Not that Kentucky has had a lot of losses this season by which to judge, but it has prided itself on always following up a loss with a win.

Coach Matthew Mitchell and his 16th-ranked team would like to make sure that trend continues in the regular-season finale at Auburn on Sunday.

UK is going to have to close the door on its largest loss of the season at Tennessee on Thursday and focus on the things ahead like the chance to win again and gain some confidence going into this week's Southeastern Conference Tournament.

"I certainly don't want to have to go into the tournament with two straight losses," Mitchell said. "I want us to go in winning our last one and feeling good about ourselves."

Victoria Dunlap said the key for UK to bounce back from losses this season has been its ability to put the last game behind it — be it a win or a loss — and focus on the game in front of them.

"We just have to go in there and focus on doing the things we know we can do: play defense and play hard," Dunlap said.

Kentucky's leading scorer and a candidate for SEC Player of the Year said it would be silly for anyone to think a loss at Tennessee is a season-ender for the Cats mentally or emotionally.

As the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament next week and with an NCAA Tournament berth seemingly locked up, UK can continue to focus on learning from its mistakes.

"It's definitely a great opportunity for us to go out and show that we're still one of the top teams in the SEC, and that one loss isn't going to make or break our season," Dunlap said. "We've got to play hard, and we're not going to lay down because we lost our last game."

Mitchell certainly hopes not.

The team is just three wins shy of breaking the school record for wins in a season. It has the potential to keep ending streaks.

It all starts with starting a new winning streak against the Tigers (13-15, 4-11).

"It would be great if we went through this season without a losing streak in the SEC," Mitchell said. "That would be pretty remarkable. We have followed every loss up with a victory, and I think that is worth mentioning to the team. That shows they have had some resilience."

He expects Auburn, which fell 68-50 at Lexington in January, will have a little extra motivation on Sunday. The Tigers will be playing their last game ever at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum,

"There is a lot on the line for them, and we will need to see what we're made of."

Seeds up in the air

Kentucky, which has locked up the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament, will face the winner of the game between the No. 7 seed and the No. 10 seed.

Both of those teams will be determined by season finales around the conference on Sunday.

In fact, the only seeds that have been finalized are UK and top-seeded Tennessee.

The Cats' SEC Tournament game will be Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the Gwinett Center at Duluth, Ga. It will be televised on Fox Sports South.