The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Travel to No. 11/11 Kentucky
1/3/2015 | Women's Basketball
Game Notes- at Kentucky - Game 15
Ole Miss hits the road for two straight and opens the SEC road trip at Kentucky on Sunday Jan. 4. The Rebels and Wildcats will tipoff at 1 p.m. CT in a nationally-televised contest on the SEC Network with Cara Capuano and Nell Fortner on the call.
Game 15: Ole Miss (11-3) at Kentucky (12-2)
Date: January 4, 2015
Location: Lexington, Ky. (Memorial Coliseum)
Series: Ole Miss leads, 20-15
Streak: Kentucky has won the last five
| TV: SEC Network | Game Notes (PDF)
Starting Five
1. Ole Miss opened the SEC slate with a 71-57 win over Arkansas on Friday. The win was Ole Miss' first in an SEC opener since 2010-11 and the 14 point margin of victory was the largest margin of victory in an SEC home opening win since a win over Alabama in 2009-10. The Rebels move to 4-6 in SEC opener in the last 10 seasons and 7-3 in home openers in that span.
2. Tia Faleru posted her third consecutive double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Arkansas. Faleru now has 25 career double-doubles including five this season, which ranks No. 7 all-time at Ole Miss. She also moved up to No. 18 on the all-time scoring list with 1,183 career points.
3. The Rebels ran their undefeated streak to five straight, which is the longest of the season and the most since a seven-game undefeated streak in 2013-14. Ole Miss is just one win shy of 12 wins, which was the win total in each of the last two seasons. Ole Miss is in search of its first 20-win season since 2006-07.
4. Erika Sisk lead Ole Miss in scoring for the fourth time this season with a game-high 19 points against Arkansas. Sisk's 19 points marked her sixth game in double figures and was her fourth game in double figures in the last five games. Sisk is averaging 9.7 points per game this season and has scored in each game this season.
5. Ole Miss will play its second televised contest on Sunday and will make its first appearance on the SEC Network. This season, Ole Miss is 0-1 on television falling to Western Kentucky and is looking for its first in in a televised game since defeating Florida in 2012-13.
Ole Miss vs. Kentucky Notables
-This will be the 36th meeting between Ole Miss and Kentucky with the Rebels holding a 20-15 series advantage despite dropping the last five meetings to the Wildcats. Ole Miss leads the series in Lexington, 9-8 but is looking for its first win in Lexington since a 67-65 OT win in 2006-07.
-Ole Miss head coach Matt Insell honed his coaching skills with five seasons on Matthew Mitchell's staff at Kentucky prior to being named head coach at Ole Miss. The Wildcats advanced to three Elite Eight's during Insell's time in the Bluegrass state.
-Ole Miss is hoping to stop the Wildcats high powered offense in this meeting. In last season's meeting, the Wildcats scored 108 points for the most points in the history of the series and is averaging 86.8 points against the Rebels in the last five meetings.
-Sunday's game will be the second consecutive televised game between the Rebels and Wildcats and marks the first of two televised contests between the teams this season. The teams will square off on an SEC Monday night game on Feb. 23 when Kentucky makes the trip to Oxford.
-Current Ole Miss graduate manager Brian Sensibaugh is also quite familiar with Kentucky after spending time working with both the Kentucky men and women's teams as a manager during his undergraduate days at UK.
A Win Would...
-Give Ole Miss its first win over Kentucky in the last five meetings and give head coach Matt Insell a win over his former employer for the first time. Additionally, it would extend Ole Miss' current win streak to six straight and move Ole Miss to 2-0 in SEC action for the first time since 2006-07.
Rebels By The Numbers
5-Number of double doubles Tia Faleru has posted this season after 10 points and 11 rebounds against Arkansas. Faleru has now posted three consecutive double-doubles.
10-Number of non-conference wins for Ole Miss in 2014-15, it's the most conference wins since 2011-12. Ole Miss is in search of more than 12 conference wins sine the 2009-10 season.
31- Number of points Tia Faleru scored against Kentucky in the last meeting between the two teams. It still stands as her career high and was the first time an Ole Miss player had 30+ points since Kayla Melson had 31 in 201-11.
19-Number of points Erika Sisk posted against Arkansas. It was her sixth game in double figures and her fourth time in the last five games.
397-Number of wins Ole Miss has at the Tad Pad. Ole Miss needs just three more home wins to reach 400 wins in its 41-year history at the Tad Smith Coliseum.
Scouting Kentucky
Kentucky enters Sundays' matchup with a 12-2, 1-0 SEC record after defeating Alabama 78-66 in their SEC opener on Friday. The Wildcats are winners of its last two since a loss to No. 13/13 Duke snapped a six-game win streak. Jennifer O'Neill leads four Wildcats in double figures with 14.9 points per game. Makayla Epps with 13.4 points, Linnae Harper with 10.4 points and Janee Thompson with 10.1 points round out the Kentucky double-digit scorers. Azia Bishop and Harper lead Kentucky on the boards with 6.5 and 6.4 rebounds, respectively. As a team, the Wildcats are averaging 79.4 points per game and 42.2 rebounds.
About Ole Miss
Senior forward Tia Faleru continues to lead Ole Miss with 16.0 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game. Faleru has scored in double figures in 12 of Ole Miss' 14 games and has grabbed eight or more rebounds in 13 of Ole Miss' 14 games, while recording five double-doubles on the season. Faleru is the lone player in double figures but Erika Sisk is nearing double figures with 9.7 points per game. The Rebels boast a fairly balanced scoresheet with 10 players averaging at least four points. Danielle McCray and A'Queen Hayes are helping Faleru shoulder the rebounding load averaging 4.8 and 3.7 rebounds per game, respectively.
On Deck
Ole Miss will stay on the road to close out its two-game road trip heading to Gainesville to take on Florida on Jan. 8. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Net.
From The Coach
