LEXINGTON — This late in the season and with all the injuries that have piled up, it’s almost unfair to expect Kentucky basketball to get any better defensively. So the Wildcats had better be flawless offensively to win games.
UK became that team in the second half of its 82-61 win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday at Rupp Arena. It overwhelmed the Commodores by connecting on eight of its first 11 shots and using an 18-6 spurt to break open a one-point lead at halftime.
That’s the winning formula for the Cats. Score with such precision to make it so opponents are so stressed to score to keep up that it takes them out of running their offense.
To be clear, Kentucky never played shutdown defense even before starters Jaxson Robinson, who missed his third straight game, and Lamont Butler, sidelined for his fifth out of the last seven, got injured.
UK entered the game ranked 15th out of 16 teams in the SEC in adjusted defense, according to KenPom.com. (For comparison’s sake, UK ranked sixth last season in the conference, and no one would describe that team as defensive, either.)
Now that they aren’t available, coach Mark Pope is left coming up with game plans just to get over. There’s no bigger picture with the Cats right now, it’s just survive the remaining crucible of their SEC schedule and try to advance into March without losing ground on a good seed for the NCAA Tournament.
This column will be updated.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: Mark Pope’s team pins NCAA hopes on offense
