UK has been hard at work for the better part of a week following a Saturday win over archrival Louisville, taking full advantage of this rare time when basketball is the lone priority. You won’t catch them raving about how much fun they’re having like their coach, but the Wildcats see the benefits.
“It’s all right,” freshman Charles Matthews said. “Of course there are going to be times when your body will feel like it can’t go. But that’s when your mind has to step in and say, ‘We’re ready to go.’ It’s been difficult, but we’re basketball players, so we can get to work and there’s nothing too hard.”
After two practices on Friday, No. 10/11 UK (10-2) will return to Rupp Arena to host Ole Miss (10-2) in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. It will be right back to Camp Cal on Sunday and Monday, but not before the Rebels offer a test.
“They have great enthusiasm right now,” Calipari said. “They’re fighting better, but this is a physical team that we’re about to play. It’ll be a dogfight in a lot of different places.”
It was certain a dogfight between Ole Miss and Kentucky a season ago, when the visiting Rebels took the Cats to overtime behind an incredible effort by 5-foot-10 guard Stefan Moody. UK would survive, 89-86, thanks in part to Moody’s late-game cramps, but the senior has shown few signs of fatigue in leading the SEC in scoring (23.8 points per game) and averaging 35 minutes per game.
“I don’t think we expected him to go off like he did,” Derek Willis said of Moody’s 25-point performance. “This year I would say we’d be more prepared. I know he’s going to come in the building and try to do what he did last year again.”
Ole Miss has rounded into form since Moody’s full-time move to point guard. The Rebels are winners of seven straight and excel attacking the offensive glass.
“We are what we are: We’re an energy team, we are a team that has to fight and play with great enthusiasm and make easy plays,” Calipari said. “And then it’ll be an eight-point game, one way or another, and five minutes to go, you’re in a dogfight. That’s what I see throughout this league.”
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