Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Jackson State
On Tuesday night, No. 9 Kentucky cruised past Lipscomb, winning 97-68 inside Rupp Arena. The 29-point win was UK’s fourth straight to start the season.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope was asked on Thursday about his team taking “just” 25 attempts from three-point range. Pope had stated previously that 30 was the minimum number he would like to see, but in Tuesday’s game, he knows there was a reason it was less.
“We just need to probably be a little bit more forceful. Part of that is attributable to how Lipscomb chose to guard us,” Pope said. “Our guys took advantage of that. It’s a place where we will continue to focus on, letting the ball do the work and find the open man. We’re going to understand that more and more as we go forward.”
Still, that number of 30 is a goal for the Cats in every game.
“This number of 30 threes, or 30-plus, is important for us, it’s a standard,” Pope said. “We won’t be able there every game because we’re going to play the game with what we have in front of us. But as a metric, it’s something we’re striving for.”
Having zero players back from last year, and having just one player who has played for Pope before (Jaxson Robinson at BYU), the UK head coach knew it would be a process. It’s something they continue to work on every day.
“It takes time, for sure. It takes time to digest that,” Pope said. “Then, every time you face a new opponent, you’re getting a new feel, a new scheme, a new physicality, a new game plan. It’s one of the things that we’ve found is that teams tend to go to extremes to guard us. So you really never know what you’re going to see. You don’t see the normal defensive game plan. It’s a process.”
Kentucky returns to action on Friday night, hosting Jackson State (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus). The Cats are sticking with the long-term plan to continue improving.
“We just feel so much pressure to get better,” Pope said. “It’s how committed are we staying to our defensive principles and how well are we able to execute them. It’s the same old boring habits every day with us and just doing them better and better. Right now, it’s important to win, it’s important to play well. But it’s also a sprint to see how quickly we can get better. We’ve got to get better.”
One thing that Pope knows is that it’s important to keep learning.
“The game is always teaching you. That’s the beautiful thing,” Pope said. “If you’ll listen, if you’ll pay attention, the game is always teaching you. It’s actually the best teacher. All of that is filtered into the ways we try and execute, the ways we try to give our guys cues to pay attention to.”
The next opportunity to learn comes on Friday against Jackson State at Rupp Arena.
Cats Stay Hot and Down Lipscomb
On Tuesday, ninth-ranked Kentucky hit the court for the first time since topping then-No. 6 Duke in the Champions Classic a week ago. The Cats showed absolutely no sign of a letdown as they beat Lipscomb 97-68 inside Rupp Arena.
After scoring just one point in the win over Duke, Jaxson Robinson scored a season-high 20 points for the Cats on Tuesday, making 6 of 10 from the floor, including 3 of 6 from three-point range. Pope was impressed with Robinson against Duke and again on Tuesday night.
“I’m so impressed with Jaxson Robinson. It was really interesting because he had a terrific game against Duke,” Pope said. “He came up with massive defensive stops down the stretch that were game-determining stops. He wasn’t having a huge impact on the game on the scoreboard, but he refused to let that drain his defensive intensity and his energy toward his team.”
Lamont Butler had 16 points for UK, while Otega Oweh added 14. Koby Brea made all three of his attempts from long range on his way to 12 points.
Some additional notes from the win:
• Kentucky has a 4-0 start for the first time since the 2016-17 team won its first seven
• Making 12-of-25 on 3-point shots, this is the first team in UK history to make at least 10 3-pointers in each of its first four games
• Kentucky is one of eight teams nationally to make double-digit 3s in every game this season
• Koby Brea’s 15 3-pointers are the most by a Kentucky player through the first four games of a season since Derrick Miller hit 16 to start the 1989-90 season
Balanced Attack
The Wildcats are off to a 4-0 start in large part thanks to their veteran experience. But it has been the balance of attack, both offensively and defensively that has aided UK’s start.
• When Jaxson Robinson scored 20 points vs. Lipscomb, he became the fourth different leading scorer in the four games played
• Six players are averaging double-figure points through four games, and nine players are scoring 7.0 points per game or more
• UK has eight players who have generated four or more assists (1.0 per game) or more thus far, led by Kerr Kriisa’s 4.8 per game
• Six players have drained five or more 3s, with Koby Brea pacing the team with 15 made 3-pointers thus far
• Kentucky is outrebounding its foes by 11.25 per game. Nine players are averaging 2.0 boards per game or more
• The Cats have induced 27 steals and swatted 22 shots. Ten players have generated at least one steal, while nine have at least one blocked shot thus far
• Kentucky has held each of its four opponents below 40% from the field and three of four opponents to less than 20% from distance
• UK is averaging 36 bench points per game and is outscoring the opponent by 18.3 bench points per game
