LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team officially announced its 2020-21 schedule on Friday, featuring seven non-conference games and 16 Southeastern Conference games. The schedule release comes one day after the shocking announcement that long-time head coach Matthew Mitchell has retired from his position after 13 seasons with the program, effective immediately. Associate head coach Kyra Elzy will be serving as the interim head coach throughout this season. The Cats are currently ranked No. 11 in the country, according to the Associated Press.
Kentucky will start the season with back-to-back home games, taking on Murray State on Nov. 25 and Belmont on Nov. 29. Other non-conference opponents this season will include Kansas State, Marshall, Samford, DePaul and Wofford. Louisville is currently not on the schedule, although there is currently an open date on Dec. 22. However, former Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell and current Louisville head coach Jeff Waltz have both said the rivalry game will not be played this year. Regardless, the Wildcats will potentially add additional non-conference opponents in December to fulfill the NCAA's requirement of 25 games this season.
League play is set to begin Dec. 31, when Kentucky will take on Arkansas. The conference slate includes all of the usual teams, including two matchups with the country's current No. 1 team, South Carolina. The regular season will conlude with a game between UK and Ole Miss on Feb. 28.
The 2021 SEC Tournament will be held March 3-7 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The NCAA Tournament is scheduled to begin March 19 at various sites around the nation while the NCAA Final Four is slated for April 2 and 4 inside the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
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— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) November 13, 2020
SCHEDULE RELEASE. 🤩📆https://t.co/S4GhRXuz3J
Dates and times are tentative and subject to change due to conference television assignments, which will be released at a later date.
Kentucky’s schedule presents some of the best matchups in the nation, as the Wildcats are schedule to play eight games against teams that are ranked or receiving votes in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25, which was released earlier this week. UK is slated to play No. 1 South Carolina, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 19 DePaul and RV Tennessee.
In preparation for the return of Kentucky women's basketball, UK Athletics has received reduced capacity guidelines from state health officials for the 2020-21 season and has designed a distanced seating plan to host fans at Memorial Coliseum in the healthiest manner possible. The plan is focused on the recommended health and safety protocols for the well-being of all student-athletes, fans and staff.
At this point, the anticipated attendance for this season at Memorial Coliseum is up to 15% of normal arena capacity, which includes participants, essential personnel, media and a limited number of spectators. All plans are subject to change based on evolving information as well as local, state and national public health developments. The UK Ticket Office and K Fund has communicated directly with season ticket holders to provide additional information regarding 2020-21 season tickets and to begin the ticketing process. Tickets will be sold in season packages for women's basketball and K Fund priority rankings will determine the order for ticket assignment.
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