Mo Dioubate believes Kentucky has yet to reach its ceiling: 'We can make a really good run.'

Kentucky couldn’t get over the hump against Florida on Saturday. The end result will forever be a nine-point loss in a game the Wildcats never led. But with a half-dozen games still left in the regular season, UK has reason to believe there is still another gear to hit.

It’s been a confusing season, to say the least, in Mark Pope‘s second year as head coach. A 9-6 start filled with multiple potentially season-ending injuries had a good chunk of the the fanbase ready to riot. Kentucky even dropped its first two SEC games, but has since rattled off eight wins over its last 10 contests, fueled by multiple double-digit comeback efforts. Saturday’s game against the Gators — a team currently ranked 5th in KenPom — was for the top spot in the conference standings.

It took a while for this team to start clicking, but they’ve been on the upswing ever since. Junior forward Mo Dioubate knows there is still more room to grow before the postseason.

“This team, once we’re locked in, we can make a really good run,” Dioubate said Monday. “A lot of people don’t know what’s up with this team. Sometimes we play like we’re a great team, and the next game we play like we don’t even know each other.

“But I have confidence in this team. Once we play together, we get in that mode. When we went on the stretches that we did, we was really locked in. I think we have a lot of that in us still. When we play together, play connected, I don’t think there’s many teams that can (compete with) us when we’re in that mode.”

Because of that belief, the loss to Florida was frustrating. Kentucky has completed several halftime comebacks this season. They seem to almost thrive on having to dig out of holes. UK was down nine at halftime against the Gators before quickly cutting it down to just two less than two minutes into the second half.

But the ‘Cats just couldn’t do enough to tie or take the lead. Even when Florida ballooned its lead up to 16 points with eight minutes to play, Kentucky gave itself a chance down the stretch, getting the score all the way to within five points with under a minute left. But a couple too many defensive slipups allowed the Gators to stay on top.

“We talked about it. We was right there. We were literally right there,” Dioubate said about the Florida loss. “We felt like we was gonna win that game. We made major comebacks all game, but it was just hard for us to get the lead. That just comes with the game sometimes. We gotta go through certain games like that to get certain feels. To where when you’re in that position again, you won’t allow it to happen.”

Kentucky is hoping to turn that Florida loss into a learning experience it can lean on in future games. The hope would be to shake off these double-figure deficits at some point, but there aren’t many situations now that UK hasn’t faced so far this season. No matter the time, score, or opponent, there is a belief in the locker room that they’re never truly out of a game.

“That’s just the mentality,” Dioubate added. “Don’t give up no matter what. I try to tell the guys too, don’t give up. We play for each other. Don’t give up on me and I won’t give up on you.“

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