Cats expect more physical challenges ahead

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As the still-perfect University of Kentucky basketball team searches for new challenges to keep its interest, here comes one: three games in six days, the second of which is Saturday night at home against Alabama. Tipoff is a mere 41 hours after the Wildcats' 2 a.m. return from a win at Missouri on Thursday night.

The whirlwind ends Tuesday at Rupp Arena against Georgia, a top-30 team in both the RPI and Ken Pomeroy's ratings, which has won five consecutive games. All of this, of course, precedes back-to-back road games at Florida and LSU for Kentucky (20-0, 7-0 Southeastern Conference).

"It'll be a tough stretch," coach John Calipari said. "Thank God we have a lot of guys, but it still will be a tough stretch of games for us."

The Cats passed the first part of their test, surviving a slugfest and foul-filled contest at Missouri to win by 16. The Tigers, who lost by 49 in the first meeting and said the goal was to get more physical in the rematch, committed 31 fouls.

It's a template UK expects most opponents going forward to follow.

"That's how teams are going to play us: just try to be physical with us," said center Dakari Johnson, who had eight points, seven rebounds and sank 4 of 5 free throws at Missouri. "We've just got to play physical back."

So far, despite a handful of close calls, these Wildcats have met every challenge — to the tune of the best start by an SEC team since Kentucky's 1966 squad won its first 23 games. They've hit the halfway point on the pursuit of an unprecedented 40-0 season.

The Cats are trying to block out the growing noise about that number. Point guard Andrew said the team isn't thinking about it "at all."

"Might as well be 0-0. Gotta keep playing," he said. "The SEC is a great league. You can be beat any night."

Assistant coach John Robic, though, points out that winning your first 20 games is not for nothing, hardly insignificant. It's an accomplishment.

"Give the players a ton of credit. They're finding a way to win games," he said. "It's kind of neat that they can make their mark as a team, but they probably don't even know it. It's a good feeling to have. We're just going to try to keep stringing games (together)."

That starts tonight, as the gauntlet resumes. Kentucky beat Alabama by 22 in Tuscaloosa just two weeks ago and the Tide (13-7, 3-4) will be without their second-leading scorer in this one, but the Cats figure they'll get a more motivated team this time around. It always seems to work that way.

More importantly, what will Kentucky have left in the tank Tuesday against the Bulldogs?

"These kids are used to playing AAU basketball, playing four or five times a day," Robic said. And that's the good thing about playing as many players as we're playing: they should be somewhat OK physically."

They all aspire to someday play in the NBA, after all, and the pros play three to five games a week. Calipari knows from his time coaching the New Jersey Nets how to manage that. However …

"I got fired in the NBA," he said, "so we're not going to use that experience."

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.