Back in October, Mark Pope said at Kentucky’s Preseason Media Day that this is a younger team than last year’s team.
Speaking from a personal point of view, it was a statement I glossed over because of all the talent that was seemingly acquired to assemble this team tasked with “The Assignment” of winning a ninth national championship. This team looked like, on paper, that it had “two of everything,” and a competitive spirit that Pope was effusive about throughout the Summer. All of that created high expectations and dwarfed the reality that this team was maybe going to take some time to develop into a team that can play deep into March.
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Taking as many blowouts and bad losses in the first two-and-a-half months of the season wasn’t a planned part of the development of this team, but it helped shape their resilience, identity, and resolve. This team has improved so much over the last month-and-a-half, to the point where they gave SEC-leading Florida all they could handle on Saturday.
With all the positivity both locally and nationally after Saturday’s game, it’s easy to lose sight of the areas this team still needs to improve in if they are going to make a deep run into March. I think this team can win out in the regular season, but they must improve in four specific areas if they’re going to do so.
1. 3-point defense
3-point shooting is not only the great equalizer, but it’s also a difference-maker. Kentucky’s defense has been really good for most of this season, but they need to be better at defending 3-point shooting. After watching Florida shoot 10-28 from 3-point range on Saturday, it’s clear that this team needs to limit the impact opposing teams can make from beyond the arc. That comes from pressuring the ball and not going under ball screens to leave shooters open.
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2. Making layups
This goes without saying. Kentucky missed 15 layups on Saturday in Gainesville. If you shave that total by a third, Kentucky wins the game. Imagine how good this team could be if it just made 90 percent of their layups. These are the shots you should make. At the very least, you get fouled and go to the free-throw line to earn points. Best case, you get a three-point play opportunity. Layups are shots you have to make, at least 90 percent of them. This Kentucky team has to get better at converting the easy shots.
3. Free-throw shooting
Speaking of free-throw shooting, this team is not good enough from the charity stripe. Right now, they’re shooting 72.4 percent from the charity stripe. Otega Oweh is shooting 71.6 percent from the free-throw line.
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This team has to be better. No trip for any player to the free-throw line feels automatic right now. Even Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler don’t give a complete automatic feel from the free-throw line. There are going to be games the next three weeks and in the Postseason that could be decided at the free-throw line. Kentucky needs to be rock solid in this area.
4. Not falling behind by double-digits early
The Wildcats have adopted the Cardiac Cats mentality, and that’s great. But what if they didn’t have to fall behind by double-digits in every other game, especially the marquee ones? What if they could race out to a 20-9 lead and lead by at least three possessions at halftime? What if they made other teams have to be perfect to come back and win?
We saw them do that against Arkansas, and they are capable of doing it again. Come March, they cannot afford to fall behind big early. The Cardiac Cats mentality is great, but so too is setting the tone early in marquee games.
