Kentucky-Texas A&M basketball in SEC Tournament: Channel, time, odds

LEXINGTON — Just three players on the Kentucky basketball roster, senior Antonio Reeves and sophomores Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso, were with the team last season during its one-and-done showing in the SEC Tournament. Of that trio, only Reeves played more than one minute in an 80-73 quarterfinal loss to Vanderbilt. Knowing the situation facing the Wildcats on Friday, when they will begin this year’s event as the No. 2 seed, Bruiser Flint acknowledged most of the team’s players will battle nerves before tipoff.

But it’s not something UK plans to address.

“You just try to go out and play. … You just take it step by step,” said Flint, Kentucky’s associate to the head coach. “We just try to hope that everybody’s on the same page. You always get nervous before the games. I don’t care whether you’re a player or a coach. But once you’ve been through it, you understand that’s part of the game.”