Cats Need Guts, Discipline for a Deep Tourney Run

What will it take for Kentucky to make a deep run in the Southeastern Conference Tournament?

“It’s all guts — it’s guts and discipline and you get deep into a tournament run especially with us only having a single bye,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said Thursday.

“You get pretty deep and it’s fun to get to that point because the nervousness goes away and there’s some freshness that goes away and then you are kind of working on just this passion and determination left in the game and that’s a really special place to get to.”

Kentucky, the No. 6 seed, will take on Oklahoma at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Wildcats (21-10) lost to the Bulldogs (82-69) and nipped the Sooners (83-82) during the regular season.

In their past five appearances in the tournament, the Wildcats have compiled a 2-5 record and have lost their opening game the last two years, including a 97-87 loss to Texas A&M last year.

Pope has no link to the recent lack of success in the league tournament and places a premium on making a successful run. Pope has already discussed the importance of staying in the moment.

“Our goal is to come here and win,” he said. “The way that we’re gonna win is we’re gonna come here and we’re going to think about each possession. We’re going to be lost with our whole hearts in each possession.

“When the next possession comes, we’re going to be lost in that possession. If we do our job right, we’re going to give ourselves the best chance to be successful, it doesn’t guarantee anything, but the best chance to be successful. Our whole heart, mind and soul is going to be lost in the possession that we’re in right now. If we can do that consistently, we’re going to be successful.”

Pope likes the way his team is trending going into the postseason, especially on the defensive end of the court. The Wildcats have won two straight and three of their last four games and surrendered an average of 73.5 points per game in wins over LSU and Missouri last week.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team make the strides that this group has made analytically on the defensive end (during the past month),” Pope said. “That’s massively important for us that we continue to grow there. I think we can (and) we’re growing that way, and then you’re always adding in tweaks (and adjustments).”

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Gametracker: Kentucky vs. Oklahoma or Georgia, 9:30 p.m. (EST). TV/Radio: SECN and UK Radio Network.