Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky coach Mark Pope and the Wildcats have hit a speed bump after suffering two straight setbacks twice in the past month.
Squeezed in between a win at Tennessee, the Wildcats (15-7, 4-5 Southeastern Conference) have lost two straight, including back-to-back losses to Arkansas and Ole Miss.
“We’re dealing with some frustration right now, but we’ll continue to get better,” Pope said after Kentucky’s 98-84 loss to the Rebels. “… For us, the biggest frustration we’re feeling right now is on the defensive end and I’m doing a poor job of finding answers for that right now.”
Kentucky forced just one turnover, while Ole Miss shot 55 percent from the field. The Rebels also made 13 3-pointers in the double-digit victory.
“My guys are playing hard, I’m doing a poor job with our team defensively right now,” Pope said. “It’s a credit to Ole Miss and it’s a real issue for me and I’ve got to figure out how to help our team have more of a presence.”
On the flip side, Pope’s squad connected on 10 3-pointers and shot more than 50 percent from the field. Kentucky attempted just 21 shots from long range. Pope’s goal is more than 30 attempts per game.
“Our lack of pace right now has been a little bit troublesome for us,” Pope said. “We’re trying to work on a lot of things and so our pace is suffering right now and that hurts us a little bit. But that’s certainly a sign of something we’d like to do better. With that said, where we’re really feeling the onus of the issue right now is trying to figure out this defensive side of the ball.”
6 Responses
Just read on another site that if we win Saturdays game, we’ll have the exact same record as last years team through 23 games with more quad 1 wins.
That team had a Hall of Fame Coach. 2 top 10 NBA draft picks and 4 players currently playing in the NBA.
When the ball crosses halfcourt, the other 4 guys should be screening and cutting to 4 different areas to receive that first pass which will usually result in a quick second pass for a decent shot. We want to stand still until we receive the pass and then dribble looking for the opportunity to be the hero that takes the shot. When we do screen, many times we have 2 guys running to the same spot, because that is where the pass is supposed to go. This team never committed to playing Pope ball and Pope gave in to them playing hero ball.
I would have rather seen us lose every single game, but do so playing Pope ball, even if walk ons were the only guys left on the team. Playing Pope ball wears you out and makes you want to rest on defense. That was the reason for having 10 guys to constantly be subbing in every 3 to 4 minutes to keep up the pace and provide a quick breather to go back in after 3 or 4 minutes. This kind of motion should result in a good 3 point shot or a layup within 15 seconds with very little dribbling. On defense, we should be in the guy’s grill even when he doesn’t have the ball. This means you do not let your guy go by you…period! This wears you out but you keep a fresh guy coming in every 3 to 4 minutes.
Today’s OAD kid wants to pace themself so he can play 10 minutes, take a 2 minute rest and then come back to play another 8 minutes to finish the half or game. Pope needs to lay down the law and bench guys who don’t comply.
Pope is worried about Lack of Pace? What about DEFENSE! They can’t play one on one! They have to play zone the whole games from now on out! Ole Miss only turned the ball over one time. That is the least number of times a team has turned the ball over in an SEC game in 25 years.
The 4 losses out of the last 5 games was an excellent example of why the Wildcats are ranked 337th out of 355 teams in college basketball when it comes to creating turnovers.
South Carolina will get their first win of the year in the SEC because of the Cats Lack of Pace?
Coach Pope! Duh! Give Me a break!
We don’t play with energy because they don’t want to come out of the game. We need to start the game at 100 mph on both ends of the court and not let up. Sure that means we have to sub out but that is the only way we win in the SEC. Keep bringing in fresh legs every 4 minutes and don’t let up. That is what Vandy did to us, so did Ole Miss and Georgia. We acted like we didn’t even want to play the Arkansas game.
Maybe we didn’t………
Guys, this is our season! Win and we are still alive for SEC tourney play. Lose and we are done. Do you F’ing want to keep playing?