For the past two games, Kentucky’s offence has been shut down.
However, Saturday’s performance by its defence against Arkansas was encouraging for a young squad that will need to win one or two games in March to have a chance at the NCAA Tournament, which some of its supporters believe is a given.
When the 10th-ranked Wildcats play Florida in a Southeastern Conference game on Wednesday night in Lexington, Kentucky, they’ll be hoping for another strong defensive performance and to get their explosive offence back on track.
Despite playing in temperatures in the 60s for the second consecutive game, Kentucky (15-4, 5-2) defeated Arkansas 63-57 at home. Its defence kept the struggling Razorbacks to just over 0.8 points per possession and restricted them to 33.3 percent shooting from the field, including 4 of 19 from outside the 3-point arc.
Although they rank 70th in adjusted defensive efficiency on kenpom.com, their defence hasn’t been particularly strong, nor has it been the lockdown defence that the best John Calipari teams typically play.
“We were able to grind it and figure it out,” he stated.
While playing well defensively against a free-falling club like Arkansas is encouraging, it does not always mean that the problem has been resolved. Before facing No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday, it would be more definitive to take a step in the right direction by replicating that performance against a more formidable offensive squad like Florida.
The Gators (14-6, 4-3) are similar to Kentucky in that they are strong on offence, have above-average defence, and are just marginally bad on defence. With 85.4 points per game, they are ranked sixth in Division I, helped by their Saturday 102-98 overtime victory over Georgia.
Although it would have preferred not to score in triple figures, Florida let up 51 points in the second half and allowed the Bulldogs to make 11 of their 26 3-pointers after blowing a 13-point lead at the break. RJ Melendez, who came off the Georgia bench and scored a game-high 35 points, made 6 of 10 3-pointers, and the Gators were unable to come up with a plan to stop him.
However, they did let loose 7’1″ centre Micah Handlogten against Georgia, who ended with 23 points and 17 rebounds, possibly posing a problem for Kentucky.
Handlogten is shooting 67.4 percent from the field while only scoring 7.4 points per game on average in 19.9 minutes. Furthermore, Wildcat centres haven’t been playing well lately.
On January 6 in Gainesville, Handlogten pulled down six offensive rebounds in Florida’s 87-85 loss to Kentucky. Against Georgia, he had seven.
Gators coach Todd Golden stated, “Unless you’re a dude, you don’t give Georgia a 23-and-17.” “He puts a lot of effort and hustle into his plays. He continues to play with a lot of physicality near the basket, and when he does, it clearly helps us a lot.”
Transfer of Iona This season, Walter Clayton Jr. is leading Florida’s five players in double digits with an average of 15.9 points.
Antonio Reeves, who recently scored 24 points against Arkansas, is still leading Kentucky’s offensive onslaught with 19.5 points per contest.
