No. 20 Kentucky Begins Road Swing at Florida Gulf Coast Friday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 20 University of Kentucky women’s basketball team will begin a difficult two-game road stretch Friday at 7 p.m. ET inside Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Fla., when it faces a talented Florida Gulf Coast team that already has one win over a top-25 squad this season.
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 with David Moulton and J. Webb Horton on the call. The action can also be seen through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones or tablets. Darren Headrick, in his first year with the program, will be calling the game on the UK Sports Radio Network. Fans in Lexington can hear Headrick’s call on 630AM WLAP. Live stats and free audio will be available online at ukathletics.com.
Kentucky (8-1) in nearing completion of its non-conference schedule. After it finishes this difficult two-game road swing at FGCU and Miami (Fla.) – who have both been receiving votes in the national rankings this season – the Wildcats will only have one more non-conference road game left before starting Southeastern Conference play on Dec. 31 vs. Tennessee at Rupp Arena. UK will host top-five ranked Louisville and top-25 ranked Cal when before breaking for the holiday. Both games this weekend end a stretch of five games in 11 days for Kentucky.
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| No. 20 Kentucky at Florida Gulf Coast | ||
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Friday, Dec. 8 – 7 p.m. ET |
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TV: ESPN3 |
The Wildcats are coming off a dominating 100-62 victory over Evansville on Tuesday, scoring 100+ points for only the 18th time under head coach Matthew Mitchell. UK scored a program-record 35 points in the first quarter and shot a season-best 57.1 percent from the field in the game. Junior guard Maci Morris went 8-for-9 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3 for 20 points, while freshman forward Tatyana Wyatt scored 20 points with 10 rebounds.
Morris leads Kentucky in scoring this season by averaging 16.7 points per game with a team-best 27 3-pointers hit, while fellow junior Taylor Murray is averaging 12.0 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game with a team-best 37 assists and 16 steals. Wyatt is averaging 12.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while senior guard Makenzie Cann is the only other UK player averaging double figures with 10.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
As a team, Kentucky is ranked high in several national categories, including 11th nationally and first in the SEC in assist-turnover ratio at 1.52 and 17th in the nation and third in the league in total assists with 161. The Wildcats also rank 18th nationally and fourth in the SEC in blocks (48), 14th nationally and second in the SEC in rebounding margin (11.8), 15th in the nation and first in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (40.9) and eighth nationally and second in the SEC in fewest turnovers per game (11.8).
Florida Gulf Coast, which was ranked sixth nationally in the espnW mid-major rankings at the start of the season, enters Friday’s game with an 8-2 record, including a 2-0 mark at home. The Eagles started their season with an 85-61 win over Illinois at home before hitting the road to post wins at FIU, vs. Kent State in a neutral-site game, at Akron and at Siena. FGCU’s biggest win of the year came against then-No. 21 DePaul in the Play4Kay Shootout in Las Vegas, defeating the Blue Demons 89-84 in overtime. The Eagles dropped their next two games in the event to top-10 ranked Ohio State, 104-62, and Belmont, 75-65. FGCU has won each of its last two game, taking down Abilene Christian 94-55 on the road before a home win against Southeastern on Dec. 5, 76-66.
As a team, FGCU is shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 37.4 percent from long range, averaging 12.7 made 3s per game. The Eagles are scoring 78.4 points per game, limiting opponents to just 67.2 points per game. Teams are outrebounding FGCU by 1.5 rebounds per game.
Senior forward Rosemarie Julien leads the Eagles this season by averaging 14.3 points per game adding 4.3 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Nasrin Ulel is averaging 12.3 points per game and is hitting 52.9 percent from long range with 27 made 3s. Senior guard Taylor Gradinjan is averaging 11.6 points per game and has hit a team-best 32 3-pointers. Senior guard China Dow is the only other player averaging double figures at 10.8 while leading the team in rebounds at 6.1 per game.
This will be the first all-time meeting between Kentucky and Florida Gulf Coast in women’s basketball. The Kentucky women’s basketball media guide lists a victory over Florida Gulf Coast during the 1975-76 season, however records show that game was actually against Gulf Coast. Florida Gulf Coast did not become an established university until the early 1990s.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
Kentucky WBB News Conference
Memorial Coliseum Media Room
Dec. 7, 2017
Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement …
“This first game with Florida Gulf Coast on the trips is going to be a tough game for us right now. They are a quality opponent and are in the tournament year in and year out. They just play so hard and are well coached. They really put a lot of stress on our defense. They really know what they are doing on the offensive end of the floor, they spread you out and make a lot of very sharp decisions when you are trying to defend them. They are going to be a major test for our defense right now as we try to progress and get better. In that sense, it is a very good game from an experience standpoint. They are very tough on defense and tough to score on, so that is going to be tough. Miami, while I have not seen them yet I do know how tough they always are. Katie (Meier) is a great coach and works really hard. She always has a tough, physical and aggressive team. So this will be a challenging road trip but a good one for our team to take some steps forward and hopefully earn some victories as we work our way through this non-conference schedule.”
On signing a five-year contract extension …
“I am grateful. I am extremely grateful in so many ways. I am grateful to Almighty God. He has just been so good to me and has strengthened me throughout my years here at Kentucky. I wouldn’t be here – and I don’t think there is any shot I could have been successful without the strength that God has given me. My relationship with Jesus is just an anchor in my life and there is no other way to get around that. It is just an absolute rock and anchor in my life. I am grateful to God. Very grateful to all the folks who have been so supportive. My family – Jenna is just an amazing person and I have never had a bigger cheerleader in my life. She just really, really does a great job helping me be my best. Then the University of Kentucky. I love Kentucky. I cannot imagine any other place to be. I don’t want to be any other place and I am so grateful that they want me here. Dr. Capilouto is such an unbelievable example. He is a friend of mine. He is a mentor to me and is a leader in every sense of the word. He spends time with me and really helps me develop. He stood by me in a really, really tough time in 2016 with just unwavering support. So I am grateful to Dr. Capilouto and appreciate his leadership. Mitch Barnhart, I have said this many times, I don’t know how an athletic director can care more than Mitch Barnhart cares about people. He cares about me, he cares about my growth and development. Unwavering support in 2016 when it really looked like things were going poorly. I just thought at that time I would have been just fine with there being some questions as to what is going on – and there were questions about what was going on – but never did I sense that there was a lack of belief in who I was and what my leadership could provide. That is just incredible in this day in age when so many people are kneejerk reaction to any little thing that goes on. It is just incredible how those two people supported me. And just everybody here in our administration. Candice Chaffin just supported me through that time and my coaches. I can tell you, I have been thinking a lot lately about the players that left and I am really grateful to all the players and all the lessons that I learned. I wish I could have learned it in a different way. I would have loved for those kids to be able to stay here. But I can look at each and every one of those kids and I hope they are thriving and doing well. I learned a lot of lessons that are going to help me be a better coach going forward. I am grateful to all the players that have come before. Every player in the last 10+ years and in particular those players in 2016 and their parents. Those kids stayed and helped us have a great season last year. I just have so much to be grateful for. I get to do what I love. I coach a great group of young women who are outstanding players and scholars. It is an incredible opportunity. As far as my longevity here, I will be here as long as they want me to be here. I am really, really grateful to the University of Kentucky that they would allow me stay on and allow me to coach here. We have great aspirations to make this the best place for a young woman to come and get her education and play basketball. So we are working at that every day and I am glad that I get to continue to do that.”
On contract incentives for deep runs in the NCAA Tournament …
“To me, the compensation in our industry and how I am being compensated is incredible. I never would have dreamed I would have been compensated that well coaching basketball. I think there is an expectation for a certain level of consistent performance that I just don’t think you need smaller bonuses here and there for every little thing that comes along. I have always loved performance incentives. So if we are outstanding and excellent and we make the Elite Eight, or Final Four and win the national championship, it is an unbelievable incentive financially to achieve that and I think that’s fantastic. I think what they are paying me, we need to be really good and year in and year out in the NCAA Tournament and competing for a conference championship and those sorts of things. So I am real, real happy with the contract.”
On whether they anticipated being this good from 3 this season…
“Well, you just never know from year to year. I mean, we’ve spent a lot of time. We’ve had teams that weren’t very good at shooting 3s, or we made a bunch but we didn’t shoot a real high percentage maybe. So, you just don’t know what you’re going to get out of the summer. You don’t know if that’s going to translate into a percentage. But we want to try to continue to work really hard to do the right things, get our feet set, get our feet ready to catch and shoot, because I think a lot of it is a testament to how hard the players are working on their footwork. And we just pay a tremendous amount of attention and time on their shooting footwork – getting yourself ready, being able to catch and shoot – and I think it’s paying off. Shooting’s not the kind of thing that you can get satisfied with. You just have to keep working, keep working. And at no point are we going to relax and say, ‘Hey, we’re relying on shooting.’ I don’t think that’s a great way to go, because those nights where you just work as hard as you can, you do everything right and the ball’s not going in, you’ve got to be able to rely on your hustle, on your defense, on your rebounding, on what you do when you don’t have the ball. So, the shooting, we’ll continue to work on it and when that shows up the way it does it opens up a million possibilities for you offensively. So, it is a wonderful thing to see, and we had a group in earlier this morning. I just left the floor with another group. We’re working at that aspect of the game and we are optimistic that it will continue to be good. “
On any specific players that are leading the charge in working on shooting…
“I think for the most part, everybody’s not perfect and there’s time where you may have to bring it to a player’s attention, but for the most part this group has been great at being self-starters. Maci (Morris) sets a heck of an example, not only of getting in the gym but the quality of her work, so this is not just something that’s happening for her. It’s not the stars have aligned just right. Her footwork is incredible. Her attention to detail with the ball is incredible. People that pegged her as a shooter are just, you’re not watching what’s going on because this kid is shooting the 3 incredibly well, but she has a midrange game, she can get to the bucket, we’re working on her post game. She is a ball player. Her attention to detail has been phenomenal. So, that’s a great example. And so, I just work with Maci, Taylor (Murray), Makenzie (Cann), I just left a small group with them. Footwork: incredible. Attention to detail: right there. Coachability: off the charts. Listening to every little thing. Now we’re trying to really get it to the finer points of what they need to do with the ball. So, just the kids are working really hard.”
On how long the new post players may take to come along…
“There’s no doubt it’ll extend into next season, but the goal right now is December has to be a month of productivity. We have to be efficient and we need to see some results at the end of December. I mean, there’s no doubt about it. When we tip the SEC season off on New Year’s Eve, those young post players have to be better than they are today. I’m just going tell you, anybody that thinks we’re going to be like we were at Baylor doesn’t understand how hard these players are working and how hard we are working to get better. They’re going to get better. We had a great workout this morning with just the post players and they want to get better. They want to work. They’re getting better. If they don’t know what to do, that’s on us. We had that discussion in the staff meeting this morning. We have to coach them well and we have to be prepared and be precise. But when we do that, then I believe December will be a month of growth for those players and it needs to be because they have to be better than they are now for us to be the kind of team we believe we can be.”
