Wildcats will be featured on ESPN or ESPN2 four times during the season
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team will play on ESPN or ESPN2 four times as part of 13 games being televised nationally during the upcoming 2021-22 season. The announcement of the TV selections sets game times for nearly all of UK’s 2021-22 games.
A complete schedule with TV selections can be found online at UKathletics.com.
Four times the Wildcats will be featured on ESPN or ESPN2, starting with the Jimmy V Classic in December at Louisville on ESPN. In January, UK will square off at South Carolina on ESPN. ESPN has also moved the Kentucky-Tennessee game to Monday, Jan. 17 but time and network are yet to be announced. The Wildcats will then start February by hosting Texas A&M on ESPN2 and South Carolina on ESPN. Eight other games will air on SEC Network, including the SEC/Big 12 Challenge vs. West Virginia on Dec. 1 at Memorial Coliseum.
All Kentucky women’s basketball home games and conference road games that were not picked up for national television will be streamed on SEC Network+. Times for every 2021-22 game has been set with the exception of UK’s non-conference road game at Indiana on Nov. 14 and the January showdown with Tennessee.
Big Blue Madness Presented by Papa John’s will serve as the annual start of the basketball season. The event will be held at Rupp Arena on Oct. 15 starting at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Tickets to Big Blue Madness will be distributed exclusively online at Ticketmaster.com and through the Ticketmaster app starting at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 1.
Kentucky women’s basketball 2021-22 season tickets are now on sale at UKathletics.com/ticketsas #ElzyEra excitement continues to build. Fans may purchase new season tickets online atUKathletics.com/tickets or by calling the UK Ticket Office at (800) 928-2287 (Option 1). Season tickets offer considerable savings over the cost of buying single-game tickets. Season ticket prices include admission to all Kentucky women’s basketball home games in Memorial Coliseum and Rupp Arena.
New season ticket purchases are available in three areas, starting with general admission bench seating (sections RR-ZZ) for $60 per ticket or $50 per ticket if you purchase four or more. Upper-level reserved chairbacks (sections AA-JJ) and lower-level reserved bench seating (sections R-Z) are available for $80 per ticket, while lower-level reserved chairbacks (sections A-J) are sold out again this season.
It was a successful first season for the Kentucky women’s basketball program under head coach Kyra Elzy, who led Kentucky to a top 20 listing in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today/Coaches Top 25 all season long. Elzy became the first UK women’s basketball head coach to lead her team to the NCAA Tournament in their first season at the helm.
During the 2020-21 season, Kentucky defeated five ranked opponents, including back-to-back against top-15 teams for the first time since 2013. The two wins led Elzy to be named the espnW National Coach of the Week and the United States Basketball Writers Association tabbed UK its first-ever team of the week. UK was one of 10 teams in the nation to have four wins against top-25 NCAA NET teams entering the tournament.
The Wildcats will return a large chunk of their production from the 2020-21, including consensus first-team All-America honoree Rhyne Howard. Howard averaged 20.7 points per game last season, adding 7.3 rebounds per game and a team-best 91 assists. Kentucky’s third, fourth and fifth-leading scorers also return in Dre’una Edwards, Robyn Benton and Blair Green. Point guard Jazmine Massengill, who missed the first half of the season due to NCAA transfer rules after finishing second on the team in assists per game. In all, UK returns 70 percent of its scoring, 3-pointers made and assists, while it brings back 64 percent of its rebounding and 60 percent of its steals.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.