After sustaining the blow from a 13-point second-half comeback effort by the No. 21 Georgia Bulldogs the last time No. 11 Kentucky took the floor, the Wildcats’ resilience was put to the test in an 80-72 victory February 1 at Memorial Coliseum.”It was not the prettiest game ever, but we showed some toughness there,” said UK head coach Matthew Mitchell.With the triumph over Georgia behind them, the Wildcats head into the final seven games of the regular season. Thanks to home tilts against No. 17 Mississippi State, No. 14 Texas A&M, and No. 1 South Carolina, coupled with road trips to Vanderbilt, No. 6 Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Arkansas, the stretch may prove to be the most difficult of UK’s season.”We have a tough game ahead of us down in Nashville against Vanderbilt,” Mitchell said of Sunday’s game. “They are a tough team and always a tough place to go play. So they’re hard to score against, and have another really good defensive team and will make it difficult on us.”Four ranked opponents over a seven-game stretch leave little wiggle room for Mitchell & Co. as their final bye week in conference play comes to an end.”We’ve had a good week of preparation, and we just need to really work hard here the next couple days and see if we can go down and get a really important victory for our basketball team,” said Mitchell.The last time Kentucky (17-5, 6-3 SEC) was afforded an entire week of preparation during brutal SEC play, it was coming off an 84-79 loss at LSU, wherein Mitchell cited a lack of effort as reason for the defeat. This time around, his approach has been from a different perspective.”They probably enjoyed it more this week because they didn’t get punished at 6 a.m. in the morning with some pretty tough workouts,” Mitchell said. “During (the last bye) week, that’s what we did because of our lack of effort against LSU. (This bye week) came off of a good effort against Georgia.”With the Commodores on deck, and six other monumental matchups looming on the horizon, Kentucky is left with little time to better itself before season’s end.”You have to look at what you can get accomplished here. It’s about 24 days left in the regular season. So, what can you do? Where can you move the needle?” said Mitchell. “We just tried to work on the things that are going to make this team the best it can be. I think that will be a good team.”Kentucky has won its last seven contests with Vanderbilt, including last season’s 65-63 win in Lexington. The Commodores (13-10, 4-6 SEC) head into Sunday riding the momentum of a 58-54 comeback victory over Ole Miss. “Our young players are working so hard,” Mitchell said. “They’re getting better, and I just want to be the best coach for them that I can, and get the most out of them. We’ve just spent a lot of time this week working and trying to get better, and hopefully you’ll see that Sunday in Nashville.”No. 11 Kentucky will face Vanderbilt Sunday, Feb. 8 at 1:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.