SEC Tournament was eye-opening, learning experience for Kentucky players

The SEC Tournament was a brand-new experience for every single Kentucky player who took the floor in Nashville. And in a matter of 24 hours, they experienced the highest of highs (another Otega Oweh game-winner) and the lowest of lows (a 29-point blowout loss to Alabama). It was a learning adventure, for sure, even if the end result was far from what they wanted.

Going into the NCAA Tournament next week, the Wildcats will use their SEC Tournament experience as motivation to make a deep run. The grind of playing in a historically good conference was already tough, but the postseason is proving to be even tougher.

“You gotta be ready to bring it every single game,” Fifth-year guard Koby Brea, who played in two NCAA Tournament games last season with Dayton, said after the loss to Alabama. “We ran into a really good team and we didn’t do our job. We just weren’t good enough. We just know that we got to keep putting in the work throughout this week, know that we have something to look forward to next week. Just gotta move past this one and be ready.”

Injuries — an issue for most of the season — once again didn’t help in Nashville, either. Already down Jaxson Robinson (the only player on the roster with SEC Tournament experience) and Kerr Kriisa, Kentucky lost Lamont Butler midway through the win over Oklahoma on Thursday and was without him entirely against Alabama. Collin Chandler and Oweh both received stitches after taking blows to the face in the conference tournament.

Luckily, Butler is expected to return for the NCAA Tournament. Chandler and Oweh will be good to go, as well. But in the Big Dance, you’re only one bad game away from the season being over, no matter who is healthy or hurt. There’s no time for relaxing.

“I think taking every possession one possession at a time,” Chandler, a freshman, said when asked what he learned most about the postseason so far. “I think at some point we were down 10 to 15 points (against Alabama) and I think we just need to take it one possession at a time. I don’t know if we did the greatest at that and turning into each other and keeping the fire of hope alive. But I think I learned a lot about how to fight, even if it didn’t go our way tonight. We’re gonna come different.”

It only took Alabama a few possessions to rip Kentucky to shreds in the second half. Trailing by seven at the break, UK watched the Crimson Tide double that advantage in five minutes once the game started back up. It was over from there. Against Oklahoma the night before, Kentucky saw a double-digit lead with less than 90 seconds to go nearly turn into an all-time collapse.

So yes, treating every single possession like it’s the last one of the season is important. Being able to make more adjustments on the fly is something Oweh noted as a point of emphasis going into March Madness. And after Alabama dropped 99 points on the ‘Cats, the defensive side of the ball — an area of great improvement for UK over the last several weeks — needs to get back in a flow.

“The defensive side, it’s really important, especially if you want to do great things in the NCAA Tournament,” Senior forward Ansley Almonor, who helped Fairleigh Dickinson upset top-seeded Purdue two NCAA Tournaments ago, said after UK lost to Alabama. “We gotta be able to take that side personally and not have as many lapses as we did today.”

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