Similar to a post I did about three weeks ago, I’m going to run down some numbers and statistics for Kentucky’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. We are closing in on conference and NCAA Tournament time, so we know quite a bit about both John Calipari’s and Matthew Mitchell’s squads.With that in mind, what can the numbers tell us about what the rest of season holds?RPIBy no means is the RPI a perfect measure of a college basketball team. There are holes in the system, but the fact remains that the NCAA Selection Committee uses the rankings to evaluate teams for the men’s and women’s tournaments, so the RPI is meaningful.Updates of the official RPI standings from CollegeRPI.com are available just once a week on Sunday, but real-time rankings are available through the aptly named RealTimeRPI.com for men’s basketball. We’ll use that today since UK has played a game since Sunday.In spite of the fact that the Wildcats are just 4-4 in their last eight games, the men’s team checks in at No. 13 according to RealTimeRPI.com. UK has one of the nation’s most difficult schedules to thank for its high ranking, sporting the 12th-toughest schedule.Based on those numbers, it’s pretty clear Kentucky is in excellent shape to make the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday. Add in UK’s five wins over top-50 RPI squads and you can conclude that the rest of the season is about jockeying for a better seed, barring a disastrous collapse to close out the regular season.As for UK Hoops, Kentucky comes in at 18th according to CollegeRPI.com as of this morning. With a strength of schedule ranking 18th nationally, Victoria Dunlap and company are in good shape to reach the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season.Just like the men, UK Hoops has five wins over RPI top-50 opponents, and with tough road tests coming UK, that can be further improved upon.Individual statisticsBoth the men’s and women’s teams are rife with players who are having superb statistical seasons. The following players rank in the top 100 nationally of a major statistical category. All statistics are through games on February 13th.Terrence Jones Rebounds per game – 9.0 (43rd nationally)Blocks per game – 2.0 (49th nationally)Points per game – 17.9 (64th nationally)Brandon Knight3-point FG percent – 41.8 percent (28th nationally) 3-point FG’s per game – 2.5 (64th nationally)Points per game – 17.4 (75th nationally)Doron Lamb3-point FG percent – 49.0 percent (12th nationally among players with 2.0 3-point attempts per game)Free-throw percent – 83.6 percent (78th nationally)Josh HarrellsonRebounds per game – 8.7 (52nd nationally)Victoria DunlapSteals per game – 3.2 (11th nationally)Points per game – 17.2 (55th nationally)Rebounds per game – 8.8 (68th nationally)Blocks per game – 1.5 (90th nationally)FG percent – 46.6 percent (99th nationally)Keyla Snowden3-point FG percent – 45.3 percent (eighth nationally)3-point FG’s per game – 2.3 (86th nationally)Evaluating the SEC slump for men’s basketballAs I referenced earlier, UK is just 4-4 in Southeastern Conference play after a 2-1 start in conference. While Kentucky is still winning games at home and playing very competitively on the road, those four losses in the past month are slightly alarming because John Calipari had lost just six times in his first year and half at UK up to that point. I’m not about to press the panic button, but there are common threads in the Cats’ recent struggles relative to past performance.Taking a quick look at the numbers, I think the bulk of UK’s troubles can be found on the defensive end. Entering the game against Alabama on Jan. 18, the start of that eight-game stretch, UK was allowing just 61.9 points per game. However, in those eight games, opponents are scoring 68.5 points per contest, a 6.6-point (or 10.7-percent) increase.When I discussed UK from a statistical perspective last time, though, I explained that raw scoring can be misleading without adjusting for pace. If Kentucky was allowing 10.7 percent more points per game but playing at a similarly faster pace, that change would not reflect poorly on UK’s defense. However, during the aforementioned eight-game stretch, the Cats are actually playing a slower pace than its average for the season. For the year, UK plays an average of 68 possessions per game, but only 66.3 during its last eight games, according to Ken Pomeroy. So, not only are the Cats allowing more points, but they are allowing more points on fewer possessions, a clear indictment of UK’s defensive efficiency.Over the past month, UK’s opponents are scoring more than 1.03 points per possession. Compare that with the 0.88 points per possession Kentucky allowed the first 17 games of the year and it’s fairly clear that UK just isn’t getting it done on defense like it did early in the year.I would like to go deeper that just that though: what is driving that loss of efficiency?A weakness of UK’s defense all season has been turnovers. Has UK regressed further in that department, triggering the defensive stagnation?The numbers do not suggest that to be the case. Early in the season, UK was very good defensively without forcing a great deal of mistakes. For the year, Kentucky’s opponents are committing an average of 12.8 turnovers, but during the 4-4 stretch, UK is actually forcing more turnovers, an average of 13.0 to be exact. UK is forcing more turnovers on fewer possessions over the last month so it’s safe to say that is not the reason for UK’s issues.What about defensive rebounding? Again, that doesn’t look to be the case. For the year, Kentucky is allowing just barely over 11 offensive rebounds per contest. During the last month, UK has allowed 11.3 offensive rebounds per game. Yes, that’s an increase, but not enough to account for the Cats’ precipitous drop in efficiency.What about field-goal shooting?UK’s opponents for the season are shooting just 39.0 percent, an impressive number. During the games in question, though, opponents are shooting  41.8 percent. That’s a more significant change than in rebounding, but it’s again not enough to explain Kentucky’s problems.That evaluation of UK’s field-goal defense is just a bit simplistic because it ignores a very simple fact: a 3-pointer is worth more than a two pointer.UK may be holding opponents to low shooting percentages even in losing four of eight, but behind the 3-point line, the Wildcats problems become quite clear. Amazingly, UK’s eight opponents over the past month are shooting nearly as well from beyond the 3-point line (41.7 percent) as inside of it.Over Kentucky’s first 18 games, the Wildcats allowed just 30.1 percent from beyond the arc, so the 3-point defense has gotten markedly worse. Even opponents like Alabama (306th in the nation in 3-point percentage) and Tennessee (254th) have shot exceptionally well from long range.John Calipari often talks about how teams that play Kentucky will shoot better than they have all season just because they are playing UK. While there is likely some truth in this sentiment, the exceptional shooting of UK’s opponents of late has to be attributed in large part to the fact that the Cats aren’t contesting shots from deep as they should be and did earlier in the season.Whether it is tired legs due to lack of depth or some other cause, UK absolutely has to find a way to get back to limiting and contesting looks from beyond the 3-point line as the Wildcats were early in the season.