LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky’s No. 12 women’s basketball team appears to return to winning ways on Sunday when it hosted Vanderbilt inside the Memorial Coliseum for a tip at 5 pm ET.
The game against Vanderbilt will be broadcast on the SEC Network with Eric Frede and Christy Thomaskutty on the conference call. The action can also be checked through the WatchESPN app on computers, smartphones or tablets. Darren Headrick will make the call on the UK Sports Network at 630AM WLAP in Lexington. Live statistics and free live audio will be available online at UKathletics.com.
With an audience limited to 15% of the arena’s normal capacity, most tickets were sold as packages for the full women’s basketball season. Tickets for a single game for the general public are available at Ticketmaster.com. Fans are encouraged to check Ticketmaster.com for any ticket quotas that are returned and released near game days, as well as for verified resellers. The concession stands will be reopened at the Memorial Coliseum. The doors will open 1 hour before tipping.
Kentucky (9-3, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) is coming out of its toughest four game period in the program’s history, playing four consecutive games against the top 12 teams for the first time in the program’s history. The straight started with wins against No. 10 Arkansas and No. 12 Mississippi State, before two losses last week at No. 8 Texas A&M and against No. 5 South Carolina. Overall, the UK played six games against the top 25 teams, including five against the top 15. The Wildcats are 3-3 against ranked and 3-2 against the top 15 teams.
Junior guard Rhyne Howard overtook Kentucky this season with an average of 20.4 points per game with 7.1 rebounds per game. The guard came in second in the team with 37 assists and 18 steals. In four league games, Howard averages 27.8 points per game with 8.3 rebounds per game, leading Kentucky with 18 assists. Two other Wildcats are on average double digits with senior guard Chasity Patterson averaging 13.2 points per game and second-year striker Dre’una Edwards adding 12.4 points per game and 7.9 rebounds, the team record, per game.
As a team, Kentucky averages 77.7 points per game, while limiting opponents to 62.6 points per game. The UK averages 7.3 3 points per game and has a +4.3 recovery margin and a +4.6 profit margin.
Vanderbilt (4-3, 0-2 SEC) comes from a home loss to No. 5 in South Carolina, falling to the Gamecocks on Thursday, January 14, on the final score of 106-43. Second year student Koi Love flirted with a double-double in the game, earning the team’s best mark with 18 points and the best with nine rebounds. Love led the Commodores in scoring and rebounds throughout the season, with a dangerous average of 19.1 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game. Vanderbilt has five players with an average of double digits in the score this season, while the team has an average of 74.4 points per game.
Sunday’s game will be the 56th all-time encounter between Kentucky and Vanderbilt in women’s basketball with the Wildcats losing in the series 25-30. Kentucky leads the series in games played at Lexington, 13-11. Kentucky has won 13 of the last 17 matches in the series against the Commodores. Only one such defeat during that period occurred in Lexington, when the VU defeated the UK 71-69 on January 28, 2016. Last season, the VU defeated the UK 70-64 in the last game of the regular season of the year in Nashville.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB at Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.