Kyra Elzy to Wildcats — leave your heart on the floor in postseason play

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Vicky Graff Photo

Kentucky opens Southeastern Conference play this afternoon in Greenville, S.C., at about 1 p.m. EST on the SEC Network. First-year head coach Kyra Elzy says she is continuing to learn after being promoted following the preseason resignation of then-head coach Matthew Mitchell.

“What is going on in my mind is what I told the team yesterday: March is what you play for. Let’s have fun and be focused. March is survive and advance. Leave your heart on the floor and control the things you can control,” Elzy said.

“We talked about it as a team, we are going to focus on the positive and focus on playing to our strengths.”

Elzy said the obvious goal is to win the SEC Tournament even though UK is a No. 5 seed and would have to win four games in four days to do that starting with today’s matchup against Florida, a winner over Auburn Wednesday afternoon.

“The SEC Tournament is extremely important but March is survive and advance. I just tried to remind the team that there are a lot of positives about this group. We are very talented and have a lot of depth. We still are one of the top teams in the country and are a dangerous team,” the UK coach said.

Kentucky didn’t play like a top team Sunday when it lost at home on Senior Day to Ole Miss. Elzy said “disappointing” was the only way to describe the loss.

“Basketball season is a journey and you will have some highs and have some lows. That goes back to being resilient and mentally tough. You learn from what happened and move forward,” she said. “This time of year, you have to have a short memory. We cannot just keep our minds in the past, we have to be ready for the present and in the moment.”

Elzy knows it is important to just think about one game at a time but she also hopes her team’s depth could help the Cats make a sustained tourney run.

“Having Rhyne Howard is great. Obviously, she is very gifted, and congrats to her for SEC Player of the Year, well deserved, and also Chasity (Patterson) on the SEC All-Defensive Team,” Elzy said.

“But then, when you get into the postseason, it is the x-factors that come into play. It’s going to be the other people that step up and make plays, so we’re going to have to have a balanced scoring, attack and also everyone just selling out defensively.”

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