Kentucky women face highly-ranked Bulldogs and their ‘dynamic’ freshman on Sunday
With the regular season winding down, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team is about to face one of its toughest challenges of the year.
The 18th-ranked Wildcats host No. 6 Mississippi State in Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. Kentucky (18-5 overall, 7-4 SEC) is coming off a 103-85 loss at Arkansas last Sunday in which the Cats surrendered the most points they have all season. Rhyne Howard returned from a three-game absence because of a broken finger against the Razorbacks and scored 20 points while playing with a hand brace.
UK Coach Mathew Mitchell said the week off was quite beneficial to his sophomore star.
“She’s doing well, and she had a great practice yesterday. She continues to improve and is still trying to work her way through it,” Mitchell said. “She’s not 100 percent, but she played with tremendous effort and energy in practice, and she looked really good … she’ll give us everything that she has, and I thought that was a good experience for us at Arkansas on Sunday to learn what she can do and how to work around the hand brace.”
On Thursday, UK launched the website RhyneHoward.com aimed at promoting Howard for National Player of the Year.
The Cats will need all hands on deck against Mississippi State (22-3, 10-1). The two-time defending SEC regular-season champions have won six straight games since their only conference loss of the season, an 81-79 setback at No. 1 South Carolina.
“Well, it’s a big game for us this Sunday against a very good Mississippi State team,” Mitchell said. “I think you have to start with how explosive they are, and you have to be ready to play a tough game and a mentally sharp game, because they feast on your mistakes and they create a lot of those if you’re not tough or sharp … They’re talented in every position. They’re really fast on the perimeter, they have one of the top freshmen in the conference who is such a dynamic player.”
Mitchell was referring to freshman forward Rickea Jackson, who averages 14.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. She’s joined in the post by 6-foot-5 sophomore Jessika Carter, who averages 13.3 points and 9.0 rebounds.
The Bulldogs are in second place in the conference standings, one game game behind South Carolina. Kentucky is in a four-way tie for fourth.
Sunday
No. 6 Mississippi State at No. 18 Kentucky
When: 5 p.m.
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Mississippi State 22-3 (10-1 SEC); UK 18-5 (7-4)
Series: UK leads 27-21
Last meeting: Mississippi State won 86-71 on Jan. 6, 2019, at Starkville, Miss.
This story was originally published February 15, 2020 at 2:03 PM.
