Alabama
Kentucky
Alabama Women’s Basketball Hits the Road for Thursday Matchup at Kentucky
1/24/2018 12:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's basketball team (14-6, 4-3 SEC) will play its first of two road games this week Thursday in Lexington against the Kentucky Wildcats (9-11, 1-5 SEC). The game is scheduled to tip at 6 p.m. CT in Memorial Coliseum.
THE BROADCAST
• Thursday's game will air on SEC Network + with Jeff Piecoro and Christi Thomas on the call.
• The game can also be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network on 93.3 FM in Tuscaloosa with Roger Hoover on the broadcast.
OPENING TIP
• Alabama will play both of this week's games on the road, beginning with the matchup in Lexington against Kentucky on Thursday. The Crimson Tide closes out the week at Auburn on Sunday.
• Kentucky leads the series against Alabama, 28-17, and has won the last four meetings versus the Crimson Tide.
• The two teams met twice a season ago with the regular-season matchup coming in Tuscaloosa followed by a neutral-site meeting in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Greenville, S.C. where the Wildcats prevailed by 10, 65-55.
• Alabama's last win in the series came in Lexington on Jan. 23, 2014, 57-55.
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• Alabama enters Thursday's game with a 14-6 overall record and a 4-3 mark in Southeastern Conference play.
• UA is 4-2 in road games this season, which includes a 2-1 mark against league opponents. The wins came at Florida (first win in Gainesville since 2010) and Arkansas (first win in Fayetteville since 2011), while the loss took place in Starkville against then-No. 4-3 Mississippi State.
• The Crimson Tide is led in scoring by senior Hannah Cook, who averages 11.7 points per game and in rebounding by fellow senior Ashley Williams, who averages 6.8 boards per contest. Sophomore Jordan Lewis leads the way in assists with 3.7 per game.
• Sophomore Ashley Knight leads the team and ranks fourth in the SEC and 28th nationally in blocks per game with an average of 2.40. She is currently tied with Dee Merriweather for the No. 2 spot in career blocks at Alabama (138) and is 49 away from tying Yolanda Watkins (187) for most in program history.
• As a team, the Crimson Tide is averaging 68.7 points per game, 9.8 more than its opponents, and is outrebounding the opposition 41.0-36.6.
• After finishing the 2016-17 season last in the SEC in free throw percentage, Alabama has jumped up to sixth, hitting 70.9 percent of its attempts as a team.
• The Crimson Tide is averaging roughly 10 points more per game than its opponents in points in the paint (31.4-23.5) and bench points (25.4-17.2).
• In 17 of its 20 games this season, Alabama has had eight or more in the scoring column. In eight of those 17 games, 10 or more scored for the Crimson Tide.
• The Crimson Tide started its SEC season with a 3-1 record, which was its best mark since the 1997-98 season. Alabama has also won four of its first seven league games for the first time since that season.
SCOUTING KENTUCKY
• Kentucky heads into Thursday's game with a 9-11 overall record and a 1-5 mark in SEC play.
• The Wildcats are 6-5 in Memorial Coliseum in 2017-18 and 0-3 in home league contests.
• Kentucky is led in scoring by junior Maci Morris (15.6 ppg) and in rebounding by senior Alyssa Rice (7.1 rpg), while junior Taylor Murray leads the team in assists (3.6 apg).
• Kentucky is under the direction of Matthew Mitchell, who is in his 11th year with the Wildcats. Mitchell, UK's all-time winningest coach, has led his teams to the postseason in each of his previous 10 seasons, including eight NCAA tournament appearances and two WNIT berths. The Wildcats have reached the NCAA Elite Eight three times under Mitchell in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Overall he holds a 280-140 record as a head coach in 13 seasons and a 250-111 mark at Kentucky (11 seasons).
