Have UK women reached a turnover turning point?

Kentucky went through a stretch this season where it was so careless with the basketball that its coach suggested that an act of God was the only way his team managed just 10 miscues in a game.

“Only 10 turnovers is a miracle for us right now,” UK’s Matthew Mitchell said after his team dropped Tennessee at the end of January. “If you don’t believe in God, you need to check that out. It’s like he’s walking on water right there with just 10 turnovers.”

Be on the lookout for loaves and fishes or water and wine then.

In three of the last four games, Kentucky has managed 10 turnovers or fewer, including a season-low seven turnovers against Missouri on Thursday night.

“It’s less miraculous now because we’re getting better,” Mitchell confessed on Friday before UK takes its five-game win streak on the road to No. 11 Texas A&M, which is on a six-game win streak of its own.

“I probably should have given them more credit that night instead of saying that it was an act of God and they’re actually working hard in practice and improving. The credit needs to go to the players for getting their mindset turned around.”

It’s been a long road for Kentucky, which had 22 turnovers in the opener versus Rice, and bottomed out with 30 at Florida on Jan. 31.

That’s a game that senior Janee Thompson would rather forget.

“I was in a crazy head space after that,” admitted the guard, who had a career-high nine turnovers in the loss. “I couldn’t believe it was so many.”

Before the Florida defeat, Kentucky had flirted with a few too many turnovers too many times for Mitchell’s comfort.

Six different times, UK had more than 20 turnovers, including the 30 versus the Gators and 26 at Auburn in the league opener. Opponents have scored 20 or more points off Cats mistakes three times this season and all three were losses (at Auburn, at Mississippi and at Florida).

“I don’t think any team can play well if they’re just giving the other team the ball,” said Thompson, who noted that ball security has been “part of our growing process, part of us growing up, just playing better all around.”

Kentucky (20-6, 9-6 Southeastern Conference) has shown marked improvement in limiting turnovers since that loss in Gainesville, averaging just 11.2 turnovers in the six games since then.

In the stretch of January when the Cats lost five of seven games, they were averaging 16.6 turnovers a game.

Limiting careless mistakes became a focus in practice with Mitchell placing three balls on a rack during scrimmages. He’d remove a ball each time the team turned the ball over in a quarter. For each turnover beyond the allotted three, there were sprints.

And now making better decisions has become second nature, Thompson said.

“When we were turning the ball over, we were thinking too much,” she explained. “We would take a step back and play passively and that would make us turn the ball over even more.”

In its regular-season finale, Kentucky will face a Texas A&M (21-7, 11-4) team that is forcing nearly 18 turnovers a game, good enough for sixth in the league.

During that rough patch where UK was all butterflies and butterfingers, Mitchell said his goal was to keep it under 15 miscues a game, but added this caveat: “Hopefully by the end of the season when we are trying to really make a push to be our best, it would be great in big games to get it to 12. That would mean we are playing some excellent basketball.”

He’s become a believer in his team — especially after just seven turnovers against No. 24 Missouri last out — but he’s shying away from the Biblical back and forth now.

“We should be downtown having a parade right now for the team,” he said with a smile. “Seven turnovers last night, the whole city should come out and cheer that.”

The road ahead

Despite its rocky stretch in January, the Cats still have a chance to play for one of the four double byes in the SEC Tournament, which starts on Wednesday in Jacksonville, Fla.

South Carolina and Texas A&M have locked up the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. Kentucky could earn the No. 3 seed with a win over the Aggies on Sunday and if Alabama upsets Mississippi State in Starkville.

UK, which likely can’t fall below a No. 6 seed in the tournament, could earn a No. 4 seed with a win on Sunday and if Auburn goes on the road and beats Florida.

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Have UK women reached a turnover turning point?."