Women's Hoops Hosts Kentucky on Wednesday Night

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota (5-3, 1-0 B1G) will host the Kentucky Wildcats (6-1, 0-0 SEC) at Williams Arena on Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. The game, which can be found on B1G+, will be the third Power 5 opponent the Gophers have played this season. The game can be heard on KFAN+ or on the iHeartRadio app with Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist on the call.

ABOUT THE KENTUCKY GAME

The game will be a Maroon Out at Williams Arena. Fans are encouraged to wear Maroon Minnesota gear when attending Wednesday night's game.
Minnesota's game with Kentucky is the first game for Minnesota against a 2022 NCAA Tournament team. The Wildcats were the 2022 SEC Tournament champions, defeating eventual champions South Carolina, and then lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Princeton.
Wednesday's matchup between the Wildcats and Gophers is just the second time the two programs have met with the only other meeting coming in 2007 when Minnesota won 92-80 at Williams Arena.
Kentucky comes into Wednesday on a two-game winning streak, defeating Dayton and UNC Greensboro after losing their first game of the year to Virginia Tech at the Baha Mar hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in the Bahamas on Nov. 21.
Kentucky was picked to finish seventh in the SEC by the members of the media. The team did not have a player on the Preseason All-SEC First or Second Team.
The Wildcats' leading scorer this season has been sophomore Jada Walker, who averages 14.9 ppg and 3.9 assists per game. She was an All-SEC Freshman Team selection by the league's coaches last season.
Robyn Benton, a third-year Wildcat who was at Auburn prior to Kentucky, is the team's other leading scorer at 14.3. She was an All-SEC Freshman Team selection while at Auburn and has averaged just over eight points per game in her career in 110 career games played.
Kentucky brought in 10 newcomers (six freshmen, four transfers) for the 2022-23 season. Kentucky added four prominent transfers in Adebola Adeyeye (Buffalo), Ajae Petty (LSU), Maddie Scherr (Oregon) and Eniya Russell (South Carolina). Those four average 25.1 points per game this season.

GOPHER NOTABLES

Last time out the Gophers overcame a 10-point fourth quarter deficit and won a thrilling double overtime game against Penn State in the team's Big Ten opener. Minnesota's four starting freshmen combined for 76 of the 98 points, highlighted by Mara Braun's 26 and Mallory Heyer's 18-point 11-rebound double double. Braun and Heyer combined for 15 of the team's 22 points in the two overtime periods.
Braun earned a second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor, the conference announced on Monday. The Wayzata, Minn., native set a new Minnesota record for points in a Big Ten debut with 26 in a comeback win over Penn State and in two games averaged 26.5 points per game, 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 51.6 percent from the floor and hitting six threes. On Saturday Braun hit 11-of-11 free throws against Penn State, becoming just one of 24th Gopher to connect on 10 or more free throws in a game and make them all. She led Minnesota to two second-half comebacks this past week, overcoming a 10-point deficit to defeat Penn State in double overtime and helping the Gophers tie the game with 19 seconds left against Wake Forest.
Minnesota's latest starting lineup of Braun, Battle, Heyer, Katie Borowicz and Alanna 'Rose' Micheaux, is an average age of 19 years and 4 months. The group consists of three true freshmen, one redshirt sophomore and one sophomore with the group's first two games against Power 5 opponents. Minnesota is the only Big Ten team to start four freshmen in a game this season (Wisconsin is the only other team to start start three).
Mara Braun continued her red-hot start to the season with her fourth 24+ point performance in seven games played. Braun has scored three of the top 10 freshmen scoring marks (34, 27 & 26) in program history since 2000. Braun's 27-point performance against Wake Forest made her just the fourth freshman since 2009-10 to score 27+ points, make 5+ 3FG, register 3+ steals and 1+ blocks against a Power 5 opponent.
Through eight games the Golden Gophers have been one of the rest rebounding teams in the Big Ten and the nation with an average of 44.4 per game as a team which is No. 2 in the conference and No. 22 in the nation. The team has been one of the best on the offensive glass at 14.8 per game, No. 2 in the Big Ten. Minnesota's perimeter defense has also been solid, ranked No. 4 in the Big Ten at 29.2 percent.
Announced last Sunday on ESPN, Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen has been named as an inductee for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Whalen, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this year, is joined by Carolyn Peck, Caty Boswell, donna Lopiano and Lisa Mattingly. The induction will be in April of 2023.
Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen has announced the addition of five student-athletes on Nov. 16, that have signed National Letters of Intent or an Acceptance of Admission to join the Minnesota women's basketball program for the 2023-24 season. Signing NLIs with the Golden Gophers are Kennedy Klick, MyKynnlie Dalan, Ajok Madol and Dominika Paurová while Brynn Senden signed an Acceptance of Admission.

BY THE NUMBERS
35 - Minnesota has outscored their opponents by 35 in the fourth quarter this season.
64 - So far this season 64.1 percent of Minnesota's points have been scored by true or redshirt freshmen.
1 - True freshman Amaya Battle leads all Big Ten freshmen in assists per game at 5.0.
3 - Mara Braun is ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten in points per game at 20.6.
21 - Between Minnesota and Kentucky, 21 players were not on their respective teams last season (11 newcomers for Minnesota, 10 for Kentucky).

MAROON OUT AT WILLIAMS ARENA
The game will be a Maroon Out at Williams Arena. Fans are encouraged to wear Maroon Minnesota gear when attending Wednesday night's game.

The University of Minnesota returns to Big Ten action on Saturday, Dec. 10, at Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That game can be seen on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m. and can be heard on KFAN+ and the iHeartRadio app.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2022-23 season.

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Players Mentioned

Amaya Battle

Katie Borowicz

Mara Braun

Mallory Heyer