Among the most head-scratching quotes of the year came from the vocal cords of one Jimmy Patsos, Loyola’s head coach, following Kentucky’s victory before the Christmas break.

“I thought we’d be able to have an advantage on that matchup,” Patsos said, referring to UK freshman Michael Kidd Gilchrist.

An advantage on Kentucky’s second-leading scorer, the all-around stat stuffer whose heart and drive has fans calling him the MVP of the first half of the season? That guy?

To Patsos’ credit, he admitted he was oh so wrong.

“The Gilchrist kid is better than I thought,” Patsos said after Kidd-Gilchrist filled the box score again with 15 points, seven rebounds, five blocks and four assists.

Patsos would have been even more impressed had he known what Kidd-Gilchrist played through that day.

Just a few days before Christmas, Kidd-Gilchrist learned his mother, Cindy Richardson, had been admitted to the hospital for undisclosed reasons. Instead of heading home to spend time with his family, Kidd-Gilchrist was going to spend his Christmas inside a hospital with his mother.

John Calipari contemplated sending Kidd-Gilchrist home before the game to be home with his mom, and Kidd-Gilchrist said he considered getting out of Lexington as well. He ended up playing, but his mind was on his mother the entire time.

“It wasn’t a way to get away from it,” Kidd-Gilchrist said Tuesday. “It was on my mind. I just had to play for my team, and that’s what I did.”

Kidd-Gilchrist has already been through a lifetime’s worth of heartache in his 18 years of life. He lost his father at an early age, and his uncle, Darrin Kidd, who became a father figure in Kidd-Gilchrist’s life, died on the same day Kidd-Gilchrist signed his national letter of intent with Kentucky.

Fortunately for Kidd-Gilchrist, Richardson was released from the hospital before Christmas and the two spent the holiday with their family at home.

“It was hard,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “It’s my mother. She’s fine now, so it’s all good.”

Richardson and Kidd-Gilchrist received overwhelming support when Coach Cal released the news on his Twitter account. Kidd-Gilchrist said he was appreciative of the get well wishes.

“The fans mean everything to us,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “It was good to know.”

With his mother back home, Kidd-Gilchrist returned to Lexington along with the rest of the Wildcats on Monday for Kentucky’s game with Lamar on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU).

“I’m just ready to go now,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “I’m ready to get it going (again).”

Kidd-Gilchrist was on a tear before he the holiday break, averaging 15.4 points and 9.4 rebounds over his last five games. He’s been held to single digits just twice this season, and his season averages of 13.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.1 blocks are a reflection of his all-around game.

When a reporter told him that he was the consensus MVP among fans, Kidd-Gilchrist said, “I don’t get into all that. I’m just a winner. That’s it.”

Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is averaging 15.4 points and 9.4 rebounds over his last five games. (photo by Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics)

The winner part is what’s made him such a fan favorite, a media darling and a highly coveted prospect in the upcoming NBA Draft. Despite his quiet nature with reporters, Kidd-Gilchrist plays with fearless tenacity and unmatched courage on the court.

On a team that returned three stars in senior Darius Miller and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb, it’s Kidd-Gilchrist who has taken the reins of the leadership role on the team.

“I’m ready to lead,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “I’m a freshman, but so what. I’m just ready to lead and win. I’ve always been that way.”

Calipari said after the Loyola win that Kidd-Gilchrist is “dragging” his teammates.

“I think initially he didn’t want to do it because he said I’m a freshman, but there comes a point where you step up and you start dragging a team, even as a young player like that,” Coach Cal said. “He’s begun to do it. But I don’t want to put this all on him. I just want Michael to be Michael. Just be who you are and all the other stuff will come into play. He’s not afraid to lead.”

He wasn’t afraid to start the now well-documented Breakfast Club, a group of players who are getting up in the mornings to work out and eat together as a way of bonding and improving.

Kidd-Gilchrist said the Breakfast Club has met four times, with eight players showing up last time.

“We’re getting a lot better day by day,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “A lot of chemistry is building up. It’s like a brotherhood now.”

Calipari said Kidd-Gilchrist is in line with a rare breed of players he’s coached that have a different type of mental toughness.

“I’ve had a bunch of them,” Calipari said. “Lou Roe was a killer when I was at UMass. So was Harper Williams. Those guys were absolute warriors. And you know where it started? Those guys were absolute warriors in practice. The last 20 minutes of every practice, those two dominated.”

Coach Cal said a player who builds that mental toughness through practice and demonstrated performance will benefit from it in the games and in life.

“Those guys that work hard, that really spend time, benefit when they leave and get out of basketball,” Calipari said. “They understand that if I really work, I can become good at it.”

Cal: We haven’t talked about Louisville yet

With the Louisville game just five days away, consider it a minor Christmas miracle that we didn’t hear the king of the clichés, “We’re just taking it one game at a time.”

Nevertheless, Coach Cal, even without following the script word for word, seems to be in that mentality with a very good Lamar team standing in Kentucky’s way.

“We haven’t talked about this weekend at all,” Calipari said. “(The players) may be looking at it or seeing it but I don’t think so. We’re still trying to get better. We’re going to play a well-coached team, a team that’s going to come in to beat us and is not going to be intimidated. They’re seniors, and if we don’t play, we lose and then we move on to this weekend and see if we can get better. Our focus is us getting better.”

When UK and Louisville meet on New Year’s Eve, it will mark the highest combined rankings of the two teams in the history of the rivalry, which dates back to 1913. But that buzz could be killed quite considerably if either UK or Louisville slips up before the end of the week.

Louisville hosts No. 12 Georgetown on Wednesday, while an 8-4 Lamar team that has played a difficult schedule comes to Rupp Arena.

“They’ve got mostly seniors,” Calipari said. “They’re playing four seniors and a junior off the bench. The games that I’ve watched, they’ve been in every game, including Ohio State, Louisville. The game with Texas Christian down there, they had them beat. The other teams they beat. Rice, on the road, they won. At Rice, they made every shot. I watched the game and I thought, ‘We can’t win this game.’ ”

Jones’ status still uncertain; Wiltjer good to go

Sophomore forward Terrence Jones, who has missed the last two games with a dislocated pinky finger on his left hand, went through practice Monday and was expected to participate Tuesday. His status for the Lamar game is still uncertain.

“He went through practice with the gold jersey on yesterday, so nobody was really allowed to touch him,” Calipari said. “I’ll see today. We’re going to practice twice today, so we’ll figure whether or not he’ll be able to go tomorrow.”

Freshman Kyle Wiltjer missed Monday’s practice with an illness, but he practiced Tuesday and is expected to play against Lamar.