It’s common to hear coaches refer to road games as business trips, not vacations.Matthew Mitchell has a different spin on the old cliche when it comes to UK Hoops’ game at South Carolina on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.”Well, we are scheduled for our annual visit to the dentist’s office,” Mitchell said. “Our yearly root canal over in Columbia.”Mitchell’s tongue-in-cheek analogy is no comment on the venue or the university. All he’s saying is the No. 10/11 Gamecocks (14-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference)) are going to make life as miserable as possible for the No. 9/10 Wildcats (13-2, 1-1 SEC).Dawn Staley’s team, per usual, is among the best defensive squads you’ll find. South Carolina is third nationally in scoring defense at 49.7 points per game, allowing opponents to hit a paltry 33.4 percent from the field.”It is a real challenge to play over there,” Mitchell said. “They have a really good program and always play really hard and it is always a tough, tough battle for us.”The last five games between South Carolina and Kentucky have been decided by eight points or fewer. The Cats have won three of those games, but lost a physical 55-50 battle a season ago in Columbia, S.C.”They are obviously our permanent rival so we go to Columbia every year and it is always a really tough game,” Mitchell said. “It is probably one of the best teams that Coach Staley has had. It is very impressive to watch them and how hard they play.”Unpleasant as it may be, facing South Carolina may be exactly what the doctor — or perhaps more appropriately, the dentist — ordered for Kentucky.The Cats are coming off a home loss to Florida that left Mitchell disappointed by his team’s intensity and focus. Taking on a team that succeeds because of those two things, Kentucky won’t have any choice but to respond.”It’ll have our players’ attention – certainly needs to have our players’ attention – and the key to this game is being able to hustle and stay really tough mentally, emotionally, physically and rely on your fundamentals because they will really, really play hard and really play tough,” Mitchell said.DeNesha Stallworth remembers playing at South Carolina a season ago. The way the Cats built a second-half lead only to watch it vanish after they managed to score just 10 points in the final 11:37. Returning to the scene of their first SEC defeat of a season ago, UK will be able to gauge its progress following this year’s first conference loss.”I think it just tests us and see where we were are mentally,” DeNesha Stallworth said. “I think we’re on the right track right now and we’re doing the right things.”Stallworth credits that, at least in part, to a players-only meeting and workout that immediately followed that loss to Florida on Sunday. Unhappy with what had just transpired, UK’s veterans decided to do something.”I think it definitely was a wake-up call,” said Stallworth, a senior. “I think it was just something that needed to be done and everybody has stepped up so much in practice.”UK has benefited in practice from Stallworth’s return. On Sunday, she played for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in December. After knocking the rust off in seven solid minutes, Stallworth has experienced no swelling and only minimal pain.”She practiced really hard (Tuesday), made all the plays, did all the defensive fundamentals, all of our defensive footwork,” Mitchell said. “So I think we will see her round into shape, however many games that takes her to get back.”She probably won’t regain her All-SEC form on Thursday, but any contributions she can offer will be welcome against a big, physical South Carolina front line.”It’ll be a tough game Thursday,” Mitchell said. “They are extremely big in the post and extremely physical and your physical conditioning will be a factor in this game. So still, we’ll practice hard every day with her and we’ll let her play as hard as she can play.”Whether Stallworth is a major factor or not, Mitchell knows what will decide the outcome.”The key: Can we keep that strength about us and can we really hustle and try to outhustle South Carolina?” Mitchell said. “I think that’s going to be such a key because I don’t think there’s really any secrets between the two programs. We play twice (each season) and the team that plays harder usually wins.”