when kentucky suffered a quad 4 home loss south carolina The next morning the UK was ranked 63rd on the NET and sat behind Bradley It’s usually far beyond the range of teams that get big NCAA tournament bids.
All seemed broken for the SEC preseason favorites with more implosion looming. On a trip to No.5 Tennessee next star big man Oskar Ziebe said With some of his teammates saying in frowning remarks that they were “not willing to fight”, Tshiebwe had to move smoothly in the locker room. It all led to a crisis that 14th-year coach John Calipari had never encountered during his time at Lexington.
However, two weeks later, the Wildcats appear to be coming out of the storm and gearing up to host the No. 9. Kansas They have a chance to win five in a row since their stunning 71-68 loss to the Gamecocks in Saturday’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Wildcats (14-6-5-3) are still only the 10th seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to CBS Sports. Bracket science Expert Jerry Palm. But they’re playing their best basketball this season in their toughest SEC game. Alabama And Tennessee — in the rear-view mirror.
It all started with a 63-56 victory over the Volunteers just four days after their loss in South Carolina, and the Wildcats proved it was no fluke. His three recent wins in them averaged 13 points apart, sparking hopes that Britain found gear that could lead the program to his first NCAA Tournament victory since 2019.
While the Jayhawks — losers on a three-game losing streak and in need of their own turnaround — prepare to enter the rap arena for a clash of blue bloods, Kentucky has seen positives in the past two weeks. Let’s find out what has changed to bring about these changes.
Forced line-up change works
Kentucky’s rise from the hole started with a bleak outlook for the Tennessee game on January 14th. They looked lost without starting point guard Sirville Wheeler, who was sidelined due to a shoulder injury.
Wheeler’s absence forced Calipari to roll out untested lineup combinations, one of which proved to be the one that made the difference. When it looked unlucky, Calipari brought in Antonio Reeves to replace Chris Livingston in the Wildcats’ first substitution. That line-up, which featured Reeves, Kayson Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Jacob Toppin, and Tzibwe, gave the Wildcats a 13-for-2 run that changed the tone of the game.
The lineup also changed the trajectory of Kentucky’s season.
The five-man pair of Reeves, Fredrick, Wallace, Toppin and Zibwe have only 11 combined possessions in Kentucky’s first 16 games. hooplens.comAgainst the Volunteers, the group played 26 possessions together as the Wildcats came alive for an upset victory.
Over the past four games, the lineup has collectively recorded 69 offensive possessions, and the results have been impressive. With Wallace at his guard and Fredrick and Reeves playing together, the Wildcats regularly have his three outsides his shooting threat on the floor, and the lineup combination has been one per possession in the last four games. We are getting an average of 1.26 points. By comparison, Kentucky’s point-per-possession season mark is just 1.07.
No other group of two in the SEC produces more aggressive results than Reeves and Fredrick. The Wildcats enjoy a coordinated team offensive efficiency of 117.5 when the two are on the floor together. evanmiya.comFor comparison, the UK’s second-best tandem of Reeves and Tshiebwe scored 113.7 on the same metric. The duo has played just 12.6 possessions per game together in his first 16 contests of the season, but over the past four years he has recorded 41.3 possessions per game. increase.
cats with better defense
Kentucky has found something that works, but with the downside that Wheeler’s role as the 1.5-foot-9 senior leader, SEC leader for 2021-22, and 6.9 assists per game will drop dramatically. increase. In Kentucky’s last three games since returning from a shoulder injury, Wheeler has posted just 5.8 assists per game, even though he has only logged 13.7 minutes per game. Leading his SEC again.
But it’s clear the Wildcats are at their best when they come off the bench, and that’s more about defense than offense. In the SEC game, the Wildcats have averaged a respectable 1.03 points per possession, with Wheeler on the floor and in the middle of the pack among his players in the UK rotation.
But Kentucky’s defense was the worst in the league with Wheeler on the floor. His best five of Wallace, Reeves, Fredrick, Toppin and Tshiebwe allow just .79 points per possession against SEC opponents. But when Wheeler is on the floor, that number spikes to his 1.15 points per opponent’s possession.
Improved free throw shot
This is a quick fix. Kentucky is a poor free-throw shooting team, ranking 283rd in the nation with a 68% mark. If the percentages hold up, this ranks him 315th nationally at a mark of 64.2%, making him the UK’s worst free-throw shooting team since the 2012-13 team when he failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. increase.
The Wildcats made just 60.6% of their attempts in those six games, and the loss at the line was downright terrifying. England hit only 7 of 14 innings against South Carolina and 5 of 8 against Alabama. Also, the Wildcats lost on his 15-of-24 (62.5%) attempts. Missouri And 5 out of 13 (38.5%) lost. UCLA During the CBS Sports Classic in December.
Over the past four games, the Wildcats have improved from their charity stripes to 77%. In total, Great Britain won his 70.8% of free throws this season, which is far better than the percentage of free throws in losses. This is a simple but insane account of some of the Wildcats’ struggles. If the UK can become a decent free-throw shooting team, the error tolerance will obviously increase.
UK shows signs of sustainability
Reeves is still off the bench, but the new lineup combination of Wallace and Fredrick at point guard clearly improved floor spacing on Kentucky’s offense and gave Tzibwe more room to work in the post. Wheeler’s reduced role also means that the British have greater range and versatility on the defensive side. Kansas will certainly test the Wildcats, but it looks like they’ve found something sustainable even if Kentucky loses to the Jayhawks.
In fact, Kentucky has yet to reach peak offensive efficiency. The trio of Fredrick, Reeves and Wallace saw him shoot just 32.9% from the 3-point range during his four-game winning streak for Great Britain, but Wallace and Fredrick saw him fall below the 30% mark in that stretch. increase. Still, Kentucky seems to have turned the corner. Kentucky should be even better as Fredrick and Wallace shoot better.
Two weeks ago the sky fell. Now, with Kentucky showing off a reinvented version for the nationals against the Jayhawks on Saturday, Rapp has reason to be optimistic about his arena.
