The Cats will encounter speed bumps throughout conference play

UK guard Andrew Harrison and Ole Mis guard Jarvis Summers scramble for the ball during UK vs. Ole Miss at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday, January 6, 2016. Photo by Emily Wuetcher

By Kyle Arensdorf

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After their Dec. 27 win against No. 4 Louisville, and inarguably the toughest portion of their regular season schedule expired, conversation quickly shifted back to the Cats’ undefeated prospects.

In addition to talks of an undefeated season, UK head coach John Calipari even fielded questions about how he plans to keep his team engaged against a relatively easy latter half of the schedule.

Albeit rightfully so, UK only had one remaining game against a ranked opponent (No. 23 Arkansas) and hadn’t beaten a team by less than 10 points until its Louisville matchup.

How could a team in the midst of that much dominance help getting bored with a schedule filled with games against lesser-caliber teams?

But conference play is a very different animal.

And Ole Miss, armed with an offense that centers around a large volume of 3-point attempts, refused to be just another “W” on the Cats schedule and held a lead at the 2:22 mark in overtime against the No. 1 team in the nation.

Despite the closest thing to a loss UK has seen all season, Ole Miss couldn’t maintain the firepower from its three standout guards and fell to the Cats in overtime, 89-86.

The Rebels gave the Cats their biggest scare of the season by exposing what has inexplicably plagued the tallest team in the nation all season: rebounding.

Ole Miss doesn’t play anyone taller than 6-foot-9, but was winning the rebounding battle for the entirety of the 40-minute regulation against a team that plays six players taller than 6-foot-9.

The smallest player on Ole Miss’ roster, 5-foot-10 junior guard Stefan Moody, was arguably the best player on the court Tuesday and exposed the Cats at every angle.

Moody went 8-for-13 from the field, including 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, for a team-high 25 points.

He went down during the first Ole Miss possession of overtime due to cramping, but if he wouldn’t have, this column could have looked very different.

And that has to be a sobering feeling for a UK team that seemed to be feeling itself a little after it jumped out to an early 18-5 lead.

But all’s well that ends well for the Cats.

However, the narrative that UK’s remaining conference schedule is a virtual red carpet to the SEC Tournament has been more than dispelled.

In the words of Calipari, “we’re going to Texas A&M (Saturday), they’re having parties down there waiting for us. I would.”