It didn’t take long for Matthew Mitchell to find a positive in Janee Thompson’s horrific injury against South Carolina.In fact, it was within a few hours of Thompson going down with a dislocated ankle and fractured fibula that Mitchell found that silver lining.”The outpouring of support from people literally from all over the country, it was an amazing experience,” Mitchell said.It was an experience, of course, that Mitchell would give most anything to not have gone through, but amount of people who reached out and the way in which they did made it one he won’t forget.”It was very uplifting to see that and just all of the support we received from all of the people who aren’t even connected to our program who just saw it on television and sent their thoughts, prayers and support,” Mitchell said. “We are a very grateful team and program and we are excited for Janee to start the recovery process and get back to full speed.”Thompson’s recovery has already begun. After receiving initial treatment and a diagnosis in South Carolina, she was able to fly back to Lexington with her teammates on Sunday night. On Monday at noon, she underwent successful surgery with an eye on returning next year.”She will miss the rest of the season, but we are extremely optimistic that by the time the players gather up for summer school in June that she will be fully participating and will not know that she was injured if everything goes like the doctors feel like it will go,” Mitchell said. “We are very appreciative of our doctors here. They did a great job, as always.”Thompson has spent the week resting, but will return to class as soon as she is able. Once that happens, she’ll assume an important role as a team leader.”She has developed into an incredible example of sacrificing personal things that might have been holding her back as far as her development and just really buying into the program with honesty, hard work, discipline, being high-character, being a person of great preparation, being a person of high preparation, being a person willing to sacrifice,” Mitchell said. “All of the things we try and teach, she has become a great part of and is a great example of that.”She is a powerful force on our team and will continue to be that and so we are moving in a positive direction in what has been a tough situation.”But as the No. 10/11 Cats (14-3, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) move in that positive direction, they’ll have to do it without Thompson on the court. The junior was averaging 10.1 points and a team-leading 3.1 assists as UK’s point guard, making her loss a significant one in every way, but not one that can’t be overcome.”The way you deal with it is that you have a very talented group of players,” Mitchell said. “We’re not the most talented group of players left standing in the country, but we are a talented group. Janee makes us less talented because she’s such a great talent and has been performing so well for our team, but it certainly does not mean we cannot go out and be a functioning basketball team and be our very best.”To that end, the Cats have adopted a new slogan in Thompson’s honor: “Our B3st.” It’s a play on the year’s theme of “Our Season” and Mitchell wore a shirt bearing the slogan to his pregame press conference on Wednesday. The team will do the same for warmups before Thursday’s 7 p.m. ET matchup with Florida in Memorial Coliseum.”The t-shirts are our one and singular goal for this season and this team,” Mitchell said. “We need to see if we can possibly become the very best that this team can be and so we put the number three for the E and ‘Our B3ST’ is what we will continue to try to be and Janee will be a big part of that. It’s just a way to honor her.”The other way the Cats can honor Thompson is by sustaining their strong start to the season even though Mitchell says their margin for error is slimmer now. No longer can they rely on Thompson to pick up the slack in practice or games when someone lacks energy. Instead, everyone must be focused at all times.”It does need to heighten everyone’s sense of awareness of their responsibility to the team,” Mitchell said. “It does impact everyone from that standpoint.”Fortunately, Bria Goss is expected to reenter the lineup just as Thompson is leaving it. The senior guard and defensive stopper has missed a month with a broken left thumb, but is slated to play.”That’s a blessing that we can get her back,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know to what extent she is going to be able to perform. I can’t give you a percentage. I know she can perform very well defensively. She is shooting the ball great right now. It’s still tender and it’s not 100 percent in the hand, but she is cleared to play and she is going to give it a whirl on Thursday night and that will help us tremendously.” Considering the test the Gators (9-8, 1-3 SEC) always present, Goss will be needed. Florida took two of three from UK a season ago, with the Cats winning the third matchup in the SEC Tournament. The Gators are coming off a 66-47 loss at Missouri, but Mitchell says to pay little attention to that game since Florida played without junior guard Carlie Needles. The Cats, according to Mitchell, have approached practice accordingly.”We have a huge challenge ahead of us so I have not seen us lacking focus yesterday (Tuesday),” Mitchell said. “I thought yesterday was a good day and a step forward. We need to have a tremendous day today and we need to have a terrific practice tomorrow before tomorrow night’s game and we got to come out incredibly focused and energized to beat a very tough Florida team. “One thing, it doesn’t matter what Florida’s record has been is now has been they just always seem to be extremely prepared. Coach (Amanda) Butler does a great job and I’m not expecting anything other than a very difficult game and we’ve got to find a way to be tough enough to win.”