Aaron Bradshaw just played his game against Mississippi State: "I stopped getting in my head."

If he hasn’t already, Aaron Bradshaw would probably prefer to forget his performance against Texas A&M ever happened. The freshman center played just six minutes in Kentucky’s overtime loss to the Aggies on Saturday, riding the bench nearly all game long due to non-stop foul trouble.

Staying on the floor this season hasn’t always been as easy as it sounds for Bradshaw. Following Kentucky’s 90-77 win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night, he’s now played just nine college games after returning from foot surgery. There are still some high school habits he’s trying to break.

But he took a significant step in the right direction against MSU.

“I stopped getting in my head. I just started playing basketball,” Bradshaw said postgame. “That’s all I really want to do is just play basketball. Just had to toughen it out and keep moving on.”

Bradshaw finished his night with 11 points (5-8 FG), six rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in 25 minutes. It wasn’t a perfect game from start to finish, but he showed moments of growth throughout. After picking up a cheap personal foul not even two minutes into the game, he could fallen into the same hole that trapped him against Texas A&M.

But that never happened. In fact, Bradshaw didn’t pick up his second foul until early in the second half. However, it came during another teaching moment from head coach John Calipari, who pulled Bradshaw after the foul and gave him some words of advice before sending him back in midway through the half.

“He said just be me. Do what I do. Block shots, shoot the ball, rebound, and do everything that I’m capable of doing,” Bradshaw said of that conversation with Calipari. “Stop getting in your head, stop playing like you don’t care. Just play.“

“Aaron, acted like the game didn’t matter at the start of the half,” Calipari said. “I subbed him, what, 30 seconds in? You’re out. And he came in and played liked that… It’s not about make [sic] shots. It’s about are you desperate, are you ready. How about Aaron diving on the floor three times today? Aaron, our seven-foot big guy. And how much better was he this game than last game? He knew he didn’t play well last game. He was better.”