Kentucky women look to enhance NCAA profile in final four regular-season games.
The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team is running out of time to enhance its NCAA Tournament profile.
Consider these final four regular-season games, then, a target-rich environment.
The Wildcats should be favored in three of the four games — Thursday night at Ole Miss, Feb. 27 vs. Georgia and March 1 at Vanderbilt. This coming Sunday, the Wildcats host the nation’s top-ranked team in South Carolina in a game that could seriously move the needle.
Kentucky (19-5 overall, 8-4 SEC) is tied for third place in the league with Arkansas, Texas A&M and LSU behind first place South Carolina and second-place Mississippi State.
The 14th-ranked Wildcats, who knocked off then-No. 6 Mississippi State last Sunday, are taking aim at a top-four seed in the SEC Tournament, which would provide UK a bye to the quarterfinal round.
Nationally, Kentucky is viewed as a No. 6 seed in the 64-team NCAA Tournament, according to “bracketology” updated this week by ESPN’s Charlie Creme.
That’s the big picture.
First comes Thursday night’s trip to Mississippi. The Rebels (7-18, 0-12) are in last place in the SEC.
Redshirt junior guard Deja Cage is the team’s leading scorer at 12.8 points per game while freshman guard Jayla Alexander is averaging 9.1 points and 3.6 rebounds. Ole Miss has not won a game since a 93-66 defeat of Alabama State on Dec. 28.
Kentucky is led by sophomore guard Rhyne Howard, who is leading the SEC in scoring and is second in the nation at 23.3 points per game.
Junior guard Chasity Patterson is second on the team at 12.9 points per game while senior guard Sabrina Haines is the only other Wildcat in double figures at 10.2.
Thursday
No. 14 Kentucky at Mississippi
When: 8 p.m. EST
TV: None
Live video broadcast: SEC Network Plus (online only)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Kentucky 19-5 (8-4 SEC), Mississippi 7-18 (0-12)
Series: Mississippi leads 23-18
Last meeting: Mississippi won 55-49 on Jan. 13, 2019, in Lexington.