Balls are tipped to the left or the right before a point guard even knows there's a defender behind her.
Passes are being intercepted almost before they leave a guard's hands.
Traps are set quickly, before the ball handler can see the word "Kentucky" come into focus on her opponents' blue and white jersey.
"We're trying to make it a desperate situation every possession," Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell said of his team's defense. "We're trying to speed you up and play like it's the end of the game every possession."
No. 20 UK wants its opponent to panic from the tip to the final horn.
It has worked so far.
Just ask opposing coaches.
"Kentucky does a good job of causing you to have problems," Alabama Coach Wendell Hudson said after the Cats forced his team to turn over the ball 25 times. "It was the worst night of taking care of the basketball we've ever had."
That is music to Kentucky's ears.
The Cats, who face Ole Miss in Memorial Coliseum on Thursday, are on a roll. They have won 14 straight at home and an unprecedented five straight in the Southeastern Conference.
They have gone from one of the SEC's worst offensive teams (63.2 points a game) to the conference's best, averaging 77.4 points, which is 13th in the nation.
Shooting percentages are up for sure, but that's not what's won 18 games for UK so far this season.
It's a simple formula, really. It's been Kentucky's ability to create havoc, which in turn creates turnovers, which creates points.
Sixteen times this season, the Cats have forced opponents to turn the ball over 20 or more times.
"They do a really, really good job of taking you out of what you want to do," said Auburn Coach Nell Fortner, whose team turned over the ball 25 times against Kentucky, which turned in to 30 points for the Cats.
UK has averaged 26.6 points off turnovers this season to just 13.5 for its opponents.
Thanks to those turnovers, the Cats are shooting an average of eight more shots and eight more free throws a game than their opponent.
That all starts with hard work on defensive fundamentals in practice, Mitchell said.
At one practice this week, UK did more than eight different drills that focused on such things as footwork, trapping and talking on defense.
"Every coach in the country is trying to get their players to play hard," Mitchell said. "I don't take this group for granted for a second. They're a hard-working bunch."
Practices aren't for the faint of heart or body, he said.
"The way we run things, it's not for everybody," he said. "And not everyone would want to come here, nor would everyone fit in here.
"It's not a real relaxed situation. You have to have pretty good discipline to survive here."
UK is among the smallest teams in the SEC. It doesn't have a ton of star power (just one player, Victoria Dunlap, ranks in the conference's top 20 in scoring), but it is winning anyway behind its quickness and effort.
"We are not going to blow anybody's doors off with our talent," Mitchell said. "We have many flaws as a basketball team, but one thing I'm so impressed by is the ability they've shown to play hard for really long stretches."
Many of UK's all-important points off turnovers are coming from steals.
The Cats, who lead the SEC in takeaways, already have 259 steals this season, which is more than they've had in any of the past seven seasons — and there are still eight games left in the regular season.
Since the 2001-02 season, Kentucky hasn't been better than 11th out of 12 SEC teams in steals per game.
Dunlap (3.4) and freshman A'dia Mathies (2.6) are first and second in the conference in steals per game.
"Defense is what I do," said Dunlap, who is on pace to set a school record for steals per game in a season. "I have a passion for it. It doesn't matter if there's someone bigger than me, I'm just going to work twice as hard as they are."
It's that hard hat mentality that has helped Kentucky nearly double their opponents' number of steals this season. UK is registering 259 to 130 for the opposing teams.
The Cats are ninth in the nation in steals a game at 12.3.
Point guard Amber Smith, who is primarily responsible for pressure on the ball in UK's mostly man-to-man defensive scheme, said the players like to outwork their opponents.
"We just try to give it all we got," she said. "Coach says as long as we go out for four minutes at a time — go all out — he'll give us a sub. We are willing to do that and work hard for our teammates because we love each other."
