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UK Hoops Meets Georgia Southern on “Class of 2020 Day”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 7/8
Kentucky women’s basketball begins a three-game homestand when it plays
host to first-time opponent Georgia Southern at 11 a.m. ET on
Wednesday, Nov. 13 in Memorial Coliseum. It will mark the home opener
for the Wildcats and “Class of 2020 Day” as over 2,000 sixth-graders,
and their teachers, from the high school class of 2020 will be in
attendance. The game will be carried live on the UK IMG Sports Radio
Network with Neil Price and a live video stream will be available
through the subscription video portion of www.UKAthletics.com. Fans can
also follow Twitter updates on @UKHoopCats.
“This game has
become an important event for us each year to have this early tipoff
where we can get some Fayette County student on campus and get them
exposed to the University of Kentucky,” UK Hoops head coach Matthew
Mitchell said. “This really has become an exciting event for our
university. It gets future students on campus and helps us show them
what a special place Kentucky is. So we are excited about that.”
The
Wildcats (2-0) look to open their season at 3-0 after capturing their
first two wins on the road. In front of a raucous, sold-out crowd in
McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Friday, the Wildcats overcame a
slow start to win their season opener over Marist, 75-61. Senior guard
Kastine Evans (Salem, Conn.) recorded a team-high 15 points and eight
rebounds, while senior forward Samarie Walker (West Carrollton, Ohio)
charted three steals and a game-high 11 rebounds. Point guards Janee
Thompson (Chicago) and Jennifer O’Neill (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 13 and 11
points, respectively and junior guard Bria Goss (Indianapolis) added 10
points.
Against first-time foe Wagner, the Wildcats again
started out slow but used a 27-3 run in the first half to break open
the game. UK cruised to a 96-57 win over the Seahawks paced by senior
forward DeNesha Stallworth’s (Richmond, Calif.) 22nd career
double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds. Goss followed with 17
points on 7-of-9 shooting and O’Neill contributed 11 points and five
assists. All 12 players scored at least two points as Kentucky improved
to 21-0 in the Matthew Mitchell era when scoring 90 points or more.
The Wildcats have never met Georgia Southern but are 11-0 all-time vs. teams from the Southern Conference.
“For
this game, we are playing a really quality opponent in Georgia
Southern,” Mitchell said. “They are a team that impresses me. They have
very strong guard play and I am really, really impressed with their
starting guards. They are very, very good players and their postgame
was extremely active on the offensive glass against their opening
opponent. We will have to be sharp. It is a very quick turnaround. The
players were off yesterday and we have had one day to prepare for
Georgia Southern and then the early tip. It will really make our mental
preparation very, very important for this game. We would love to get
the season started off at home with a big victory and we are going to
work hard to see if we can get that done.”
Georgia
Southern (0-1) fell in its season opener at Auburn on Saturday, 69-59.
Four players scored in double figures led by senior guard MiMi DuBose
with 15 points. DuBose is the team’s leading returning scorer after
averaging 12.4 points in 2012-13.
The Eagles return nine
letterwinners and four starters off last season’s squad that finished
eighth in the Southern Conference with a 6-14 mark. Head Coach Chris
Vozab enters her second season at the helm after leading the Eagles to
an overall 8-24 record during her first campaign.
UK is
35-4 all-time in home openers and has won four in a row. The Cats are
372-141 (72.5) all-time in Memorial Coliseum, including an 82-13 (86.3)
record under Coach Matthew Mitchell.
The Wildcat have won 38 consecutive regular season non-conference games at home, dating back to Dec. 19, 2008.
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