Cats Getting Back to Basics ahead of Louisville Matchup
Kentucky’s success, in Matthew Mitchell’s mind, was always going to come down to hustle and energy.
A little more than a third into the regular season, he’s been proven right.
“I think that what has been so good through 11 games is when that is present we have done some good stuff and when it’s been absent you have had to pay for it,” Mitchell said.
Eight times, that hustle and energy have been enough to carry the Wildcats to victory with some bright moments along the way. Three times, the Cats have lost. In the first – a trip to Baylor – the effort was there, but UK just wasn’t quite ready for the magnitude of that kind of game just yet. In the other two – both coming on a road trip to Florida last weekend to face Florida Gulf Coast and Miami – it wasn’t.
“We were not mentally into those games at the level that we had to be on the road,” Mitchell said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win in both games. Had a chance to win, but just made some errors that you could just point to. The five games in 11 days, very little practice time, three on the road finally took a toll on the team.”
Since that loss at Miami last Sunday, the Cats have returned home for finals week. After lightening the schedule to allow for study time, Mitchell is now shifting his attention to a matchup with No. 3/4 Louisville (12-0) at 3 p.m. on Sunday in Memorial Coliseum. He’s doing so by zeroing in on effort.
“It is good for the team to know and our young players right now with the travel and the final exams on them you get to a spot where you have a little bit of cognitive overload and they have to get to a spot where you can simplify it for them,” Mitchell said. “You can see those hustle plays come through because when you are thinking about every next step that slows you down.”
There won’t be any room for overthinking with the archrival Cardinals coming to town. Louisville is one of just 12 unbeaten teams in the country, outscoring its opponents by an average of 29.1 points per game. The Cardinals’ closest game also might be their most impressive performance: a 95-90 overtime win at then-No. 5 Ohio State.
“It’s always a difficult game and over the past 10 years has been a very tough game with very few exceptions,” Mitchell said. “They’re always tough because they’re always very well coached and really good players, and that’s the story this year. Really talented team, really well-coached and big challenge facing us on Sunday. We’re working hard to get ready for it.”
The Cats will need to be especially ready for Asia Durr. The junior guard, who scored 47 points in the win at Ohio State, is averaging 17.8 points to back up her selection in the preseason as ACC Player of the Year.
“She’s just a very explosive player and very explosive scorer,” Mitchell said. “You just try your very best to play as a team and try to, you know, make everybody aware while not just being totally consumed with one player.”
UK was effective limiting Durr a season ago in holding her to 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting, but Myisha Hines-Allen scored 26 points in the game – a 69-67 overtime loss for UK – to prove Mitchell’s point.
“They are not a one-player band there,” Mitchell said. “They have a lot of good players.”
Mitchell would say the same about his own team, though UK will come into Sunday as the underdog. History, however, suggests a competitive game is in the offing. The Cats won five straight games in the series prior to last year and four of the last five games overall have been decided by single digits.
If the effort is there for the Cats, another close one could be on the way.
“I still stand by that statement and think we are going to have to be a team that successful through hustle and being precise on the simple things that we do and giving our very best and our all when we do that and we can be a dangerous team,” Mitchell said. “Still working on that and trying to get to that spot and believe that we will.”
