Time to Play Ball: Postseason Begins for Cats
For months, the Wildcats knew exactly what was ahead of them. The schedule set, Matthew Mitchell and his Kentucky staff could prepare detailed scouting reports for each of 30 regular-season games.
That all changes this week with the start of the SEC Tournament.
“This is the time, especially after that first game if you’re fortunate enough to win it and go on to the second game, it’s going to be about playing ball,” Mitchell said.
Until early Wednesday afternoon, UK could have faced any of three potential opponents in its quarterfinal game this Friday. Once Florida defeated Ole Miss, it was down to the 13th-seeded Gators or fifth-seeded Missouri.
The Cats, seeded fourth and ranked No. 13 after a 24-6 (11-5 SEC) regular season, will certainly look to experience gained from scoring 11-point victories over both their potential quarterfinal opponents. Mitchell and his assistants, of course, will be watching plenty of tape to prepare. But come tipoff, more than at any point this season, it will be on the players to do their thing.
“We’ll definitely give our players some feedback, but now is the time it is so much fun for the players to prove how good have you become, what works for you, what can you call on, what can you draw from,” Mitchell said. “And, in pressure situations, if you lose, you go home.”
UK hasn’t been in that exact situation yet this season, but the Cats also have become quite accustomed to pressure. Particularly over the last month, it’s been applied almost every time out. Entering February, the Cats were 4-4 in conference play and coming off back-to-back losses. The season had been a success to that point, particularly relative to expectations, but the next month brought possibilities and challenges in equal measure.
Kentucky would play eight games, winning the first three by double digits. The final five would all be decided by eight points or fewer and UK never clicked on all cylinders. In spite of that, the Cats lost only once and played their way into an SEC Tournament double bye.
“We were just in game after game with difficult situations,” Mitchell said. “Whether we were down or whether we were up, whether we were down having to come back or whether we were up and a team was making a run on us, we’ve been put in a lot of different situations. So, I think one positive from all that is that there is not a lot of jitters or panic at a big moment in the game and that’s been good for us.”
That bodes well for what’s to come this week in Greenville, South Carolina, and then a couple weeks later when UK begins play in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve played a lot of tight games this year,” Mitchell said. “So, to our players’ credit, they’ve really been able to handle that. I don’t think there is too much we haven’t seen or gone through, so I do believe that gives you the ability to focus and think and remain calm in some of these high-pressure situations.”
The Cats have overcome all those high-pressure situations and they have the hardware to prove it. Mitchell was named SEC Co-Coach of the Year, Maci Morris SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Rhyne Howard SEC Freshman of the Year. Morris and Howard were both First-Team All-SEC honorees, while Taylor Murray was named to the All-Defensive Team and Howard and Blair Green were All-Freshman performers.
All that’s great, but the true reward is the Cats get to keep playing ball together with all their goals within reach.
“From the moment we got together last June, when the newcomers were on campus and we started coming together, we said in the very first meeting, it was going to be about how can we make the sum greater than our parts,” Mitchell said. “How can we come together to make each other better, and that’s what I think has been so fun to see this year. Those four who were recognized had great years and some great accomplishments, but so did our entire team and I’m very fortunate to coach this group.”
