No. 17 Kentucky women’s basketball finished its season with a 21-9 record, going 8-8 in conference play. This landed Kentucky as a No. 9 seed in the SEC Tournament, leaving a long road ahead of the Cats in Greenville, South Carolina.

With the tournament format granting double byes, the first three opponents on the Wildcats path to the championship have already been set.

It starts with a first-round matchup with No. 16 seed Arkansas, awaiting the winner of that game in the second round is No. 8 seed Georgia. With No. 1 seed South Carolina waiting to face the second-round victor.

First Round – No. 16 Arkansas – Wednesday, Mar. 4, 11 a.m. ET

Previous Meeting:

Kentucky defeated Arkansas 93-73 when the pair met at Bud Walton Arena on Feb. 1, 2026.

Arkansas held a 46-45 lead with 3:22 left in the third quarter. Kentucky rattled off a 15-3 run to close the quarter, taking a 60-49 lead into the fourth.

Kentucky outscored the Razorbacks 33-24 in the fourth quarter, shooting 12-13 from the field.

Clara Strack led the Wildcats late-game surge, scoring 18 points on 6-8 shooting in the second half.

Tonie Morgan and Amelia Hassett each scored 11 points in the second half as well.

Strack finished with a career-high 33 points on 13-20 shooting, she also grabbed 15 rebounds.

Arkansas had 78% of its scoring come from three players.

Kentucky dominated down low. The Wildcats outscored Arkansas 40-28 in the paint, and also led the rebounding margin 51-24.

The Wildcats turned 18 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points, while holding Arkansas to zero second-chance points.

Players to watch:

Taleyah Jones – Guard – #10

16.9 PPG – 4.3 RPG – 1.9 APG – .450/.384/.844

Bonnie Deas – Guard – #22

10.2 PPG – 9.0 RPG – 2.5 APG – .315/.250/.687

Last five:

Arkansas went 1-4 in its last five games of the regular season. 

The four losses were by a combined 116 points, with the closest game being a 19-point loss to Mississippi State.

The Razorbacks closed out the season with a 71-40 win over Auburn at home.

Matchup:

The Razorbacks scoring offense and defense both rank bottom four in the SEC. Arkansas averages 70.6 ppg and surrenders an average of 76.5 ppg.

Kentucky is middle of the pack in scoring offense, scoring 76.1 ppg, but boasts an elite defense. The Wildcats allow 59.2 ppg which ranks third in the SEC.

Arkansas is one of three teams in the conference with a negative turnover margin, and one of two with more than 500 turnovers this season. The Razorbacks -1.9 average turnover margin ranks 15th in the conference.

The Wildcats struggle against teams who create chaos defensively. Arkansas’s turnover issues, and struggle to force them, is a good sign for Kentucky.

Second Round – No. 8 Georgia – Thursday, Mar. 5, 11 a.m. ET

Previous Meeting:

Kentucky suffered a 72-67 loss against Georgia at home on Jan. 24, 2026. This came after the Wildcats lost two games on the road, the three-game skid was the longest of the Kenny Brooks era.

With this win, Georgia earned the tiebreaker over Kentucky. Had the results been flipped, Kentucky would’ve received a first-round bye.

Georgia shot 9-15 (60%) in the first quarter, taking a 21-12 lead.

Kentucky took a three point lead halfway through the third quarter, erasing the Bulldogs eight-point halftime lead.

The Wildcats recovered from their slow start and gave themselves a chance, but they couldn’t execute in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats missed six straight shots over a five minute span, allowing Georgia to build a seven point lead.

Kentucky started getting its shots to fall in the last three minutes, but Georgia shot 10 for 10 from the line in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

Hassett and Asia Boone led Kentucky in scoring, each with 15 points.

Players to watch:

Dani Carnegie – Guard – #3

18.1 PPG – 5.4 RPG – 3.1 APG – .438/.374/.827

Trinity Turner – Guard – #0

11.0 PPG – 5.0 RPG – 4.8 APG – .393/.286/.750

Last five:

Georgia went 3-2 in its last five games to close out the regular season.

Three of these games were against AP Top-10 ranked teams. The Bulldogs defeated No. 5 Vanderbilt 76-74, then lost 67-71 to No. 9 Oklahoma and 79-50 to No. 4 Texas.

Georgia also beat Florida 71-58 and Auburn 75-52.

Matchup:

Kentucky and Georgia matchup pretty evenly across the board. 

One notable area to watch is the Bulldogs offensive rebounding, Georgia is the second-worst team in the conference in this aspect. Kentucky is one of the conference’s best defensive rebounding teams, the Wildcats .740 defensive rebound percentage ranks second in the SEC.

Kentucky should hold the edge in the rebounding category, despite Georgia out-rebounding the Cats in the regular season meeting.

Quarterfinals – No. 1 South Carolina – Friday, Mar. 6, noon ET.

Previous Meeting:

South Carolina defeated Kentucky 60-56 on Mar. 1, 2026, when the pair met in Lexington to close out the regular season.

The Gamecocks held a 14 point lead about four minutes before halftime. Kentucky closed out the first half with an 8-0 run, cutting the halftime deficit to six points.

Kentucky kept pushing after the break, forcing a tie three minutes into the third quarter. South Carolina instantly responded with a 13-2 run.

The Cats once again whittled away at the Gamecocks lead, pulling back within three points with 3:39 to play.

Kentucky was unable to close the gap further. Two misses, a turnover and a missed free throw in the final three minutes spoiled the Cats comeback bid.

South Carolina finished the win with 38 points in the paint.

The Gamecocks shot 42.6% from the field in the game, with two quarters above 60%. Kentucky was simply outpaced with its 38.1% field goal percentage.

South Carolina was also more advantageous of Kentucky’s mistakes. The Gamecocks scored 16 points off of 11 UK turnovers, Kentucky scored 11 points off of 11 South Carolina turnovers. Kentucky held a 15-11 edge on the offensive glass, but South Carolina had a 14-8 lead in second-chance points.

Players to watch:

Joyce Edwards – Forward – #8

19.8 PPG – 6.3 RPG – 2.4 APG – .590/.222/.695

Madina Okot – Center – #11

14.0 PPG – 10.9 RPG – 0.9 APG – .598/.474/.693

Last five:

Not only did South Carolina win its last five regular season games, the Gamecocks closed the season on a 10-game win streak. Of those 10 wins, six came against AP Top-25 ranked opponents.

On this win-streak, South Carolina defeated its opponent by an average of 26.8 points, with five wins by 30 points or more. The Wildcats four-point loss was the closest game out of the 10.

Matchup:

South Carolina averages 87.2 ppg, this ranks second in the conference and third in the nation.

The Gamecocks are also elite defensively, allowing 56.5 ppg which ranks second in the SEC.

Three teams in the country have an average point differential of 30-plus points. This is largely because it is very difficult to be more efficient than the Gamecocks. South Carolina shoots 51% from the field and holds opponents to 33.8% shooting, both are the third best percentages in the nation.

South Carolina also boasts the third highest rebounding margin in the conference, outrebounding opponents by an average of 10.3 rpg.

When the Gamecocks take the edge in efficiency and rebounding they are near-impossible to beat.