The Kentucky Women’s Basketball team won in Knoxville for the first time since February of 2014. Here are some other post game notes following the win over Tennessee.
Kentucky Women’s Basketball Postgame Notes
No. 16/16 Kentucky at No. 13/13 Tennessee
Thompson-Boling Arena – Knoxville, Tenn.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
No. 16/15 Kentucky 73, No. 13/13 Tennessee 71 – FINAL
Team Records and Series Notes
- Kentucky moves to 15-2 on the season and 2-1 in the league while Tennessee is now 12-3, 1-2 SEC.
- The Wildcats will return to action Sunday vs. Ole Miss at 1 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum. The game will be televised on the SEC Network while Darren Headrick will have the call on radio on the UK Sports Network.
- Tennessee leads the all-time series in games played against Kentucky, 55-12.
- UT leads the series 23-4 in games played in Knoxville.
- This was Kentucky’s first win in Knoxville since 2014.
- UK is now 813-534 all-time in program history.
-
- Matthew Mitchell is in his 12th year with the Wildcats and holds a 271-119 record. Mitchell is 301-148 overall in 14 years as a head coach.
- Kentucky is ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today/Coaches Top 25.
- The Lady Vols were the fourth ranked foe UK has faced this season. UK has a win over then-No. 17 South Florida before a loss at No. 5/4 Louisville and No. 7/6 Mississippi State.
- Both of Kentucky’s losses this season have come to top-10 teams on the road.
- UK is 2-2 on the season against ranked foes.
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 14-2 this season with this starting combination.
- Jaida Roper started the second half for Taylor Murray, who left the first half with an injury and did not return with knee pain.
- Kentucky started the game with a 22-5 run and ended the first quarter with a 27-16 lead. The Wildcats shot 55% (11-for-20) from the field in the first quarter, while Tennessee shot 28% (5-for-18).
- The Lady Vols had a 17-6 edge in rebounds in the first quarter, including 9-1 on the offensive glass.
- Tennessee won the second quarter 12-11 and took a 33-17 edge on the glass with nine second-chance points into the locker room at halftime.
- UK led 38-28 at halftime and held a double-digit lead most of the first quarter.
- UK hit six of its first 11 shots of the second half and grabbed six of the first 10 rebounds of the second half to increase its lead to 51-36 with 3:54 left in the third quarter.
- Tennessee started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to cut Kentucky’s lead to 60-56 with 5:39 left in the game.
Player Notes
- Senior guard Maci Morris scored a game-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 4-of-6 from long range.
- Morris now has 1,495 career points, which ranks 10th most in program history. She needs seven more point to tie Sarah Elliott for 9th all-time in school history in points scored.
- Morris has 224 career 3-pointers made which ranks second in program history. She needs 47 more 3s to tie Sara Potts for most all-time.
- Morris has hit at least one 3-pointer in 30 straight games.
- Entered the game hitting 21 straight free throws but missed her first two attempts.
- Morris also added three steals in the game.
- Senior guard Taylor Murray played a season-low nine minutes after leaving and not returning due to knee pain. She ended with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting with one assist.
- Murray now has 1,180 career points and ranks tied for 22nd all-time in points scored. She needs seven more to tie Maria Donhoff for 21st.
- Murray has 395 career assists which ranks ninth most in program history. She needs five more to tie Rita Adams for eighth.
- Freshman guard Rhyne Howard played 14 minutes and fouled out in the fourth quarter but scored six points with an assist and a steal.
- Junior forward Ogechi Anyagaligbo scored a UK career high 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting with three rebounds and one steal.
- Junior guard Jaida Roper scored 10 points with three assists and one steal.
- Roper’s biggest shot of the game came when she hit a 3-pointer with :55 left in the game to give UK a five-point lead he would not relinquish.
