# 2018–19 Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team

The 2018–19 Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team represented the University of Kentucky in the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The team played its home games in Lexington, Kentucky at Memorial Coliseum with two home games being played at Rupp Arena. The team was led by Matthew Mitchell in his twelfth season as head coach. They were a member of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 25–8, 11–5 in SEC play to finish in fourth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the SEC women's tournament to Missouri. They received an at-large to the NCAA women's tournament, where they defeated Princeton in the first round before losing to NC State in the second round.
The 2018–19 season opened up with a 10-day trip to Italy, where the team won two out of three games against international competition. The non-conference regular season also featured a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the team participated in and won the Paradise Jam tournament.

## Previous season

The 2017–18 team finished the season 15-17, 6-10 for ninth place in SEC play. They defeated Alabama in the second round of the SEC Tournament before losing to the #1 seed Mississippi State in the quarterfinals. The Wildcats failed to make a postseason appearance for the first time in eight seasons.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Alyssa Rice | 45 | C | 6'3" | Senior | Reynoldsburg, OH | Graduated |
| Jessica Hardin | 15 | G | 5'8" | RS-Senior | Monticello, KY | Graduated |
| Makenzie Cann | 22 | G | 6'1" | Senior | Lawrenceburg, KY | Graduated; Transferred to Southeastern University |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Nae Nae Cole | C | 6'3" | Senior | Gainesville, VA | Transferred from NC State. Will sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules. |
| Sabrina Haines | G | 5'10" | Senior | Phoenix, AZ | Transferred from Arizona State. Will sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules. |
| Chasity Patterson | G | 5'5" | Sophomore | Houston,TX | Transferred from Texas. Will sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules. |

### Newcomers

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Rhyne Howard G | Cleveland, TN | Bradley Central | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Blair Green W | Middlesboro, KY | Harlan County | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 95 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/02/2018* 7:00 pm | | Lincoln Memorial | W 101–64 | | Memorial Coliseum (1,203) Lexington, KY |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/07/2018* 7:00 pm | | Alabama State | W 87–35 | 1–0 | Memorial Coliseum (3,676) Lexington, KY |
| 11/11/2018* 7:00 pm | | Southern | W 91–41 | 2–0 | Memorial Coliseum (3,870) Lexington, KY |
| 11/15/2018* 7:00 pm, SECN | | Virginia | W 63–51 | 3–0 | Rupp Arena (4,989) Lexington, KY |
| 11/18/2018* 2:00 pm | | High Point | W 71–49 | 4–0 | Memorial Coliseum (4,064) Lexington, KY |
| 11/22/2018* 1:00 pm | | vs. No. 17 South Florida Paradise Jam Tournament Island Division | W 85–63 | 5–0 | Sports and Fitness Center (874) St. Thomas, USVI |
| 11/23/2018* 1:00 pm | | vs. UCLA Paradise Jam Tournament Island Division | W 75–74 $^{OT}$ | 6–0 | Sports and Fitness Center St. Thomas, USVI |
| 11/24/2018* 1:00 pm | | vs. North Carolina Paradise Jam Tournament Island Division | W 85–75 | 7–0 | Sports and Fitness Center (814) St. Thomas, USVI |
| 11/29/2018* 12:00 pm | No. 25 | Morehead State | W 87–57 | 8–0 | Memorial Coliseum (3,912) Lexington, KY |
| 12/06/2018* 7:00 pm | No. 19 | Rhode Island | W 75–52 | 9–0 | Memorial Coliseum (3,744) Lexington, KY |
| 12/09/2018* 2:00 pm | No. 19 | at No. 5 Louisville Battle for the Bluegrass | L 75–80 | 9–1 | KFC Yum! Center (13,786) Louisville, KY |
| 12/15/2018* 1:00 pm | No. 18 | Middle Tennessee | W 72–55 | 10–1 | Memorial Coliseum (5,076) Lexington, KY |
| 12/18/2018* 7:00 pm | No. 18 | Western Carolina | W 99–39 | 11–1 | Memorial Coliseum (3,903) Lexington, KY |
| 12/21/2018* 12:00 pm | No. 18 | Murray State | W 88–41 | 12–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,312) Lexington, KY |
| 12/28/2018* 11:30 am | No. 18 | Sacred Heart | W 71–43 | 13–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,079) Lexington, KY |
| SEC regular season ||||||
| 01/03/2019 7:00 pm | No. 16 | Vanderbilt | W 77–55 | 14–1 (1–0) | Memorial Coliseum (4,030) Lexington, KY |
| 01/06/2019 5:00 pm, SECN | No. 16 | at No. 7 Mississippi State | L 71–86 | 14–2 (1–1) | Humphrey Coliseum (8,830) Starkville, MS |
| 01/10/2019 7:00 pm, SECN | No. 16 | at No. 13 Tennessee Rivalry | W 73–71 | 15–2 (2–1) | Thompson–Boling Arena (8,145) Knoxville, TN |
| 01/13/2019 1:00 pm, SECN | No. 16 | Ole Miss | L 49–55 | 15–3 (2–2) | Memorial Coliseum (4,577) Lexington, KY |
| 01/17/2019 7:30 pm | No. 16 | at LSU | W 64–60 | 16–3 (3–2) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (1,452) Baton Rouge, LA |
| 01/24/2019 6:30 pm, SECN | No. 15 | No. 25 Missouri | W 52–41 | 17–3 (4–2) | Memorial Coliseum (4,174) Lexington, KY |
| 01/27/2019 5:00 pm, SECN | No. 15 | at No. 24 Texas A&M | L 71–73 | 17–4 (4–3) | Reed Arena (4,752) College Station, TX |
| 01/31/2019 6:30 pm, SECN | No. 19 | No. 16 South Carolina | L 70–74 | 17–5 (4–4) | Memorial Coliseum (4,247) Lexington, KY |
| 02/03/2019 2:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 19 | Florida | W 62–51 | 18–5 (5–4) | Rupp Arena (10,031) Lexington, KY |
| 02/07/2019 7:00 pm | No. 19 | at Auburn | W 78–68 | 19–5 (6–4) | Auburn Arena (1,604) Auburn, AL |
| 02/11/2019 7:00 pm, SECN | No. 17 | at Alabama | W 68–53 | 20–5 (7–4) | Coleman Coliseum (2,102) Tuscaloosa, AL |
| 02/17/2019 2:00 pm | No. 17 | Arkansas | W 61–59 | 21–5 (8–4) | Memorial Coliseum (5,680) Lexington, KY |
| 02/21/2019 7:00 pm, SECN | No. 16 | at No. 13 South Carolina | W 65–57 | 22–5 (9–4) | Colonial Life Arena (11,887) Columbia, SC |
| 02/24/2019 2:00 pm | No. 16 | LSU | W 57–52 | 23–5 (10–4) | Memorial Coliseum (6,911) Lexington, KY |
| 02/28/2019 7:00 pm | No. 11 | No. 19 Texas A&M | L 55–63 | 23–6 (10–5) | Memorial Coliseum (4,532) Lexington, KY |
| 03/03/2019 1:00 pm, SECN | No. 11 | at Georgia | W 58–53 | 24–6 (11–5) | Stegeman Coliseum (3,461) Athens, GA |
| SEC Women's tournament ||||||
| 03/08/2019 2:30 pm, SECN | (4) No. 13 | vs. (5) Missouri Quarterfinals | L 68–70 $^{OT}$ | 24–7 | Bon Secours Wellness Arena (4,431) Greenville, SC |
| NCAA Women's tournament ||||||
| 03/23/2019* 11:00 am, ESPN2 | (6 G) No. 17 | vs. (11 G) Princeton First Round | W 82–77 | 25–7 | Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, NC |
| 03/25/2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN | (6 G) No. 17 | at (3 G) No. 10 NC State Second Round | L 57–72 | 25–8 | Reynolds Coliseum (2,683) Raleigh, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. G=Greensboro Region. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | 25 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 11 | 13 | 18 | Not released |
| Coaches | — | — | RV | 25 | 19-T | 20 | 18-T | 17 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 21 |