Kentucky players are excited to see Big Blue Nation in Tampa

Before Kentucky Basketball flies to Tampa to begin its SEC Tournament Week, three of the players–TyTy Washington, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Sahvir Wheeler–took questions from the media about the upcoming conference tournament. For two of three, it will be their first SEC Tournament. For Wheeler, it is his first full tournament with crowds. The former Georgia guard played in the Wednesday night session before the 2020 tournament was canceled the following day; last year, he played one game with Georgia without an audience.

On Tuesday, Wheeler recalled seeing Big Blue Nation at the 2020 tournament before it was shut down. He was impressed.

“To be completely honest, I remember an SEC game my freshman year and I saw Kentucky fans and blue shirts everywhere,” Wheeler said of the Kentucky crowd in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, two days before Kentucky’s first tournament game. “We were playing, Georgia was playing; Kentucky didn’t even play that year.”

“So I’m hoping and I’m pretty sure that Kentucky fans are going to travel, so to make it less like a neutral game field,” he added. “But all in all, I’m super excited to get down there and compete for an SEC Tournament championship.”

It will be Oscar Tshiebwe’s first SEC Tournament, but he too called on Big Blue Nation to show up in Tampa.

“Anything with our fans, we can do,” Tshiebwe said. “We’re going out there–it’s not going to be easy–we have to go fight and have fun. So we just asked them to come… Their presence for us means a lot. They motivate us, so for me to see our UK fans out there, it makes me go like a thousand times harder to try and make sure everybody at the end of the game, we are so happy. So their presence means a lot for me and it means a lot for my team too.”

As for Kentucky’s mentality within the locker room, both Wheeler and TyTy Washington spoke of the team goals in Tampa. Washington said, “It’s really life or death, really; we’re taking every game one at a time. We know we lose, we’re going back home and we want to stay out in Tampa as long as we can. So the goal is just to stay together, stay connected, buy into what coaches are saying, and ultimately just get wins.”

Wheeler responded, “You take it one game. We’re trying to win it, obviously, but we’re also trying to make sure we do what we’re doing to get ready for the NCAA Tournament, you know, playing for seeding making sure we can be the highest seed that we can, making sure we’re continuing to get better as a team.”

Kentucky’s first game is Friday night. Get in there. Oscar said he needs you.

Hear more from Wheeler, Washington, and Tshiebwe in Tuesday’s pre-SEC Tournament press conference.