By Kyle Arensdorf

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Freshman guard Tyler Ulis had a half court heave to push the Cats ahead of Arkansas 44-25 at half-time of the SEC Championship Sunday.

It barely missed.

It very well could have gone in. And not one of the 20,315 fans that packed Bridgestone Arena would have been surprised if it had.

It was that sort of a half for UK.

The Cats shot over 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, were perfect from the free throw line, made five of their first six three-point attempts, and had 12 assists on their 14 total field goals.

And that was the game.

The Razorbacks were able to cut the Cats lead to nine in the second half, but the game rang as a foregone conclusion for the team. Of course they’d win.

“We’re getting hungrier and hungrier,” Aaron Harrison said after Saturday’s semi-finals win. “We want to go unbeaten, really. So we’re just fighting every day.”

A few times this season UK has lost focus and teams have hung with them. But now the pressure and the need for their undivided attention is ratcheting, and the Cats are following suit.

UK is developing a thirst only 40-0 can quench. And everything else, even an SEC Championship, seems like only a blip on their radar.

A group picture of the team was tweeted from the locker room after the game before the media was ushered in.

It was the typical obligatory picture of any title-winning team, clad in championship T-shirts and hats, trophy in hand.

But it didn’t reflect in the team’s demeanor.

“We’ve got more to do,” Karl-Anthony Towns said in the locker room after the game. “We’re not done yet.”

Towns had the net from one of the hoops around his neck. They didn’t cut it down as a team. Instead, they had the trainers do it.

“Those aren’t the nets we’re really looking to cut down.” admitted Willie Cauley-Stein, who’s never short a candid answer. “It was just a milestone. It’s part of the process.”

It may be just a milestone, but it was also the starting point of the Cats’ real journey.

Until this point the thing every college team craves, the NCAA championship trophy, remained on the table for the Cats — even if 40-0 was taken off.

But now the two are hand-in-hand — 40-0 can’t happen without a championship, and a championship can’t happen without 40-0.