Cats learning perfection won't be easy in SEC

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Largely unchallenged through the first third of its season, the top-ranked University of Kentucky basketball team has learned valuable lessons its last two times out.

A rugged, narrow win at Louisville, the first true road game of the season, taught the Wildcats "we're not liked in many spots," freshman Karl-Anthony Towns said.

And from a surprising, narrower-still overtime win over Ole Miss in Tuesday night's Southeastern Conference opener, "you can see that everyone's really out to get us," Towns said. "We've got a big target on our back and we've got to make sure that we keep moving so they can't hit us."

Both those lessons will serve Kentucky well Saturday in its SEC road opener at Texas A&M (9-4, 0-1). Consecutive single-digit victories – after winning the first dozen by an average of 29 points – have hit the Cats (14-0, 1-0) with a dose of reality.

"It'll wake them up to the fact that now we're in league play, and things change in league play," Rebels coach Andy Kennedy said after giving UK a scare at Rupp Arena. "I think Kentucky is fantastic and I honestly believe this will do them worlds of good, because now I think (coach John Calipari) has their full attention."

On this week's SEC teleconference, coaches were peppered with questions about Kentucky's pursuit of a perfect season and whether it's good for the conference. The underlying tone: Does anyone else in this league stand a chance? Ole Miss gave the others hope.

"I think it's great for the league," LSU coach Johnny Jones said, although "I think (for) the coaches in the league, it's not a great storyline, because we all have a different agenda. I'm hopeful that if they should have a setback, that shouldn't be a bad thing for our league, but it should say a lot for our league, that someone had the ability to maybe give them a setback before the season was over."

While Aggies coach Billy Kennedy – whose team just lost by 21 at Alabama – doesn't sound like a man who believes his team is ideally suited to score that upset, stranger things have happened. In 2013, Kennedy's A&M team that ended up with 15 losses managed to roll the Cats in Rupp Arena.

This, he knows, is a different story. Looking forward to the opportunity to hand UK its first loss?

"Not a lot. Not a lot, to be honest with you," Kennedy said. "They're so deep and so talented. You gotta hope they don't shoot the ball well, and you give them one shot. That's the biggest key. And the hardest thing is scoring against them.

"I wasn't coaching when John Wooden had his UCLA teams. That's the only thing I can imagine (compares)."

But the Cats didn't look like world beaters when they trailed in the final minute of regulation Tuesday against an Ole Miss team that has lost to Charleston Southern, Western Kentucky and Dayton.

"It was definitely a wake-up call for all of us," UK freshman Trey Lyles said. "They're gonna come out and play that much harder against us. It's SEC play now – very physical. I'd say it was the most physical game we've played so far this year. We're going to get every team's best shot, so we just have to be prepared for it."

That's no different than any other year for the Wildcats in this league, however, Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. At least this Kentucky team has a core of veterans who've run the gauntlet once (or twice in junior Willie Cauley-Stein's case) already.

"Gyms are more electric when they walk in anyway. That part wouldn't change. The media coverage changes when they walk in the gym already. It wouldn't take (the pursuit of) an undefeated season for that to be any different. It's already like that," Stallings said. "Obviously Kentucky has sort of separated themselves in the nonconference from the rest of the world, not only from our league but from everybody else's league as well. But I think our league is deep and I think that the conference season will be an absolute grind.

"(A perfect season) certainly would be an exciting storyline. It hasn't happened since 1976, so it would be a very exciting storyline, I think, for all of college basketball. But that's a lot easier said than done."

These Cats are starting to see that now.

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