Despite SEC Tournament loss, Kentucky is excited for what's next: 'We're not done yet.'

ZGeogheganKSR

For the second consecutive season, Kentucky lost its opening round game of the SEC Tournament. And while the feeling of frustration spread across the Big Blue Nation right now is real, this isn’t the end of the line for this group of Wildcats. The Big Dance still awaits. Kentucky remains in line to receive a three-seed (four-seed at worst) come Selection Sunday.

And while that doesn’t make Friday night’s 97-87 opening-round loss to Texas A&M any easier to swallow, the Kentucky players know there is more to come. A deep run in the NCAA Tournament could wash out the bad taste of what went down in Nashville. The redemption story is waiting to be told.

“It’s pretty simple. We’re not done yet. It’s that simple,” Fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell said postgame. “We’ll get back in the gym, get back to work. We’ll look at the tape. Coach will tell us what we did and didn’t do, what worked for us, what we went away from.

“At the end of the day we have a team full of hungry dudes that are going to stay in the gym. This minor setback is going to motivate a lot of dudes to play that much harder come the tournament.”

This loss certainly feels like more than a “minor setback”, but when you factor in Kentucky winning seven of its last eight outings coming into the SEC Tournament, it could be considered one. It’s not like this team has played poorly over the last few weeks.

In fact, they were hitting their stride — Texas A&M, for whatever reason, just has the Wildcats’ number this season. Wade Taylor and Tyrece Radford combined to score 114 points in those two matchups. A&M came into this game ranking second to last in the nation in three-point percentage (27.7). They shot 42.3 percent on Friday.

Luckily for Kentucky, the odds of facing the Aggies again are very low. There is enough offensive firepower spread throughout the roster to win more than a couple of games in the NCAA Tournament. That’s part of why the players are already looking forward to what’s in store.

“We’re excited,” Freshman guard Reed Sheppard said of looking forward to the NCAA Tournament. “We’re a fun group. I love all the guys. We got a really good team. We’re all really, really close. We want to win. No one likes losing. We’re all excited to learn from this and get back home and get working again.”