Toughness a top priority vs. Texas A&M: "We don't want the University of Kentucky men's basketball team to be associated with soft."

Kentucky took a firm punch to the mouth in Athens, falling 82-69 at Georgia while losing the rebounding battle once again, this time a 41-34 loss on the glass while giving up 13 offensive boards. The Wildcats lost that same battle 38-30 vs. Florida, 35-29 vs. Brown and 35-32 vs. Ohio State, a theme presenting itself at the wrong time with the competition only getting tougher in the best league in college basketball.

Then Mark Pope‘s group traveled down to Starkville and earned its best rebounding day since December, grinding out a 41-33 win on the glass en route to a 95-90 game victory over Mississippi State.

Earning a reputation for being soft?

That led to a head-turning statement from Amari Williams, who accounted for 12 of those 41 rebounds personally, once the dust settled on the win.

“A lot of people tried to say we were soft the past few games,” he told KSR. “Just coming into this game, we wanted to change the narrative. I think we did just that.”

Soft, eh? It was a topic of conversation internally leading up to the matchup, Pope going out of his way to address it during his pregame speech with the team. The players didn’t view themselves as soft — no one ever does — but if that’s the perception, maybe it’s time to bring out that championship chest and shut down that noise.

Pope calls on his team to respond

That’s what brought out the fire in Starkville, Kentucky putting together arguably its most complete performance of the season and looking plenty tough along the way.

 ”We’ve definitely talked about it, for sure. We obviously — no one really thinks of themselves as soft, so we didn’t see ourselves as soft, but it was definitely addressed before the game from the coaches and Coach Pope in particular,” freshman guard Travis Perry said Monday. “(He said) that some of the narratives around us have been that we were soft, so that was definitely a point of emphasis in his pregame speech and then for us just in general before the game.”

The Wildcats took it personally, knowing that’s not who they are as players and certainly not what they want to represent wearing Kentucky across their chests. It was already a point of emphasis, but now, it’s a mandatory and immediate change.

They certainly made it at MSU.

Passionate about toughness

“It’s something that we’re very passionate about. We don’t want the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team to be associated with soft,” Perry said. “I felt like we did a good job of that at Mississippi State and I think that’s something that we’ll definitely work on going forward. We’ve been working on being physical all year, so that’s that’s been a main goal for us.”

They answered the bell in Starkville, but that response means nothing if it doesn’t lead to long-term toughness. You can land a haymaker in round one and then get knocked out in round two — or three or five or ten. It must become a part this team’s permanent identity, and that continues with the next challenge for Kentucky on Tuesday.

The reward for gutsy win over No. 14 Mississippi State? Another hard-nosed matchup vs. No. 11 Texas A&M — plus one more vs. No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, for good measure.

Preparing for the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the country

We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, let’s worry about hosting the top-ranked offensive rebounding team in college basketball to really test this team’s fortitude. Will they rest on their laurels or double down on that grit we saw this weekend?

“They’re a very good team. Obviously, the offensive rebounding kind of sticks out for them, No. 1 in the country in offensive rebounding percentage — by a wide margin. That’s something we’re really focused on, just being physical and hitting first,” Perry said. “We talk all the time about being the hammer, being the aggressor, just kind of making that contact. That’s gonna be our goal for the game: come out ready, make a good push at the beginning and just continue it throughout.”

The effort at Georgia wasn’t good enough, but it was a solid wake-up call and preview of what was to come in this league, maybe the strongest in the history of the sport. Don’t come out swinging and you will get swung upon, it’s that simple.

No days off in the SEC

That’s what led to the response in Starkville, and hopefully, once again back in Lexington against the Aggies on Tuesday.

“ I think it’s pretty easy whenever we’re going over the scout for whatever new team we’re playing that week in the SEC, they’re pretty consistently a top-25 in the country in offensive rebounding. That lets you know that if you’re not physical, if you’re soft, you’re probably gonna get smacked that day,” Perry said. “I think that’s kind of a good reminder for us, taking that competitive edge into every game.

“I feel like our team is built up of guys that really want to win, and the physical battle is often one of the things that helps win a game — especially in the SEC. Every week you’re playing a top-25 team, so that’s something that I think we know we have to be good at going forward.”

“It’s probably the main reason you come to Kentucky.”

The opportunity is why you come to Kentucky. You could go anywhere else and beat up on lesser competition before sleepwalking into the postseason, fast-forwarding through the enjoyment of the process to simply get to March.

Here, and especially now, you appreciate the lumps you take and the chances you earn to throw ’em right back. Somebody has got to come out on top of this juggernaut of a league, why not us?

 ”It’s awesome, it’s what makes this league special. It’s probably the main reason you come to Kentucky, you get to play the best teams every single night. This year is probably the best the league has ever been, so just that opportunity to go out and you win a game — you can enjoy it that night, maybe a little bit the next morning, but then you’re on to the next team,” Perry said. “That’s something that I think will really help us down the line. We want to win every game we can and we know that there are going to be hiccups on the road — like, the SEC is insane this year.

“Just kind of having that mindset going in every game that every game is super important. It’s going to be good for us in the long run.”