Tonic for Wildcats' ills simple: have fun

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - Kentucky freshman Chuck Hayes hasn&#39;t been around the program long, but he&#39;s experienced enough to have figured out the way to snap the team from its recent doldrums. <br> <br> The solution is simple: the 10th-ranked Wildcats (16-6, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) have to get excited about playing basketball again. <br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got to come together as a team and get back to having fun,&#39;&#39; Hayes said Tuesday. ``Sometimes when we&#39;re out there we look so scattered and lost. <br> <br> ``We just need to have fun and start clicking again. That&#39;s when we&#39;ll start playing better.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Kentucky will try to do just that Wednesday night against Vanderbilt (14-9, 4-6), a team that is 0-24 all-time in games at Rupp Arena. <br> <br> ``At some point, Vanderbilt will win up there,&#39;&#39; Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. ``Whether that will be in my lifetime remains to be seen.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Commodores won three straight in January but have lost three of their last four games entering the first of two against the Wildcats. <br> <br> ``We had a two- or three-week stretch where we really grew as a team and started to turn the corner,&#39;&#39; Stallings said of his squad&#39;s consecutive victories over Auburn, South Carolina and Georgia. ``We&#39;ve just sort of leveled off a little bit, and I&#39;ve got to figure out some different buttons to push to get them going again.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Kentucky also has played to its potential only in spurts. Each time the team appears to have built some momentum, a distraction has derailed a much-needed winning streak. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s hard to get back to having fun when you&#39;re not winning games,&#39;&#39; sophomore Gerald Fitch said. ``You start winning and the fun automatically comes. <br> <br> ``That&#39;s the key to this program. When you&#39;re winning, you&#39;re not so uptight and you play without thinking. When you&#39;re not winning, everyone&#39;s tight and lots of little things get blown into big things.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Those little things have been plentiful for the Wildcats this season and may have played a role in the team&#39;s up-and-down play. <br> <br> First it was Rick Pitino&#39;s return to Rupp Arena. Then Marvin Stone&#39;s transfer to bitter rival Louisville. Then an injury to backup point guard J.P. Blevins that kept him out of the lineup for nearly five weeks. <br> <br> Now it&#39;s the playing time of freshman sharpshooter Rashaad Carruth, who was benched the last two games by Coach Tubby Smith for disciplinary reasons. <br> <br> Add to that a heated confrontation between Smith and fiery guard Keith Bogans that kept the junior on the bench for the final 18 minutes of Saturday&#39;s 68-56 victory over LSU and it&#39;s a wonder Smith has been able to keep the squad from total meltdown. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s probably the most trying season I&#39;ve had,&#39;&#39; Smith said during Monday&#39;s SEC teleconference. ``But now it&#39;s that time of year that things are on the line. I expect certain performances and certain attitudes and certain unselfishness of the players.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> All-American Tayshaun Prince, the team&#39;s leading scorer and rebounder, said Smith has been more emotional than normal the past few weeks as he has tried to prod the team to play to its potential. <br> <br> ``He&#39;s more intense because he has to be,&#39;&#39; said Prince, who is averaging 16.9 points and 6.3 rebounds. ``You would think 20 games into the season that we should know now what we&#39;re capable of doing and how consistent we should be playing. <br> <br> ``We shouldn&#39;t be making the mistakes we&#39;re making 20 games into the season. Now, it&#39;s to the point where he has to be more serious in order to get things done the way we should be getting them done.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Things like delivering the knockout punch when an opponent is on the ropes. The Wildcats held halftime leads in four of their six losses and have allowed teams to come back and make games close in many of their victories. <br> <br> ``You can&#39;t allow teams to have any breathing room,&#39;&#39; Hayes said. ``You&#39;ve got to constantly be pestering and irritating them. We let teams get comfortable, allow them to find their rhythm and get back into games. <br> <br> ``If you just get them off their toes, keep attacking them and get them out of their comfort zone, then their backs will always be against the wall. We know what we&#39;ve got to do. It&#39;s time to stop saying it and just do it.&#34;

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