Cats Bringing Plenty of Confidence Home from Paradise

For a brief moment, Matthew Mitchell hardly sounded like a coach whose teams had just charged through three impressive wins at the Paradise Jam.
 
Though his team is now 7-0 and now back in the top 25, he still felt he had far from a perfect team.
 
“We were not flawless down there,” Mitchell said. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds; we didn’t rotate well enough in our defense when we were trapping.”
 
Kentucky will certainly be working on those things, but it will be far easier to go about that work knowing the things the Wildcats have done well so far this season.
 
“There were a lot of issues,” Mitchell said, “but for all the issues, they showed tremendous guts, resilience and poise, so you need to build on those things that you’re doing well, and you need to get in here every single day.”
 
That’s quite a lot to build on.
 
The week in the Virgin Islands began with a dominating 85-63 win over then-No. 17 South Florida. The ensuing two days brought an overtime win over UCLA and a double-digit comeback victory over North Carolina.
 
“The more that you can win and have positive results and continue to see improvement in practice, then you can build momentum,” Mitchell said. “Confidence is a very powerful thing.”
 
No one is more confident at this point than Taylor Murray, the reigning SEC Player of the Week. She averaged 18.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.3 steals per game during the Paradise Jam. On the season, Murray is averaging 15.6 points and 4.4 assists. She sports an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.6:1 and is eighth nationally with 24 steals.
 
“Well, she is playing her best basketball,” Mitchell said. “She has tried to soak up every bit of knowledge that she has gained over her first three years, and she is really trying to be a senior leader. And, it’s just the little things that happen each and every day that points to how she is trying her best to be the very best version of Taylor Murray, and it was some impressive basketball she played.”
 
A year ago, Murray would not have been capable of that. Her sophomore season came with its ups and downs, when she fell victim too often to frustration at calls that weren’t made.
 
“If an official doesn’t say you’re being fouled, you’re not being fouled, no matter whether the coach or the player thinks you are,” Mitchell said. “You have to get some mental toughness. So, those kinds of experiences, she’s not doing that this year. These were three very, very physical games and very physical teams, and I think the same thing about tomorrow.”
 
Mitchell is referring to UK’s return to Memorial Coliseum, where the Wildcats will host Morehead State at noon. The Eagles are 6-1 on the season and averaging 94.7 points per game, having topped 100 points in three of their last four games.
 
“They play a dynamic style, a lot of different players who bring the ball up the floor and initiate their offense,” Mitchell said. “They’re really good in transition offense and have five kids in double-figure scoring. So, dynamic scoring team, and so you need energy against that team.”
 
The same kind of energy brought in the Virgin Islands to claim a trophy depicting a steel drum will be required on Wednesday.
 
“We’ve got to get ready for a good Morehead State team so we don’t get beaten like a steel drum tomorrow,” Mitchell said.