By Boyd Hayes | @KernelHayes

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UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell didn’t get the SEC regular-season championship he wanted, but he still believes his team can earn an SEC trophy.

“We were very disappointed to not reach our goal of winning the regular-season title. That was something that our players wanted to do,” Mitchell said. “We were not able to do that, but another goal that we set for this season was to win the (SEC) Tournament, and that would be an outstanding accomplishment for this team.”

Beating No. 1 seed Tennessee, 78-65, on Sunday, Mitchell’s squad clinched a No. 2 seed for the tournament. This seed gives UK a bye for the opening rounds of the tourney on Wednesday and Thursday, meaning the Cats will play the winner of the matchup between No. 10 seed Missouri and No. 7 seed Vanderbilt.

Neither opponent is unfamiliar, as the Cats (25-4, 13-3 SEC) defeated both on the road during the regular season by a combined score of 144-96.

Of SEC teams, the Tigers (17-13, 6-10 SEC) have made the most 3-point field goals this season overall, with 253 (8.4 per game). Almost half of those treys were made by sophomore guard Morgan Eye, who put in 108-of-259 (41.7 percent) 3-pointers on the season at 3.6 per game.

When UK visited Columbia, Mo., on Jan. 13 to face Missouri, the Cats held Eye to 0-of-4 from 3-point range and six points total in 35 minutes on the floor. The Cats returned to Lexington victorious, beating the Tigers 69-43.

The Commodores (19-10, 9-7 SEC) have recorded the fewest steals in the SEC this season with 195 (6.7 per game). The Cats defeated Vanderbilt, 75-53, in Nashville, Tenn., on Feb. 10, but the Commodores got 20 points and nine rebounds from senior forward Tiffany Clarke.

Past Vanderbilt and Missouri, possible dangerous matchups for the Cats include LSU, Georgia and South Carolina, all of whom beat the Cats in the regular season.

UK beat both the Tigers and the Gamecocks in Lexington, but lost to both on the road by a combined 10 points. Georgia snapped the Cats’ 34-game home win streak with a late comeback, outscoring the Cats, 16-4, in the final five minutes of the game.

With the possibility of three games in one weekend, including possible games against opponents who have already beaten the Cats this season, UK’s depth will be key in the tournament.

“I thought our depth was really key in the (win over Tennessee on Sunday),” Mitchell said. “So as you think about playing three games in three days, you’d have to believe that if we can continue our good play off the bench, that could be a big, big benefit for us in this tournament.”

The Commodores and the Tigers play Thursday, and the winner will advance to take on the Cats in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. on Friday. The tournament semifinals will be broadcast on ESPNU, and the finals on Sunday will be nationally broadcast on ESPN2 at 6 p.m. The SEC Tournament will be in The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga.