Michigan State-Kentucky postgame notes

March 22, 2010

Postgame Notes: Michigan State vs. Kentucky

Michigan State University

Michigan State University fell to the University of Kentucky 70-52 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With tonight's loss, Michigan State's all-time NCAA Tournament record goes to 13-10.

Michigan State's 52 points is the lowest point total for them in an NCAA Tournament game. The previous low was 57 in the second round of the 2007 tournament against Rutgers.

Tonight's 18 point deficit is the fourth highest in the school's NCAA Tournament history.

This was the fifth meeting all-time between the two schools. After tonight's game, Michigan State still leads the all-time series 3-2.

Michigan State's only loss to Kentucky before tonight came in the first meeting on Dec. 8, 1989 to a score of 89-72.

The last meeting between Michigan State and Kentucky was in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, where the two teams met in the second round and the seeding was reversed with Michigan State as the four seed. Michigan State won the meeting by a score of 67-63.

Coming into the game, Michigan State is now 3-6 all-time in second round games in the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Spartans defeated the one seed Duke in the second round by a score of 63-49.

Tonight, the Spartans trailed at halftime 35-31. This season Michigan State has a record of 3-6 when down at halftime.

Sophomore Lykendra Johnson tied her career-high in blocks in the first half of tonight's game with three blocks.

The Spartans have gone the last 10 games with at least six steals in the game, including the eight steals they had in tonight's game against the Wildcats.

Playing in tonight's game, senior Allyssa DeHaan became Michigan State's all-time leader in games played with 136 games.

Junior Kalisha Keane led the way for the Spartans in the scoring column with 10 points on the night. This marks the seventh time this season Keane has led the team in scoring.

This is the fourth time this season that only one player has scored in double figures for the Spartans. The previous three games this has happened this season were against Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.

Michigan State was outrebounded for the seventh time this season by a total of 40-37. This season the Spartans are 2-5 when outrebounded by an opponent.

University of Kentucky

With Kentucky's 70-52 victory over Michigan State, the Wildcats advance to play the winner of Nebraska and UCLA in the Kansas City Regional. It will be Kentucky's second appearance in a regional. The Wildcat's won a 1-1 record in regional play, with both games coming during the 1981-1982 season.

Kentucky is 1-2 all-time against Nebraska, with the last meeting being a 98-92 win on March 13, 1999. The Wildcats are 1-4 all-time against UCLA with the last match-up being an 87-63 Bruin decision on March 15, 1999. Both games took place during the 1999 NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky beat South Carolina in the regional semifinal in 1982, winning by the score of 73-69 before falling to Louisiana Tech 82-60. This will be the second regional appearance in school history.

Tonight's 18 point margin of victory was the largest for Kentucky in a NCAA Tournament game. Their previous high was a ten point triumph over Chattanooga in the first round of the 2006 tournament, when the final was 69-59.

Tonight marked the second time in the past five years that Kentucky and Michigan State have met in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky played Michigan State in the second round of their last tournament appearance, in 2006, a 67-63 Michigan State win.

This will be the first time Kentucky has advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams.

Kentucky is now 2-3 all time against the Spartans. The Wildcats are now 6-6 in the NCAA Tournament and 1-2 in the second round.

The Wildcats were once again able to get the Spartans in foul trouble early and often, getting into the bonus with 9:08 remaining in the first half. Kentucky used their 5-7 performance from the line over the last 9:08 of the first half to take the lead for good.

Kentucky went on an 11-4 run from the ten minute mark to the three minute mark, before the Spartans came back and hit four free throws over the final three minutes of the first half.

Tonight marked the first time this season that Kentucky took a four point lead into the locker room at halftime. Kentucky is 7-1 on the season when they lead by less than ten at the half. Their six victories have come by an average of 16.6 points, with the largest being a 25 point difference over Alabama (88-63).

SEC Player of the Year Victoria Dunlap scored 11 points in the first half. She tied the single season steal record for Kentucky recording three steals on the night to give her 104 for the season. Rita Adams and Leslie Nichols previously had 104 steals in a season. Dunlap passed Belitta Croley tonight on a jumper at the 17:44 mark of the first half to move into 14th place on the all-time Kentucky women's basketball scoring list. She also passed Debra Oden for fifth place in Wildcat basketball history with her 786th rebound of her career. She finished the game with 8 rebounds and now has 791 in her career.

UK set the single season record tonight with their 383rd steal of the season. Kentucky now has 396 steals on the year.

Kentucky had 16 steals in the first round, second to Virginia's 22. They followed up their 11 steals in the first half of the Liberty game with six against Michigan State.
Kentucky forced 18 turnovers tonight, ending their streak of 20 turnovers cause per game at six.

Kentucky ended first round play leading the field shooting .636 (7-11) from behind the arc. However, the Wildcats were only 1-5 on three point attempts in the first half. Rebecca Gray was the only Wildcat to hit multiple three-pointers during the game. The Wildcats finished the game 3-13 from behind the arc. They are now shooting .417 (10-24) from deep.

Kentucky shot .510 from the field in the first round, trailing on Connecticut and Notre Dame. The Wildcats started off the game by hitting their first five field goals and finished the game shooting .424.

Kentucky won their 27th game of the season today, continuing to expand their school record for wins in a season.

Freshman A'dia Mathies had four steals tonight, equaling her total from the first round. She dished out five assists during the game tonight along with guard Amber Smith.

University of Louisville Athletics