Cats Need to Turn Practice Work into Game Results
It’s not easy, what Matthew Mitchell is asking his team to do.
His first-year players – of which there are five – are coping with the all-new demands of Division-I college basketball. His veterans, meanwhile, aren’t able to work in the shadows behind the likes of Makayla Epps and Evelyn Akhator.
In the midst of those circumstances, those players have to produce.
“Everybody’s got to battle through and make some plays in what their role is right now and not hang on to the comfort of not being out of the spotlight,” Mitchell said. “The spotlight is shining on us right now. There is no doubt people understand that we have struggled to put the ball in the basket at times, and it is a pretty specific game plan.”
At no point was the game plan more specific than as Kentucky lost to Georgia on Sunday. The Wildcats – with Taylor Murray hounded into a scoreless afternoon and Maci Morris hampered by a bone bruise in her knee – managed 20.4-percent shooting in a 56-42 defeat.
“It was about as poor of a performance that you could see on Sunday, 20-percent shooting,” Mitchell said. “The team that beat us shot 27 percent. That would normally be an automatic win.”
Instead of an automatic win, it was an eighth straight loss for the Cats (8-9, 0-3 Southeastern Conference). You might think that would lead to some long faces and hanging heads around the Joe Craft Center, but that’s not the case.
“I’ve been very proud of the team, as difficult as it is around here to go through this because we have been so successful,” Mitchell said. “It just adds on to it. The emotions just get so high that you have to find a way and manage that and come to practice every day. I was just so impressed with them (Tuesday).”
Mitchell’s message through his team’s struggles has been that the only way to overcome them is in the gym. He considers himself blessed to have a bunch taking that to heart.
“Difficult game and about as low as you probably can get, and these kids came back yesterday really, really positive, worked real hard and got better,” Mitchell said. “We improved yesterday. Our defense continues to improve.”
But no matter how good practices are and how much the Cats improve there, it’s only going to matter so much until UK can translate that into on-court success. The next such opportunity comes as Kentucky heads to Gainesville, Florida, for a matchup with the Gators (8-8, 0-3 SEC) at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
“It would do a world of good if they could go into the game and slow down, have some poise and make some things go right,” Mitchell said. “That would be tremendous for our confidence right now because there’s no doubt about it that part of what we’re fighting right now is between the ears. There’s no question about it.”
Kentucky has had success this season. After all, that 8-1 start didn’t happen by accident. To recapture that, the Cats have to take control of their own destiny.
“The results we are getting are not indicative of what their ability is,” Mitchell said. “We’ve just got to keep working, getting better. I think that is what our challenge is right now. Nothing is going to happen for us. Eventually, we have to step up and make some things happen.”
