Kentucky hopes to bring Tennessee mentality to postseason

John Calipari may downplay the importance of the SEC Tournament, but for this young Kentucky Basketball team, it could serve as a practice run for the real win-or-go-home reality facing them next week.

Yesterday, sophomores Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero shared the advice they’re giving the freshmen ahead of the Cats’ trip to Nashville. After Kentucky lost to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament last year and in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Kansas State, both know the sense of urgency the Cats must play with to avoid another early exit.

“The only thing to expect is it’s a lose-and-go-home game,” Onyenso said. “That’s the only thing to tell them. Every other thing, we’re going to prepare for. We’re going to come into all these tournaments like we did vs. Tennessee. This is the SEC Tournament. We’ve played everybody. The only thing we’ve got to prepare for or expect is once you lose, it’s done.”

Onyenso was one of the stars of the 85-81 victory, helping set the tone defensively against the No. 4 Vols, who scored 103 points vs. the Cats earlier this season in Rupp. Onyenso knows that to stay alive in Nashville, Kentucky has to bring that same energy, especially if they play Texas A&M, a team that beat them earlier this season.

“We’ve just got to be physical. Like I said, come in and play the way we played against Tennessee. It’s all mental. We all clicked against Tennessee. We all really, really did. If we could play like that from Friday moving on, I think we’ll get to the place everybody expects us to be. That’s all it is.”

Thiero said that while the veterans are encouraging the freshmen to play with urgency, they don’t want to overdo it. Getting past those early nerves will be significant on Friday night.

“Basically just saying, now it’s win or go home. We also need to approach it like it’s just another game and not get too big on it and to just go out there and play our game and not get nervous. In the first four minutes, people are going to be gassed because it’s going to be everyone’s adrenaline’s going to be going and everything, but after that first win, I think everyone should be okay.”

Bruiser Flint believes that’s part of the reason Calipari is downplaying the SEC Tournament in practice.

“I think he just wants us to play well and keep our momentum going from how we played the last few weeks,” Flint told reporters yesterday. “I think that’s the biggest thing right there. But Cal really downplays it but I think the guys are really excited to go into the tournament. To have this experience, I think they’re excited about it.”

“I know most of us, we’re a young group,” Onyenso said. “Most of us are freshmen and they haven’t been in this situation before. It can be overwhelming. We’ve just got to stay the course and I feel like we’ve been preparing for the whole season. If we can do that, we’ll be really good.”

One game at a time.

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