Remember when Mark Pope, after the Kentucky-Louisville game, maybe said too much about something that happened before the game? It turned out that their pregame routine was just different from what it normally is for the Wildcats (or so Pope says).
That said, there has been a recent change in practice for the Wildcats. Getting blown out by Vanderbilt may have had something to do with that.
Just ask UK Sports Network analyst Jack “Goose” Givens, who didn’t hold back his frustration after the recent
debacle in Nashville.
“I’m sorry I’m up on my pulpit, but that’s where it starts. It starts in practice,” said Goose on the Leach Report last week.
Following that game, Givens attended Thursday’s practice and noticed a difference in the intensity with additional game simulations in practice. Kentucky also cranked up its pregame prep a few notches.
Leach and Givens noted that every player was lathered up in sweat at Bud Walton Arena before tip-off, and it seemed to pay off in a big way as the Cats raced out to a big lead early and came away with an 85-77 victory.
“We definitely did have a good practice, and we kind of switched our flow up a little bit,” Trent Noah said after the win, which saw him have his best performance of the season. “We made it a little more game-like. We did kind of the same pregame stuff that we would do as a game, and then tonight, that kind of helped our slow start. That’s just another credit to the staff.
“These coaches that we get to play for are brilliant. They’re some of the best minds. And it sure fixed it tonight.”
You could see the Wildcats’ intensity was much greater against Arkansas. They were ready for the high level of physicality that the game presented and the emotions the game took on.
When I was in school at Cincinnati, former Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin said at a certain time during the season that practice was only 90 minutes. As we head towards March, there may be teams that do something similar.
This Kentucky team, though, may be different in how it practices.
“The last couple of days, we asked them to approach practice a little different,” Pope said to Tom Leach after the win at Arkansas. “Every team’s different. I’ve never had a team that needed some of the things that this team needs, and I’ve never had a team that can do some of the things that this team has.
“So we were trying things that we’ve actually never done before, and I thought our guys responded. They really tried to just get a few minutes in each practice where we’re at a heightened competitive level. There’s a good chance it helped us feel right earlier in this game. We’ll see what kind of staying power it has.”
That competitive spirit we kept hearing about with this team throughout the summer is starting to show itself at the right time. Let’s hope it continues this week vs. Oklahoma and Tennessee at Rupp Arena.
