Kenny Brooks was pleased with the resolve that his team showed against Purdue Fort Wayne

Kentucky’s win against Purdue Fort Wayne was an ugly one. After trailing for most of the game, the Cats pulled out a 79-67 victory over the Mastodons. Just 48 hours before, Kentucky was in the midst of a high-emotion, high-intensity game against Louisville — a game in which several players played north of 40 minutes due to the game going to overtime.

Needless to say, Kentucky wasn’t quite at 100% coming into Monday’s game. Not necessarily because of injury, but because of fatigue. Knowing that, Kenny Brooks was pleased with what he saw of his team against Purdue Fort Wayne.

Sometimes, he has to think back to his days as a player in order to understand where the players are both mentally and physically.

“There’s a lot of good [you can take away],” Brooks said postgame. “I’m just a coach. We’re crazy sometimes, and you want everything to be perfect. It’s so funny because I’m so far removed as a player, that sometimes I forget — sometimes [Georgia Amoore] has to remind me that she’s ‘I’m tired’. And I remember when I played, I used to be tired, and you couldn’t push through. And it was just like, oh, I can’t get through and mentally and everything and my coach, Lefty Driesell, screaming at me, and I just wanted to be like, dude, I’m tired. So now, I’m him because I look at them like, come on, you need to do this. It’s basketball, and they’re not gonna be perfect.”

Of course, it’s not like Kentucky played a team that was totally fresh either, but Brooks was still appreciative for the fight that his team brought.

“You know, for Purdue Fort Wayne, they practice every day just like we do,” Brooks explained. “They run plays. They’re going to execute. The main thing that I can take away from everything is the resolve. We have to. Our 48 hours was very challenging physically and emotionally, so we came through it unscathed. We’re 5-0 and we’re ranked — I don’t know we’re ranked, something, and so I am pleased.”

Even though he is pleased with the effort his team gave on Monday, he knows that there is still much room for improvement.

“I am pleased with them,” Brooks noted. “And after tonight, I’ll text everybody and let them know that I am pleased, and we’ll get back after it. But if I let them know I’m pleased all the time, then maybe they won’t work a little bit harder. So, they understand that. They know that, but I am pleased with what they’ve done, how they’ve gotten here. They have shown some toughness that I was wondering about, and we’ll continue to work on it.”

Thankfully, Kentucky has a full week to rest before they take on Arizona State and No. 22 Illinois in the Music City Classic.

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