Matthew Mitchell has a talented freshmen group to work with

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UK women’s basketball head coach Matthew Mitchell during the CATSPYs on Monday, April 24, 2017 in Lexington, Ky.

When it comes to Kentucky basketball, one of the first things that often comes to mind is the talented freshmen involved in the program, men’s and women’s.

John Calipari isn’t the only UK basketball coach to have assembled a good recruiting class, as Matthew Mitchell has four new freshmen this year that could easily make an impact.

“I think they’re going to be really good players for us,” Mitchell said.

The four freshmen making up the roster are Dorie Harrison, KeKe McKinney, Tatyana Wyatt and Kameron Roach. Harrison, McKinney and Wyatt are all at least 6 feet 1 inch tall, giving the Cats some height in the post that wasn’t present last season.

The three tall freshmen also add to the strength that UK women’s basketball has been known by for years, and that’s versatility.

“If you look at our three freshmen, that you would kind of look at as our taller players with some height that we needed, all three of those have some versatility,” Mitchell said.

The most position-less freshman on the team might be Tatyana Wyatt, a 6-foot-2-inch forward from Columbus, Georgia. Wyatt has the height of a post player, but the skills of a guard.

One of the skills the Cats could definitely use is Wyatt’s ability to shoot three pointers. It’s not often that a player of Wyatt’s height can shoot the three, but Wyatt will be a threat from behind the arc after all the work she’s put into her shot.

“When I was like learning how to expand my game, that was something that was like a big part of my game,” Wyatt said.

The Cats also picked up Roach in their recruiting class as their freshman guard. Roach is from Hopkins, South Carolina, and has already impressed Mitchell during her short time on campus.

“Kameron’s really explosive, fast, was used to scoring in high school so had a lot of confidence in that area,” Mitchell said.

However, it hasn’t come easy for Roach, whose had to compete against speedy guards like Taylor Murray and Jaida Roper in practice. Roach said learning the pace of college basketball has been the toughest challenge since arriving to campus.

“Making sure I get used to the pace, and paying attention to detail all while just focusing on being your best,” Roach said about the challenges she’s experienced in practice.

The freshmen will likely continue to experience challenges during their first year at Kentucky like most freshmen do.

However, with a good support system, and a strong mind, Mitchell believes his young group has the capability to overcome any challenges they might face.

“If we ever had any type of difficulty as far as just the freshmen falling into a negative mindset, they snap out of it quickly,” Mitchell said. “They take coaching, they respond, they take responsibility, move on and come back the next day better. Those kids can help us a lot.”