Young Kentucky team focusing on the now, not looking ahead to Kansas

In just five days, Kentucky men’s basketball will take on the top-ranked team in the country up in Chicago. The Wildcats will face its first true test of the 2023-24 season against No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday night — only the third game of the regular season for this young Kentucky group. You couldn’t ask for a better litmus test for mid-November basketball.

With that in mind, it would be easy for John Calipari’s group to get ahead of themselves. All eyes will be on the matchup against Kansas in the United Center — a 9:30 p.m. EST tip time on ESPN as part of the annual Champions Classic. It will be the most high-profile showdown of the college season up to that point. With eight freshmen and two sophomores on Kentucky’s roster, there’s going to be plenty of pressure on their shoulders — a different kind of pressure they felt when most were five-star high school recruits.

But as we’ve started to learn more about this youthful, yet talented group, the more the idea of looking too far ahead doesn’t seem like one they would invest in. Kentucky still has a game to play before Kansas. The Wildcats will host Texas A&M-Commerce — in just its second season as a Division I program — on Friday night at Rupp Arena.

“I’d say that we’ve been blessed with dudes that live where their feet are,” Graduate student Tre Mitchell, who has played over 100 games of college basketball during his career, told reporters on Thursday. “There’s not really much commotion at all about what’s to come. They’re focused on this scout, this matchup, what we got. And I think that’s a blessing in itself because it’s easy for young dudes to look ahead and be excited for something, but they know that we’ve got to handle business here first.”

This game won’t be anything too new to Mitchell, who has played in plenty of big-time matchups throughout his time in college. The 6-foot-9 veteran forward has gone up against the likes of Auburn, Baylor (three times), Gonzaga, Kansas (four times), Tennessee, Virginia, and plenty of others over the years. The nerves don’t hit him like they did when he was in the same shoes as his freshmen teammates.

His experience is another reason why Mitchell isn’t worried about what actually happens against Kansas. A team is not defined by how they perform in November. It’s all about preparing for March. That isn’t to say he doesn’t think Kentucky can beat Kansas, but he knows that type of game is exactly what this group needs to reach the ultimate goal. It’s all part of the season-long process.

“It’s an opportunity for us to test what we’ve got,” Mitchell added. “It’s early, so it’s not as big of a stress as it would be later. Because I think that throughout this season, you’re gonna see this team grow in a lot of ways, just based off of experience in college basketball alone.

“That being said, I don’t think that there’s any type of approach that we feel like we’re lacking and we’re not capable of going out there and winning that game. It’s just gonna show people the dogs that we have on this team early. People are gonna be able to see how that changes throughout the season, how much better this team gets.”

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Mitchell’s added weight a factor against Hunter Dickinson

Kentucky fans are very familiar with Kansas’ 7-foot-1 center Hunter Dickinson. While at Michigan, he posted 23 points and nine rebounds against the Wildcats during last season’s overseas matchup in London, a result that ended with a UK win. Kentucky then went after him through the transfer portal in the offseason while losing Oscar Tshiebwe to the NBA. Dickinson ultimately went a different direction though, landing in Lawrence with the Jayhawks.

Nearly one year after that game in England, Dickinson will get another shot at Kentucky, albeit against a completely different roster and stylistic approach compared to last season. The Wildcats will also likely be without any of their three seven-footers. Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso are still recovering from injury while Zvonimir Ivisic has yet to be cleared by the NCAA.

That leaves Tre Mitchell as Kentucky’s primary option to both defend and go at Dickinson. Though he stands roughly 4-5 inches shorter than Dickinson, Mitchell has been unintentionally preparing for this matchup. Much has been made about the offseason body transformations of players such as Adou Thiero and Rob Dillingham, but Mitchell was putting in serious work, as well.

“I’ve put on about 10-15 pounds since I’ve been here,” He said Thursday. “I feel that while I’m out there on the court I’m able to be a little bit more physical and move dudes a little bit easier. But that’s just part of my game. I’m never going to back down from any type of physicality.”

Mitchell is going to need every ounce of his added weight to battle against Dickinson, who is listed at 260 pounds by the Kansas team website. Although Dickinson is trying to expand his range beyond the three-point arc, his bread and butter is around the basket. Kansas will likely try to exploit Kentucky’s lack of size inside — force-feeding Dickinson on the block is an easy approach.

But that gameplan won’t be much of a shock to Mitchell, especially without any of those seven-footers around him. It’s no secret that Kansas will look to attack UK in the paint. Luckily, Mitchell came to Kentucky with the intention of bulking up. He’s now reached the ideal weight that allows him to play with physicality without sacrificing any speed.

“I knew coming here I was gonna have to be a little bit bigger to fit in the role that they needed me to fit into. I just kind of molded to it,” Mitchell added. “I wanted to put more weight on it anyways because I feel like I play my best at that 230, 235 (pound) range.”

Slowing down Dickinson is much easier said than done, but it helps to have a veteran like Mitchell who can hold his own.