Olivier Sarr (Vicky Graff Photo)
When Kentucky and Florida played in early January, UK shocked almost everyone by winning 76-58. It was easily UK’s best performance of the season and had many Big Blue fans hoping the Wildcats were ready to get untracked. It didn’t quite work out that way but Kentucky now has won three games in a row for just the second time going into today’s game with Florida. The Cats are now 8-13 overall but 7-7 in SEC play with two more games left next week.
“I think they’re playing better. I think they’re definitely playing better than earlier in the season,” UK senior center Olivier Sarr said about the Gators Friday. “It’s going to be a challenge for us, but also we are also playing better.
“I think it’s going to be a great game. It’s going to be a start to get us going and keep in that winning streak. Hopefully, we will compete and play hard and fight.”
Kentucky has to do exactly that to keep the momentum for the upcoming SEC Tournament it has to win to get into the NCAA Tournament. The Cats are coming off an impressive win at Tennessee.
“I was talking to Keion (Brooks Jr.) and Olivier yesterday. It just seems like there’s a different type of feel out there. Earlier in the season, not even earlier in the season, but a few games ago I think we went on a little stretch and during that time it was like, OK, we’re winning these games, but something just still feels off,” senior guard Davion Mintz said. “We’re still missing that piece and not as a person, but a form of like unity.”
“Really, we didn’t know what it was, but we were winning those games, but they were still close. We’d have a lead, but the end of the game would still be kind of rough. Then just this last stretch that we had, now it’s just like a different feeling out there. Like, I’ll do anything for my brother. I can’t even describe it.”
“I think that we were all like devoted to doing what we have to do. We feel not the pressure, but we feel the importance of now we don’t have a choice, we have to be unified out there and I think that’s the biggest thing that’s changed.
“We have gotten it, and I know during awhile ago we said, ‘We’ve got to get it. It’ll turn.’ But I really do think that now we understand the importance of being a brotherhood out there.”
That unity has also blossomed as UK’s 3-point shooting has got dramatically better both in terms of the number of shots made and the number of players making shots.
“I think it’s just a feel out there and then just guys keeping other guys confident. Like I was mentioning the brotherhood, I feel that the level of togetherness. Like, the guys when I feel like they’re passing me the ball they’re expecting me to make it and they know that I am. I feel like it’s so much easier to make a shot,” Mintz said.
“It’s all confidence. Everything is really mental and that’s everything that you do. Just having not only your mental but someone else’s mental just as confident in you. That’s the results you’ll get. I think extra reps of course, the longer you’ve been doing something it’s going to fall in. Besides that, just having good reps and having people beside you believing in you helps as well.”
Even Sarr has got more comfortable taking and making 3-point shots in UK’s recent surge.
“Some games I’ll need to step out. Some of the games I’ll step out but the defense would adjust. I’m not going to take as many 3’s, but a lot of different stuff is going to be open because of that,” Sarr said. “Whether it’s the roll guy, whether it’s the skip, it’s just going to space the court, and that’s what’s good about it and I think that definitely helps space the floor and create open shots.”
