As SEC tourney begins, UK’s women remind men: ‘Compete till the clock says triple zeroes’
Players for Kentucky’s men’s basketball team spoke Tuesday of drawing inspiration from the school’s women’s team winning its Southeastern Conference Tournament.
“Definitely watched it,” TyTy Washington said of UK beating No. 1 South Carolina in the SEC Tournament finals. “It just shows that all Kentucky sports have that same kind of mindset. We’re going to compete till the clock says triple zeroes. . . .
“We’re never going to give up no matter who we’re playing against.”
The UK men begin play in their SEC Tournament’s quarterfinals Friday night.
Sahvir Wheeler suggested the UK men will get a boost from the women.
“Hey, we can go out there and do it as well,” he said.
Washington echoed that sentiment.
“It just adds more fuel to the fire for us,” he said of the women’s championship. “They won it, so we want to go out and win it as well.”
Only once has a school won both the men’s and women’s SEC tournaments in the same season. Georgia did it in 1983.
Neutral site?
There’s a stark contrast in success in home and away games for the four top seeds in the SEC Tournament.
Auburn, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas had combined home records of 35-1 in league home games and 67-2 in all home games.
Those four teams had a combined record of 21-15 in SEC road games and 36-22 in all games away from home.
Oscar Tshiebwe spoke of how UK fans motivate the team.
“It makes me try to go 1,000 times harder,” he said.
Wheeler recalled being startled by all the UK fans wearing blue shirts in the stands as he played an SEC Tournament game as a freshman for Georgia.
He said he was confident that UK fans would make Amalie Arena in Tampa not feel like a neutral site.
Health update
Washington and Wheeler missed games more than once because of injury. Each said he was ready to play.
When asked if he was 100 percent, Washington said, “Yes, I am.” He credited “a lot of treatments.”
Wheeler said a band he wore on his right wrist should not be viewed with alarm. He noted that he played well in UK’s last two games: 29 points and an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than two-to-one (11 assists and five turnovers).
Second Team?
Washington and Wheeler — who had the two best assist-to-turnover ratios of any players in the league — were named to the All-SEC Second Team on Tuesday, not the First Team.
Said Washington: “We had a little something to say about that.”
Thus, the pair will go into the postseason wanting to “show everybody why we think we’re the best backcourt in the nation,” Washington said.
Wheeler tried to put that in perspective.
“Of course, as a basketball player (and) as a competitor, you want to be on the First Team,” he said. “Then again, there are really good players in this league who probably thought they should have made the (First) Team as well.”
Wheeler said he was “humbled” and “very excited” about being on the All-SEC Second Team.
And if he and Washington had not had to deal with injuries, “maybe that would have put us over the edge for First Team,” he said.
‘Griddy’
Washington was asked if UK Coach John Calipari would do “the Griddy,” which became a celebratory dance for the UK women’s team.
“I think he could hit the griddy,” Washington said of Calipari. Then he added, “I feel he’ll only do it if we win the ‘natty,’” meaning the national championship.
Etc.
Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw and sideline reporter Alyssa Lang will call Kentucky’s game in Friday night’s quarterfinals for the SEC Network.
Saturday’s semifinals and Sunday’s finals will be on ESPN with Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and sideline reporter Marty Smith on the call.
SEC Tournament schedule
At Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
Wednesday
No. 12 Missouri (11-20) vs. No. 13 Ole Miss (13-18), (n)
No. 11 Vanderbilt (15-15) vs. No. 14 Georgia (6-25), (n)
Thursday
Noon: No. 8 Texas A&M (20-11) vs. No. 9 Florida (19-12)
About 2:30 p.m.: No. 5 LSU (21-10) vs. Missouri-Ole Miss winner
6 p.m.: No. 7 South Carolina (18-12) vs. No. 10 Mississippi State (17-14)
About 8:30 p.m.: No. 6 Alabama (19-12) vs. Vanderbilt-Georgia winner
Friday
Noon: No. 1 Auburn (27-4) vs. Texas A&M-Florida winner
About 2:30 p.m.: No. 4 Arkansas (24-7) vs. LSU-Missouri-Ole Miss winner
6 p.m.: No. 2 Tennessee (23-7) vs. South Carolina-Mississippi State winner
About 8:30 p.m.: No. 3 Kentucky (25-6) vs. Alabama-Vanderbilt-Georgia winner
Saturday
1 p.m.: First semifinal
About 3:30 p.m.: Second semifinal
Sunday
1 p.m.: Championship game
TV
▪ First round, second round and Friday night’s quarterfinals (SEC Network)
▪ Friday’s afternoon quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 7:04 PM.
