Mitchell Wants Growth to Continue as Season Begins
Kentucky’s season opener is on Wednesday in Memorial Coliseum.
The game might mark the official start of the season, but Matthew Mitchell sees it has having begun five months ago.
“Our journey is a team started back in June and we knew we had 10 plus months together,” Mitchell said, “and our goal was really, very clear – for us to have a great year together learning.”
Even still, things change when the games start to count. That begins when the Wildcats host Alabama State at 7 p.m.
“The reason I’m so excited about this portion of the regular season is this portion is a very, very important part of our journey,” Mitchell said. “This game versus Alabama State is the beginning of that, so that’s very important. But, I’m so excited just because of the work that our players have put into that process. They have really developed a lot up to this point.”
So, on that count, the last five months have been a success. In addition to standard preseason preparation, UK also took a trip across the Atlantic for a three-game tour of Italy on which the Wildcats did plenty of sightseeing and cultural learning.
“I think we took advantage of the opportunity we had in preparing to go on our Italian tour,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t just show up at the airport, fly over there, and spend 10 days. You’re closer because you’re in close proximity for 10 days and in the same hotel and on the same bus. We really worked hard on our communication, worked hard on developing meaningful bonds that will show up on the basketball court.”
In UK’s lone exhibition, those bonds yielded results. Winning 101-64 over Lincoln Memorial, the Cats dished out 26 assists on their 41 made field goals. Four players – Taylor Murray, Rhyne Howard, Jaida Roper and Maci Morris – had at least four assists each.
“We still have conflicts and we have things that we have to work at doing better as far as the way we treat each other,” Mitchell said. “But, I just think as an overall group I really like the level that they care about each other and we need to translate that as we pull it together here and play some great basketball, and strive for great basketball, as we work our way through the early season.”
Mitchell added the caveat about striving to play great basketball because he knows UK won’t always get there in November. The good news is he has every reason to believe they can in March.
“We had a great preseason and there is still room for us to grow, but I think this team has great potential and we’re very excited to get it kicked off tomorrow night in Memorial Coliseum,” Mitchell said. “We have a lot of respect for Alabama State and know that they will play up tempo. They’re well coached and athletic, and they shot the three great in their exhibition game. So, we’ve got a real challenge ahead of us tomorrow night to try and see if we can get the season started off with a victory, and that is what we’ll work hard in practice to prepare for today.”
