Kentucky announces women’s basketball schedule, but Cats could add more games

The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team announced its nearly complete schedule for the 2020-21 season on Friday.

The Wildcats’ COVID-19-abbreviated season currently includes seven non-conference and 16 Southeastern Conference games. Kentucky is hoping to fill two additional non-conference slots for which it has held open dates on Dec. 6 and Dec. 22.

UK is scheduled to introduce its team and newly named head coach Kyra Elzy to the public during Big Blue Madness in Memorial Coliseum next Friday.

The season gets underway Nov. 25 when Kentucky hosts Murray State for a 1 p.m. game in Memorial Coliseum. That night, the UK men tip off their season in Rupp Arena against Morehead State.

Like the men’s team, the UK women will operate under COVID-19 protocols that reduce attendance to up to 15 percent of normal capacity in Memorial Coliseum.

After taking on Murray State, Kentucky’s remaining six non-league foes are Belmont, Kansas State, Marshall, Samford, DePaul and Wofford. UK’s visit to Kansas State is part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. UK also heads to Chicago to face DePaul, whose new athletics director, DeWayne Peevy, recently left Kentucky. The remaining non-conference games will be played at home.

Conspicuous by its absence is a non-conference date against traditional rival Louisville. The teams will not play each other this season for the first time since 1973 because of a scheduling conflict tied to the pandemic. The teams plan to resume their 56-game series next season.

Kentucky begins SEC play Dec. 31 at home against Arkansas. The Cats will also play conference home games against South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, LSU and Mississippi.

UK’s conference road games are at Tennessee, Texas A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

Kentucky’s schedule includes six games against teams ranked in the Top 25 in The Associated Press preseason poll announced this week. The Cats face No. 1 South Carolina (twice), No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 Arkansas and No. 19 DePaul. UK is ranked No. 11 to start the season.

The Wildcats are led by preseason AP All-American Rhyne Howard, a veteran returning cast and a promising group of newcomers led by McDonald’s All-American Treasure Hunt and transfer Dre’una Edwards, a former Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Year at Utah.

Elzy takes over the program from Matthew Mitchell, who resigned Thursday night after 12 seasons at the helm, citing health concerns. Mitchell retires as the winningest coach in program history.

2020-21 UK schedule

Home games in capital letters. All times p.m. and Eastern. Remaining tip-off times and TV networks to be announced later:

Nov. 20: BIG BLUE MADNESS, 9 (SEC Network)

Nov. 25: MURRAY STATE, 1

Nov. 29: BELMONT, 2

Dec. 3: At Kansas State, 7:30-x

Dec. 6: TBA

Dec. 9: MARSHALL, 7

Dec. 13: SAMFORD, 2

Dec. 16: At DePaul, 3

Dec. 19: WOFFORD, 1

Dec. 22: TBA

Dec. 31: ARKANSAS

Jan. 3: At Tennessee

Jan. 7: At Texas A&M

Jan. 10: SOUTH CAROLINA

Jan. 14: At Auburn

Jan. 17: VANDERBILT

Jan. 24: At Mississippi State

Jan. 28: ALABAMA

Jan. 31: MISSOURI

Feb. 4: At Mississippi

Feb. 11: TENNESSEE

Feb. 15: At Florida

Feb. 18: LSU

Feb. 21: At South Carolina

Feb. 25: At Georgia

Feb. 28: MISSISSIPPI

March 3-7: SEC Tournament-y

x-SEC-Big 12 Challenge; y-At Greenville, S.C.

This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 2:41 PM.