After back-to-back narrow escapes, we look at Kentucky’s recent struggles and try to find the problems
By Jacob Rude
The Kentucky Wildcats have had two straight overtime scares, which begs the question of what is going wrong and are they still America’s best team?
Most people thought that, following their narrow overtime escape at home against Ole Miss on Tuesday that Kentucky would take that as a learning moment and come out stronger against an even more undermanned Texas A&M team on Saturday.
Things only got worse for Big Blue Nation as John Calipari’s team need two overtimes to avoid the upset this time around. If not for a big shooting night from Devin Booker and a clutch three-pointer from Tyler Ulis, the Wildcats may no longer have ambitions of finishing undefeated.
Where have things went wrong for the Kentucky Wildcats? Are they still America’s best team or are the last two games a sign of weakness that will continue to be exploited?
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First, to look at the reason for the near losses, we’ll start offensively, where Kentucky has struggled all season. To date, the Wildcats are shooting 45.4% from the field, tied for 84th in the nation. Kentucky is even worse from beyond three-point as their 33.8% ranks them 180th in the country.
In their win over Ole Miss, Kentucky shot a disappointing 41.7% from the field, and that included an abnormally high 11 for 20 shooting from beyond the arc. Four days later against the Aggies, the Wildcats shot a woeful 28.1% from the field and 32.1% from deep.
Obviously, field goal shooting is an easy place to start, but it’s been a problem for Kentucky all season. Despite their elite defense, the Wildcats have struggled on the other end of the court throughout the season. In their wins over ranked teams this year – Kansas, Texas, UNC, and Louisville – the Wildcats shot a combined 44.3% from the field, below their season average.
Could the loss of Alex Poythress have sent the Wildcats into this struggle? They’ve played the last five games without him and their three most recent games have been their closest. A quick look at the field goal percentage with and without Poythress this year:
The numbers seem inconclusive, even if it shows that their shooting percentage is down overall without Poythress. However, considering the small sample size, these are more likely to be labeled inconclusive, but certainly something to further monitor.
What isn’t up for debate is that their feeling of invincibility is long gone by now. No longer will they waltz through the SEC at their current level of play. No longer should thoughts of undefeated records be on their mind, but instead how to win their next game. Like an old coaching cliche, they have to take it game by game.
Following their win against Kentucky, we looked at what they may have learned, which included the idea that this team is realizing they aren’t invincible. I (incorrectly) assumed they’d come out motivated against Texas A&M, but instead they came out flatter than before.
For Calipari, the struggle up to this point in the season and going forward is finding a consistent enough offense to get them through tough games. While they still play in the underrated SEC, they’re going to have a relatively easy time this season (or at least they SHOULD).