Liberty women draw Kentucky in NCAA opener

Amber Mays admittedly doesn’t know a whole lot about Kentucky women’s basketball.

“I know about John Wall,” Mays said. “He’s my favorite men’s college player.”

In the next few days, Mays and her Liberty teammates will get plenty familiar with UK’s women’s team. The 13th-seeded Flames will meet fourth-seeded Kentucky at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Louisville’s storied Freedom Hall, which is set to close after this season.

And while the players might not have an appreciation for the venue’s history — it has hosted six Final Fours and was the home floor of the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels — Flames coach Carey Green does.

“Maybe I’ll walk on the floor and get some goose bumps,” Green said.

The game is one of eight first-round matchups in the Kansas City bracket, which is headlined by top-seeded Nebraska. Liberty will play the second game Saturday, following the matchup between No. 5 seed Michigan State and No. 12 seed Bowling Green.

Kentucky is ranked 19th in the latest AP poll, and the Wildcats only lost one nonconference game, falling at NCAA participant Middle Tennessee. The Wildcats went 4-4 down the stretch, with the losses coming to Georgia, Auburn and Tennessee (twice).

Green didn’t have a lot of knowledge of the Wildcats at the time of the selection, but he and his staff planned to work deep into the night Monday gathering information about Liberty’s SEC opponent.

“Because of the information out there, it’s easier for everyone (to scout),” Green said. “Education is empowerment. When you’re empowered, you can do the best coaching job and strategy job.”

The Flames are 1-14 all-time against SEC foes, but the one team Liberty has beaten from the powerful league is Kentucky, as the Rick Reeves-led Flames bounced the Wildcats in Lexington in the 1998-99 season. After opening NCAA Tournament play for seven straight years starting in 1998 against SEC teams, the Flames are meeting an SEC team in the tournament for the first time since LSU beat Liberty in the Sweet 16 in 2005.

Of course, that season, Liberty was a No. 13 seed facing a good, but not dominant opponent in the first round (Penn State). It remains the only time Liberty has ever won its first-round tournament game.

Kentucky is led by 6-foot-1 forward Victoria Dunlap, who averages 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Dunlap has attempted at least 15 field goals in each of Kentucky’s last five games and has gotten to the free-throw line at least 10 times in seven different games this year.

The Wildcats don’t skew much taller than that. They have a 6-foot-7 freshman center in Anna Cole, who is the tallest player in program history. But she hasn’t played since January. The Wildcats like to push the pace, averaging 73.9 points per game. Kentucky (25-7) is making its first NCAA appearance since the 2006 season. The Wildcats and Liberty were in different brackets that year, but they played at the same opening-weekend site in Rosemont, Ill.

In that way, Kentucky is similar to Gardner-Webb, the team Liberty beat in Sunday’s Big South tournament championship game. The Flames, who turn the ball over nearly 20 times a game, will have to find a way to take care of the basketball if they want to advance.

Kentucky’s opponents average more than 23 turnovers per game, so a fast, sloppy game will play right into Kentucky’s hands.

Said Liberty forward Avery Warley, who was recruited by Kentucky: “Hopefully it will be a more physical game, the way I like it.”