Smith apparently made sure his players understood just how disappointed he was with their play - and what he felt was a lack of effort - against Vanderbilt.
"I don't know how long practice was (Monday), but it seemed like it was the whole day," senior Sheray Thomas said.
The players also held a team meeting to try and help the team regroup. Senior Bobby Perry and junior Bradley did most of the talking.
"It always helps to hear the team leaders talk, especially for our freshmen. They need to hear words of encouragement," Thomas said. "No loss is good, but you have to go through the bad times to get back to the good."
Georgia (11-6, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) could move into a tie for second place in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division if it beats Kentucky (15-4, 4-1).
Improved team
"A team like Georgia is very capable of beating us," Smith said. "They are probably the most improved team not only in the conference, but maybe in the country. This year they are really attacking offensively and are averaging about 10 more points per game."
Kentucky had trouble scoring against Vanderbilt because the Commodores normally double-teamed center Randolph Morris, who got just eight shots.
"Vandy had the right formula for stopping us by being very physical," Smith said. "Their wings really challenged Joe Crawford's and Ramel Bradley's shots and we expect more of the same from Georgia."
Smith expects much more from Morris in tonight's game.
"I expect him to be our leading guy. It takes a lot of effort if you are being double-teamed and bumped. It takes tremendous willpower to do that. But he's got to demand the ball," Smith said. "He did not work hard enough (against Vanderbilt). We did not go enough to get the ball to him."
Smith wants the Cats to force a faster tempo to avoid having to face Georgia's half-court defense.
"If you let this team get set defensively, you are going to have a long night because they don't make many mistakes," Smith said.
Less block attempts
When Kentucky is playing defense, the coach wants to see less attempts to block shots. Even though UK has almost twice as many blocked shots this year as it did last season, Smith knows that can lead to defensive lapses. He noted that Morris tried to block about 10 shots against Vanderbilt and was successful only twice.
"We haven't taken a charge forever," Smith said. "I've been harping on that. One of my pet peeves against Vanderbilt was that six or eight times we had a chance to get over and take a charge and we didn't.
"If you are always trying to block shots, somebody on the perimeter is not doing a very good job."
Bradley believes Kentucky will bounce back and start another winning streak.
"I think the loss Saturday was more of a fluke. It was not too damaging. We know what we did wrong. We just have to correct our mistakes and we'll be fine," Bradley said.
