Mark Pope still believes his team can shoot and make more 3-pointers than it has in its first 13 games. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Mark Pope will be making his second tour of duty as Kentucky’s coach in the Southeastern Conference when the Cats open SEC play at Alabama today.
Going into the league openers, six teams — Vandy (11), Alabama (14), Arkansas (18), Tennessee (19), Florida (22) and Georgia (23) — are ranked. The Wildcats are knocking on the door at No. 26.
“The league is great — it’s a good league,” Pope said. “I think there’s been a lot of teams that have been kind of finding themselves, you know, I think Auburn is going to be really good, and they’re finding themselves with a new coaching situation pretty early into the season. I think Florida is going to be really good. Their front line is incredible, and they’re playing better and better. Alabama clearly is a great team.
“You go down the list, it’s just a fun league. It’s ridiculously competitive. The metrics are again, through the roof, not quite as much as last year, but still an elite level. It’s a great league.”
All 16 teams posted winning records against non-conference foes, with Vanderbilt compiling a 13-0 mark, followed by Georgia and LSU (12-1). Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas A&M at 10-3. Kentucky, Texas, Florida and Auburn each posted nine wins in 13 games during the first two months of the season.
Kentucky is averaging 26 3-point attempts per game, a number Pope admits is “subpar for us,” going into SEC play.
The Wildcats are averaging 8.8 treys per game, but showed signs of a breakthrough after connecting on a season-high 16 3-pointers in a 99-85 win over Bellarmine on Dec. 23. Kam Williams led the way with eight made field goals behind the arc.
“I think our ceiling is really high there,” Pope said. “I think one, you know, we get slowed down and more impatient, which is a bad combination when, when the game gets tough, sometimes for us, and that’s something that we’re growing from and we’re learning.”
The Kentucky coach added that having Jaland Lowe in the lineup more frequently, helps open the perimeter and creates more spacing for his squad.
“When he can be on the court, he’s naturally there,” Pope said. “He already came in made that way. The rest of our roster is just learning it. … I think we’ll get better at it, but I would say it’s certainly been below the expectation that we have with the way we play the game.”
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Gametracker: Kentucky at Alabama, noon, Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network.
