Cats Look to Get Back on Track, Visiting Ole Miss
After seeing its three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday with a loss to Florida, Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday, facing Ole Miss in Oxford.
Against Florida, Kentucky (8-14, 7-8 SEC) was doomed by many of the same issues that have plagued the team all season. Namely, turnovers, poor shooting and late-game situational execution.
Kentucky was seemingly hurt by the cancellation of a mid-week game against Texas A&M, giving UK a full week between games. That seemed to hurt the Cats’ rhythm, something that assistant coach Jai Lucas acknowledged on Monday.
“Yeah, in retrospect you can say that. And that’s part of the year. That’s part of the COVID season,” Lucas said. “When you have a rhythm and something happens – and it can be one game like the Texas A&M thing – it just throws you off, out of sync, especially for a team like ours who have kind of been up and down all year. When you find something and you have a little momentum, you kind of want to do everything to keep it going.”
 |
||
| Kentucky at Ole Miss | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Tue., March 2 – p.m. ET |
||
| Coverage | ||
|
TV: ESPN |
||
| UK | Stats | UM |
| 8-14 | Record | 13-10 |
| 7-8 | Conference Record | 8-8 |
| 69.7 | PPG | 69.2 |
| 70.3 | Opp PPG | 63.9 |
| .415 | FG% | .442 |
| .409 | Opp FG% | .426 |
| 38.5 | RPG | 36.0 |
| .326 | 3PT FG% | .285 |
| .312 | Opp 3PT FG% | .370 |
| 11.9 | APG | 12.3 |
| 6.4 | SPG | 8.1 |
| 6.2 | BPG | 3.8 |
As for why the Cats reverted to some old bad habits, Lucas was not sure.
“It’s hard to say because you can say it can come from us not playing and then there just being this gap of, you know, you don’t know what kind of hangover you’re going to have from being off that long,” Lucas said. “I think that’s a big part of it. And then we were coming off something that we hadn’t had all year if I’m correct, a three-game win streak – the second time (this season) – you just don’t know what type of stuff they’re getting and reading and stuff like that. So, it’s a little bit of everything.”
Now, the Cats must move past that loss and try to re-focus their energy toward completing the regular season on a high note as they prepare for the upcoming SEC Tournament. Kentucky has two regular season games left before the conference tournament.
The first step in that process will present another challenge for the Cats – a 9 p.m. ET tipoff. Lucas knows that a late tip makes for a long day.
“It’s a big challenge because on game days, coaches and players you have this kind of anxiety wanting to play the game,” Lucas said. “So, it kind of delays it all the way out to the end. But we’ve had some late games already. I think this might be our first one on the road because we were supposed to play Missouri late but that one got changed. So, I think it’s something that we will be ready for and I think with the short turnaround Saturday-Tuesday, it gives you a little more time to let your bodies rest too. I think we’ll be OK.”
This will be the first meeting of the season between the Cats and the Rebels. Last season inside Rupp Arena, Kentucky rallied past Ole Miss 67-62 behind 17 points from Immanuel Quickley and 16 from Nick Richards. The Rebels led 62-61 with 1:11 to play but the Cats hit six free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Ole Miss had a puzzling last week. The Rebels went on the road and beat No. 24 Missouri 60-53 but followed that with a 75-70 loss to Vanderbilt.
Senior guard Devonte Shuler leads the Rebels in scoring at 16.0 points per game. Lucas knows that Shuler makes the Rebels go.
“He’s a big key to their team. When he plays well, they play well, and when he doesn’t, they kind of struggle,” Lucas said. “You have to from the beginning do your jobs especially in pick-and-roll coverage against him. You have to try to kind of crowd the paint so he can’t get downhill. You kind of just want him to take contested shots. You want to make him really inefficient. I think he had 20 points on 20 shots last game. So, you kind of want him to do something like that.”
Kentucky faces several obstacles – Shuler, playing on the road and a late tip, to name a few – on Tuesday night. The Cats hope to face those head on so they can get back on track as the postseason approaches.
Wildcats Playing Better
As John Calipari has said, there are no moral victories. And even at 8-14, the Kentucky program is not going to accept anything other than victories to build on.
Despite the record, UK’s players and staff continue to fight and the team has — despite a 7-8 league record — played better basketball since the calendar turned to 2021.
Kentucky has made improvements in a number of areas in SEC play:
• The Wildcats are averaging 72.0 points in league action. They were averaging 64.9 points in the first seven nonconference games
• Kentucky is shooting 35.8% from 3 in league play. In the first seven games, UK shot 25% from long range
• The Wildcats are shooting 77.6% at the free-throw line in SEC games. In the first seven games, they shot 66.2% at the charity stripe
• UK is averaging 6.8 rejections per game league play. In the first seven games, UK averaged 5.0 blocks per contest
• Kentucky is averaging 6.6 steals per game. In the first seven games, UK averaged 5.9 steals
• The Wildcats only held two of seven nonconference foes to less than 40% from the field. In league play, Kentucky has limited nine of 15 teams to less than 40%
• The Wildcats have had three different players record a double-double (Keion Brooks Jr., Isaiah Jackson and Olivier Sarr)
• UK has featured five players in double figures twice. It hadn’t happened in the previous 17 games
• Kentucky has scored 80 or more points against Arkansas, Auburn and Vanderbilt. They scored at least 80 just once — in the season opener — in the first 17 games
• The Wildcats have scored at least a point per possession in eight of their 15 league games. They did it just once in the seven nonconference matchups
Kentucky’s Remaining Schedule Set
Like the rest of the country, Kentucky has had its schedule affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Games vs. four different opponents have been postponed or canceled this season for safety protocols.
With a week left in the regular season, there is now clarity on UK’s final 2020-21 schedule.
The Wildcats will make up their previously postponed game vs. South Carolina on Saturday at noon at Rupp Arena. However, it will be the final game of the season and previously postponed games vs. Texas A&M (Feb. 23) and Detroit Mercy (Nov. 27) will not be rescheduled. The Texas game on Jan. 30 — the lone game alteration because of positive testing, contact tracing and subsequent quarantining of individuals within the Kentucky program — was canceled without a make-up date ever set.
If UK plays its games this week at Ole Miss and vs. South Carolina, UK will have played 24 regular-season games and 17 in the league. Per the NCAA Division I Council’s framework for scheduling this season during the pandemic, teams can play a maximum of 27 games.
Tickets purchased for the original Dec. 29 date with South Carolina will still be valid for the rescheduled game against the Gamecocks on March 6. UK ticket holders will receive communication via email if additional changes are made to Kentucky’s schedule.
