Cats Embracing SEC Tournament Opportunity

Kentucky packed up and headed to Greenville, South Carolina, for the Southeastern Conference on Wednesday evening.

Before the Wildcats took off, Matthew Mitchell had a simple message for his team.

“The only thing I tell them is, if they don’t want to win the tournament, don’t get on the plane,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell wants no other thoughts in the Cats’ minds than winning the league tournament. The task might be a tall one, but it’s one Mitchell knows UK is perfectly capable of accomplishing.

“This team’s been very embracing of opportunity all year long,” Mitchell said. “We’ve won some big games. We’ve come through at some critical times. We’ve played with poise in some real pressure situations, so just turn it loose. Can’t win on Sunday if you don’t win on Friday.”

The journey for UK – the No. 4 seed in the tournament after a 20-9 regular season – will begin against either fifth-seeded Tennessee (19-10) or 12th-seeded Alabama (18-12) at approximately 2 p.m. on Friday. The Crimson Tide advanced with an opening-round win over Vanderbilt, while Tennessee enjoyed a bye after closing with three straight wins.

“I know it’ll be a tough game with Alabama and Tennessee,” Mitchell said. “Whoever comes out, we’ll have to play extremely hard. We had to play extremely hard at Tennessee to have a chance. Fell short. We had to play extremely hard at Alabama to earn that victory.”

UK faced both teams on the road, taking down Alabama, 71-54, and falling at Tennessee, 72-65. A rematch with Tennessee would be of particular interest to Mitchell, not because of the opponent, but because the game was two months ago, the first of SEC play.

“We were not as far along as we are now,” Mitchell said. “That’s one thing that I would be really excited to see, is what’s our progress done. How much have we progressed? … And so a lot of progress has been made since January 1, so if it were Tennessee it’d be a great chance to see how much you’ve improved.”

Those improvements paved the way for a hard-charging finish to the regular season for the Cats. 

That loss at Tennessee was in the middle of a stretch that saw UK lose five of nine games overall and three of four to close. The Cats have won 10 of 13 since – including an upset of then-No. 3/2 Mississippi State – with the only three losses coming to SEC champion South Carolina (twice) and third-seeded Missouri on the road.

“I think we’ve become a pretty solid team kind of all the way around,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know that we’re a bright, shining star anywhere, but I don’t think there are any real deficiencies there either. So a solid team that’s going to going over there hungry to win.”

For that reason, Mitchell isn’t trying to implement any kind of overhaul as the postseason begins. It’s about fine-tuning and making sure the Cats are ready to play every time out.

“It’s not real complicated at this point,” Mitchell said. “We’re just trying to play as sharp as possible. I just think for the season as a whole for what our strengths are and what our flaws are, we’ve done a pretty good job of going in and being competitive in just about every single game.”

Every opponent from this point forward will be capable of beating UK. The Cats, however, aren’t afraid of anyone. Nor should they be.

“It’s a difficult tournament to win,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been very close on several occasions. We want to win it and this year’s as good as any to go cut down those nets. Just gotta go over there focused on your business, on being mentally ready to outhustle whoever we play Friday afternoon, play real sharp on defense, attack on offense, be tough on the boards and give yourself a chance to win.”