NASHVILLE — The Kentucky Wildcats were so unresponsive at Wednesday’s SEC tournament press conference, one reporter asked if they were unhappy about being there.

"We’re trying to put our game face on," Ravi Moss said.

Added teammate Brandon Stockton: "It’s not that we aren’t happy to be here. We’re just getting ready for tomorrow’s game."

In this case, "tomorrow" meant Thursday, which might explain why the Wildcats weren’t all warm and fuzzy about the tournament itinerary at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Thursday is supposed to be about byes, not hellos, for a Kentucky basketball program that has won 25 of the previous 46 SEC tournaments and is 34-4 in the tournament since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1992.

Kentucky (19-11, 9-7 SEC) will look as out of place in a first-round game as Tennessee would in the championship game. But if you have to play a first-round tournament game, you couldn’t ask for a better opponent than Ole Miss.

The Wildcats have been merely disappointing. The Rebels (14-15, 4-12) have been bad enough to cost coach Rod Barnes his job.

And they were at their worst in an 80-40 loss to Kentucky two weeks ago.

Ole Miss played that game without its best player, sophomore Dwayne Curtis, a 6-foot-8, 290-pound center, who has averaged 13.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

"He’s a guy that can score in so many ways," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "Had he been at our game, the score wouldn’t have been what it was. He’s that much of an impact player for them."

Smith also believes Barnes’ status could have a positive impact on the Rebels.

"I would imagine they will play hard," he said.

Fired, And Fired Up: Barnes, Ole Miss’ coach for eight years, insists he will be coaching as hard as ever.

"Right now, I’ve got a bunch of fire," he said. "What gives me even more fire is nobody thinks we’re going to win."

Barnes said he would discuss "what happened at Ole Miss" after the tournament.

"I’m going to coach basketball next year," he said. "Hopefully, I will get a chance to do it in college.

"Hopefully, I will have an opportunity to be a head coach some place, but if I’ve got to coach sixth grade, that’s what I’ll do. That has been the calling of my life."

How ’Bout Them Dogs?: The track record doesn’t bode well for Mississippi State, which will play South Carolina in the tournament opener this afternoon. The winner will play UT on Friday.

Mississippi State lost its first game the last three times the tournament was played in Nashville. Also, the Bulldogs lost their regular-season game against South Carolina by 22 points.

Nonetheless, South Carolina coach Dave Odom makes the Bulldogs sound like a championship contender.

"Mississippi State may be the most-improved team in our league from anywhere close to the middle of the season to right now," Odom said. "The performance they put on Saturday night against a really good Alabama team (whom the Bulldogs beat 71-58) was truly impressive.

"They were bigger, they were tougher, they were better. They played with more speed than the team we saw back in Columbia three weeks ago."

Tip-ins: Arkansas, which plays Georgia tonight, enters the tournament on a five-game winning streak. ? South Carolina has lost three of its last four games by a total of five points. ? Mississippi State will start three players from Tennessee — Wesley Morgan of Gallatin, Reginald Delk of Jackson, and Jamont Gordon of Nashville. ? Vanderbilt, which plays Auburn this evening, is 0-6 against the Tigers in the SEC tournament.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.