No. 18 Kentucky women’s basketball (19-7, 6-6 SEC) is set to play host to No. 14 Ole Miss (20-5, 7-3 SEC) in its annual Play4Kay game.
Play4Kay game –
The annual Play4Kay game is a game that gained its vision from Coach Kay Yow, legendary NC State women’s basketball coach, who passed away in 2009 from a long battle with breast cancer.
Teams can pick any game and raise money around the game to donate to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, raising awareness on breast cancer and celebrating cancer survivors.
For Head Coach Kenny Brooks and his Kentucky team however, it pushes a little deeper.
Brooks’ wife, Chrissy Brooks, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and endured a year-long battle before announcing in last year’s Play4Kay game that she had rung the bell and beaten the disease.
Chrissy’s diagnosis was announced to the public around the same time that Brooks was becoming Kentucky’s top-choice as head coach.
The Wildcats and Big Blue Nation will dress in pink for the game in support of breast cancer awareness.
What to watch –
Kentucky is coming off of a strong victory due to a first-quarter breakaway, topping Texas A&M 75-55.
The Wildcats’ first quarter performance was one of their best of the season. The Cats were known for their third quarter blitz to start the season, however recently have struggled to get a start like the win over the Aggies where they ran away with the lead.
Against the Aggies, Kentucky reached 16 points before Texas A&M got its first of the night.
Tonie Morgan and Asia Boone led the scoring with 19 points apiece in the win.
Boone was excellent from beyond the arc against the Aggies, shooting 4-for-9 on the night, and 2-for-3 in the first quarter.
Morgan eclipsed Georgia Amoore’s 213 assists last season that broke the more than 40-year-old school record in single season assists, capping the night with eight assists to move her to 219 on the season. The guard also broke the record in five less games than Amoore.
The rest of the matchup did not match the same pace that the Cats set to start the game, however the margin remained around 20 for the entirety of the game and did enough to secure an easy victory for Kentucky.
Ole Miss is similarly coming off an 80-57 victory over Arkansas.
The Rebels shut down the Razorbacks, forcing them into their third-worst offensive output against an SEC opponent this season.
Graduate student Cotie McMahon, who is averaging 19.9 PPG, led the team in points (21) and assists (5) against Arkansas.
Ole Miss hit the No. 14 spot this week, which marks the highest ranking following 14 weeks of play since Feb. 16, 1992.
As a team, Ole Miss will be one of Kentucky’s biggest competitors in blocks. With 126 rejected shots so far this season, the Rebels are averaging 5.0 BPG, led by Latasha Lattimore.
Lattimore has 53 total blocks, landing her at No. 4 in the conference and No. 18 in the nation.
Kentucky is averaging 6.8 BPG, led by Clara Strack who dominates the board, averaging 2.7 BPG.
One thing that the Wildcats did well against the Aggies was outperform in the paint.
In recent weeks, the Cats have had trouble matching the performance of their opponents in the paint, even struggling to hit double-digits in many contests.
Against Texas A&M, the Cats had 32 paint points compared to the Aggies 24.
Ole Miss will be a tougher opponent than the Aggies, however if Kentucky can instantly set the pace like it did on Thursday, and continue to control the court, then victory can surely be on its radar.
With a tendency of streaky scoring and game-control, the Cats need to try and find a consistent rhythm throughout the entirety of the game as they look towards the post season.
This is the 49th all-time meeting between the two teams, where Kentucky trails 29-19 all-time and 12-10 in Lexington.
The Rebels have won the last four contests against ranked Wildcat teams.
Kentucky will host Ole Miss on Sunday, Feb. 15 at Historic Memorial Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., with game action available on the SEC Network.
