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Like postal service employees and Santa's elves, the Christmas season is a time of extra work for the Kentucky basketball team.

No school means no limit to the number of hours teams are permitted to practice in a week. Yet even with the team often practicing twice a day together, many players have begun doing extrae individual work on their own time.

John Calipari dubbed a group that has formed to workout in the mornings together, "The Breakfast Club." Calipari refused to reveal which players were participating but the players attributed the group's formation to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who began working out on his own but was encouraged by Calipari to teammates.

Calipari said that Kidd-Gilchrist's example puts the pressure on his teammates to match his work ethic or risk embarrassment.

"You start saying, ‘well this guy doesn't play hard, look at Michael.' It raises the intensity in practice .and they'll be guys mad, 'Michael, you're trying to kiss butt. No, I'm just trying to be the player I can be." Calipari said.

Doron Lamb is not one of the players working out in the AM but has been lauded by Calipari for putting himself through extra drills before and after practice. The sophomore is averaging 20 ppg in five games during December and scored a game-high 26 points in UK's 82-50 win over Samford Tuesday.

"Because he's spending that extra time, [he] is starting to play different. He's playing assertive, he's not in to his own self, he's talking more," Calipari said.

Kentucky returns to the court Thursday for a matinee game versus Loyola (MD). Tip at Rupp Arena is scheduled for 1 pm.