By Kindsey Bernhard
NKyTribune intern
UK Hoops honored seniors Makayla Epps and Evelyn Akhator in the best way possible in their final regular season game in Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky upset third-ranked Mississippi State 78-75 in overtime Thursday night. UK has won eight straight games on Senior Night
“I think for me, the best feeling is that Makayla and Evelyn will always have tonight,” coach Matthew Mitchell said. “And you only had one chance at it, and now that they have it. You can’t take that from them ever.”
UK moved to 20-8 on the season and 11-4 in the Southeastern Conference. This marks the team’s eighth straight 20-win season under Mitchell. UK handed the Bulldogs their second loss of the season.
Coming into this game, UK was 0-2 in overtime games this season with losses to the University of Louisville and Arizona State University.
The night was all about UK’s two seniors. Despite slows starts from both Epps and Akhator, each scored in double-digits.
Akhator led the team in scoring, recording her 15th double-double of the season. She finished with 27 points and 16 rebounds. Akhator scored 22 of her 27 points in the second half. She finished 11-of-20 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
“Evelyn and Makayla were both sensational tonight,” Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer said of UK’s two seniors.
Epps was right behind her fellow senior with 22 points, going 8-of-18 from the field. Like Akhator, Epps scored 18 of her 22 points in the second half. A 10-0 run by Epps to start the second half gave UK a seven point lead, their largest of the game. And it was Epps who broke the 75-75 tie in overtime with eight seconds on the clock. Maci Morris hit a free throw, and Mississippi had no answer.
“I just think Makayla did not want to lose tonight,” Mitchell said on Epps’ start of the second half.
“I thought she [Makayla] and Evelyn really stepped up on Senior Night,” Mitchell said. “Pretty amazing.”
Mississippi State’s tallest player measures 6-foot-7 and second-tallest player measures 6-foot-5 and despite their height advantage, UK outscored the Bulldogs 42-28 in the paint.
UK’s game plan included pulling Akhator outside of the paint and having her drive on defenders instead of posting up on the block.
“One of the keys for her was not to post up and sit on the block and try to play a power game with them,” Mitchell said. “Try to step off the block, try to get to the high post, try to step out on the short corner. And it was an incredible performance from her.”
UK not only controlled the paint, but also the turnover battle. UK’s defense forced Mississippi State to turn the ball over 22 times, a season high for the Bulldogs.
“It was probably the game,” Mitchell said of the turnovers.
“We talked about how handsy Kentucky is,” Schaefer said. “They’re really handsy. They seal. They do a really good job. So you’ve got to take extra care of the ball, and we just didn’t do that tonight.”
UK turned the ball over nine times and capitalized on the Mississippi State’s 22 turnovers by outscoring the Bulldogs 16-8 on points over turnovers.
“One of the things that was on our scouting report about Mississippi State is that they force their opponent into 20-plus turnovers,” Epps said. “And we’ve done a really good job at taking care of the ball, and that’s just a shout out to everyone on the team for doing their job.”
UK, which has won five straight games, will finish the regular season on the road in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday at 2 p.m. UK fell to the seventh-ranked Gamecocks 75-63 in Lexington on Feb. 2. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Kindsey Bernhard is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky. She is from Ft. Wright and played high school basketball at Notre Dame Academy.