The Kentucky women’s basketball team, by its own admission, was a ragged bunch the last time it took the floor. Playing eight consecutive weekends of Southeastern Conference play without a bye, then heading to Nashville for the SEC Tournament and three games in three days, had taken its toll.After a blowout loss against the Tennessee Volunteers, the Wildcats were left licking their wounds in more ways than one. Not only had they been beaten badly by their rivals, but players were fighting fatigue and injury. Fortunately, Matthew Mitchell knew he had nearly two weeks before his team would play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”I think some teams might not have liked the time off because you’ll maybe lose rhythm, and I can see that, but we really needed it badly,” Mitchell said. “We needed the time off; we needed the time to get a couple of people healthy.”Mitchell said the break gave his players a chance to get a fresh start and approach the tournament as a sort of new season.”I thought (it helped) mentally more than anything for our players to be able to get away from it for a few days and sort of come back at the beginning of the season,” Mitchell said.While the mental side was vital, the break was important from a physical perspective, particularly for sophomore guard A’dia Mathies.”For A’dia, it was really a fortunate thing because she was in bad shape and she’s still not back 100 percent,” Mitchell said Mathies, in a semifinals win over Vanderbilt, aggravated a lower back strain, an injury that would limit her significantly in the finals. Even with the extra time to heal, she remains a question mark heading into Saturday’s NCAA first-round matchup against Hampton, though she is expected to play.”She’s still struggling a little bit so we’ll see,” Mitchell said of his star guard. “We’ve had her out of practice for a while, so we’ll see if she can bounce back and if she can play tomorrow. Certainly that time gave her a better chance to play tomorrow than if we’d had to jump right back in it. I don’t think she could have played last weekend.”While senior forward Victoria Dunlap was not dealing with any injury that threatened her ability to play, the break gave her a chance to recuperate from a long season of playing the high-energy brand of basketball she is known for.”Physically, I think Victoria is looking very refreshed,” Mitchell said. “She has practiced better over the last two weeks than I’ve seen her in a long time. She seems very energized, very motivated so that seems good for her to have a little time off.”For one of the best players in the history of the Kentucky program, being rested and ready for her final NCAA Tournament run could be vital.