Kentucky vs. Texas A&M

Thurs., Jan. 10 - 6:00 p.m. ET

Lexington, Ky.

Memorial Coliseum

TV: UK IMG Sports Network and Fox Sport South

Net: www.watchESPN.com

Radio: UK IMG

Y'all forgot about this one didn't ya? It's doubleheader Thursday again in the bluegrass and this time the women are kicking it off with a matchup against #20/21 Texas A&M in a game that should be not just fun to watch, but fun to play for the UK Women. A&M comes into Memorial tonight for the first time, and they too are undefeated in SEC play just like the Cats. They bring a 12-4 Record, with their 4 losses all being to Top 10 ranked teams in UCONN, Notre Dame, Penn State and Louisville. But they are riding a winning streak of 12 out of their last 13 games, and they are not coming to Memorial thinking loss, they plan on winning.

This Tesas A&M team is battle tested, having lost in three of those contests by 2, 7, and 9 points. The Aggies are coached by Gary Blair is in his 28th overall season as a Division I head coach, his 10th at A&M. He currently ranks in the top 15 in career victories (626) and in the top 25 by winning percentage (.709) amongst Division I coaches.

Kentucky is 2-0 to start SEC play with wins over Florida and Alabama last week. In the Florida game, four players scored in double digits. A'dia Mathies', Kentucky's All-America candidate had a season-high 20 points. Redshirt sophomore point guard Jennifer O'Neill posted 17 points, including 12 in the second half, and DeNesha Stallworth put up her second consecutive double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Bria Goss hit 10 points.

For their SEC road opener, Kentucky traveled to Tuscaloosa, getting an 87-70 win. With all five starters hitting double-digit scoring, three had double-figure rebounds. Mathies scored all 17 of her points in just 16 minutes of the second half, and hit a career-high tying five 3-pointers. Samarie Walker got her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Goss netted 12 points and Jennifer O'Neill reached double figures for the fourth-straight game, scoring most of her 11 points in the second half.

Kentucky's defense, "40 minutes of dread", continues to dominate as they have held all but one opponent (then top-ranked Baylor) to .444 percent shooting or under. Kentucky leads the nation in turnover margin at +10.5 by forcing 26.5 turnovers per game and committing only 15.9 per game. If Kentucky can reverse their unforced turnovers in this game, A&M will find themselves in a game they really do not want to play. The Cats are giving no quarter to opponents on defense and improving their offense game by game.

The Wildcats will be without A'Zia Bishop for the next 3-4 games as she heals from a cracked wrist. She was not diagnosed with a concussion, which means she can practice shooting and game situations but she will be in a splint after her 2 separate incidents during the Alabama game.Luckily the crack is small and should heal in approx. 2 weeks.

Look for A&M to shoot, shoot, and shoot again until they are tired of shooting. They have scorers. The true test will be if they can handle the ball and deal with UK's press. My opinion is that over 40 minutes, they can't. With the game being at Memorial, where UK is just about invincible these days, A&M can make a game of it, but they won't overcome the Cats. Expect UK to win by 5-10 and it should be a great game.

Head to head stats, courtesy of Women's Basketball State: