and Arkansas in a series that began in 1983. UK leads UA, 29-16, in the series, while UK also leads UA, 2-1, in games played at the SEC Tournament although they haven’t met there since 2007. UK currently has a two-game win streak over UA.
When Kentucky last played Arkansas on Feb. 1, it marked Key’s first game back after a six-game hiatus because of a dislocated elbow. Kentucky defeated Arkansas, 93-73, while Strack had 33 points and 15 rebounds and Key put up 15 points and 10 rebounds.
UK had 49 points in the second half, which marked UK’s most points scored in any half of an SEC road game since at least 2002-03. UK had a school-record 92.3% shooting effort in the fourth quarter on 12-of-13.
Kentucky outscored Arkansas, 18-0, in second chance points, thanks to a 51-24 outrebounding effort.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
