Cats look for third straight win over the Lady Vols at home
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 10/10 Kentucky women’s basketball team embarks on inarguably its toughest stretch of the season as five of its next six opponents are ranked in the top 25, including two matchups with No. 6/6 Tennessee. The first meeting with the Lady Vols tips off Thursday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. ET in Lexington, Ky., as the Wildcats look to chart their third straight win over UT in storied Memorial Coliseum. The game will be televiswed live on the SEC Network and Watch ESPN (http://es.pn/1CB6DtY) with Paul Sunderland and Carolyn Peck calling the action. The game also can be heard live on the UK Sports Radio Network with Neil Price. Due to the UK men’s basketball game at Missouri on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, the UK Hoops game will be carried locally on WWRW 105.5 FM.
Senior guard Jennifer O’Neill (Bronx, N.Y.) will sign autographs after the game.
“We are excited to play tomorrow night,” UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We just want to invite our fans out for an important game. We will need a lot of energy and have to play real hard. A big crowd always helps us and always makes it real special to take the floor at Memorial. I want to invite all of the fans out, it will be a real exciting game and we are going to try and play extremely hard and play with a lot of energy and effort. Tennessee is a very, very good team that is well-coach and very talented. They will be a big challenge. We are excited and working hard to get ready for the game.”
A limited amount of single-game reserved tickets are available at a cost of $9 for all ages. General admission tickets for adults are $8 while single-game general admission tickets for seniors and children (ages 6-18, 65 and over) are only $5.
Children ages five and under are admitted free in the general admission seating area and UK students, faculty and staff are admitted free with valid identification.
Fans interested in UK Hoops tickets can visit the Joe Craft Center ticket office, go to UKathletics.com, or call the UK ticket office at 1-800-928-CATS. Tickets are also available at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
The Wildcats (16-4, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) put their 13-game home winning streak on the line Thursday, a streak that ranks as the sixth-longest in program history and the nation’s 14th-longest home winning streak.
UK has benefited from a balanced scoring attack this season. Six players average at least 6.6 points per game, led by the guard play of senior Jennifer O’Neill (Bronx, N.Y.) and sophomores Linnae Harper (Chicago) and Makayla Epps (Lebanon, Ky.).
O’Neill, who is fourth in the SEC in scoring this season with 14.8 points per game off the bench, has netted double figures in 16 of 19 games played this season, including two straight games with 19 points.
Harper is one of the most versatile players on the team as she is the only player to rank in the SEC’s top 10 (league games only) in scoring (9th), rebounding (3rd) and steals (1st). Standing at just 5-foot-8, Harper is the only player under 6-0 in the top 10 of the SEC rebounding statistics and is one of only four players in the NCAA to stand at 6-0 or under and average at least 7.4 rebounds per game. She also adds 11.4 points per game and 3.1 steals per game. In seven SEC games, Harper has three double-doubles, including two straight.
Epps, who is coming off a double-double at Missouri, is UK’s second-leading scorer with 13.3 points per game. Since becoming the starting point guard vs. Florida on Jan. 15, Epps is averaging a team-high 16.0 points to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. She currently leads the SEC in assist/turnover margin at +2.3 (25/11).
“I will say this – I really like the atmosphere around the program right now,” Mitchell said. “I really like the players’ minds and where they are at right now, and I think Baton Rouge was a wake-up call for that. I appreciate the players spending the time mentally and emotionally last week trying to figure out what they could do and what I could do to help them and I did the same for them. It was a really nice collaboration last week of what direction we need to head in and I like where they’re at right now. By the end of the year, I think this team is going to work hard enough to become whatever they can become. I’m excited about the last half of the conference schedule and what we can do.”
No. 6/6 Tennessee enters the game at 17-3 overall and 7-0 in league play after going 2-1 on the week with wins over No. 22/19 Georgia (59-51) and LSU (75-58) and a defeat at the hands of No. 6/7 Notre Dame (77-88). UT and South Carolina are the only two undefeated teams in the SEC this season.
Seniors Isabelle Harrison and Ariel Massengale lead the Lady Vols in scoring this season with 12.1 and 11.4 points per game, respectively. Harrison, a 6-3 center, also is the team’s leading rebounder with 8.9 rebounds per game. Massengale, a 5-7 point guard, has hit a team-high 40 3-pointers and also leads the team in free-throw shooting percentage at .867 percent (39-45).
UT ranks third in the SEC in scoring defense at 53.4 points per game. No team has scored more than 58 points against the Lady Vols this season.
The Lady Vols are led by former UT player and assistant coach Holly Warlick. She is in her third season as the head coach at her alma mater.
Thursday marks the 61st meeting between the border rivals. UK has met UT more times than any other rival. The Lady Vols lead the all-time series 50-10, including 21-7 in Lexington. Four of UK’s seven home wins have come since 2006, including two in the Matthew Mitchell era. UK has won the last two meetings against UT in Memorial Coliseum.
The last two matchups between the teams have been decided by a combined four points. UK defeated the Lady Vols last season during regular-season play, 75-71, in Knoxville, marking the Wildcats’ first win in Knoxville, Tenn., since a 76-72 win in the Stokely Athletics Center in 1985 and first-ever win in Thompson-Boling Arena. They met again in the finals of the SEC Tournament last year with UT coming out on top, 71-70.
UK is one of just seven teams with two wins over top 10 teams. The others are Chattanooga, Connecticut, Iowa State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The Wildcats are 2-2 vs. the ranked this season with wins over No. 8/9 Baylor and No. 7/7 Louisville and losses at No. 13/13 Duke and No. 1/1 South Carolina.
