Billy Kennedy discusses Tuesday's clash with Kentucky

Key notes from Billy Kennedy interview

• It has been a while since we played at Rupp Arena.  There was only one guy on our team in Tavario Miller that was on the team when we played there last.
  
  
• The game we played last year in the SEC Tournament last year was one of the best games I have been a part of.  I am excited, we have practiced really well the last few days. We have also changed the lineup a little bit to try and create a spark in our team.
  
  
• I think we have a couple of guys that can play better, Tonny (Trocha-Morelos) and J.C. (Hampton) being those two.  They will still play a lot but we just need something else.  The Tennessee game was one of the first struggles for Robert (Williams). Our team has somewhat struggled with respecting our opponents and we have to be excited to practice every day.  Sometimes you think you can just show up and win, and that is just not the case.  You have to build habits and do things right on and off the court.
  
  
• We did some different things to make practice more competitive and balance the team out in practice. We created that and think it has gotten us better.  We now need to transition that into a game setting.  The problem is that we playing a really good team in our first true road game.  It is going to be a good experience for everyone on our team.
  
  
• Kentucky is the fastest team in the country, they play faster than anyone.  De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk are two of the best players in country, so we have to do a good job of keeping things in front of us and make them guard us.  We have to take advantage of where we are strong and take good shots.  Against Tennessee, when we were sped up, we took some bad shots and that turned into transition baskets for Tennessee.  We need to limit that tonight.
  
  
• Briscoe is just a Tyler Davis in the guard position.  He brings toughness and experience and helps them win anyway they need to win.  If he needs to get 10 rebounds, he will crash the boards.  If he needs to cover the other team’s best player, he will do that as well.  The challenge is that they start three guards.  We need to be able to handle the moment because we have a lot of young guys that haven’t played a true road game yet.
  
  
• I will take Tyler against any team in the country.  A lot of it will depend on the other players. Tyler will come out with great energy, but he did struggle a little bit against Tennessee.  We need to have a couple of other guys step up.