Statistical look — some good, some bad — at the UK basketball team so far this season

The long slog of this opening stretch of games for the Kentucky basketball team ended Sunday with what John Calipari called the squad’s best effort yet, a 107-73 victory over UIC in Rupp Arena.

“That’s by far the best we’ve played,” Calipari said. “We were efficient, we passed the ball, we made shots.”

That wrapped up seven games in 17 days for the Wildcats, who go into the next stretch with a 6-1 record and a little more time reserved for the practice floor.

From now until the Southeastern Conference opener on Dec. 31, the Cats will have about one week between games: four straight Saturday dates before a Friday afternoon tip-off with Louisville on Dec. 29.

So, how has UK’s young team fared individually up to this point? Here’s a closer look at some of the more interesting statistics:

▪  Kevin Knox was UK’s leading scorer Sunday night with 25 points, and he’s also the Cats’ leading scorer for the season, which was a popular preseason prediction. The 6-foot-9 wing is averaging 16.1 points per game.

That would be the seventh-best scoring average during the Calipari era if Knox keeps it up the entire season. Jamal Murray (20.0 points per game), Malik Monk (19.8), Tyler Ulis (17.3), Brandon Knight (17.3), De’Aaron Fox (16.7) and John Wall (16.6) are the only UK players under Calipari with higher points-per-game averages. In four of Calipari’s eight full seasons at UK, the leading scorer has averaged 15 or fewer points per game.

Knox, noted for his improved shooting as a high school senior, is 11-for-31 from three-point range through seven games (35.5 percent).

▪  The Cats have balanced rebounding numbers so far this season, and Nick Richards leads the way with 6.4 boards per game (in just 17.3 minutes of play). Next are Wenyen Gabriel (5.9 per game), Knox (5.7) and PJ Washington (5.6). UK is outrebounding its opponents 41.0-32.3 per game.

Marcus Lee led the Cats in rebounding two seasons ago with 6.0 boards per game, the lowest for a UK leader in that category during the Calipari era.

▪  Quade Green is the Wildcats’ starting point guard, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is actually leading the team in assists: 28 in seven games for a 4.0 average. Six players in the Calipari era have averaged more than 4.0 assists per game over an entire season: Ulis (7.0), Wall (6.5), Marquis Teague (4.8), Fox (4.6), Isaiah Briscoe (4.2) and Knight (4.2).

Green is second on the team with 22 assists, and Washington is third with 19.

▪  Gilgeous-Alexander also leads the team in steals, and he’s on pace for an outstanding season in that category. The 6-6 freshman has 18 steals in seven games for a 2.57 per game average. If he keeps it up, that would be the best in UK history.

Rajon Rondo averaged 2.56 steals per game during the 2004-05 season, and that’s the single-season record at Kentucky. (The 1978-79 campaign was the first season that steals were tracked as a stat). Nerlens Noel (2.1 steals in 2012-13) is the only player in the Calipari era to average more than two steals per game.

▪  Outside shooting was seen as one of this team’s potential weaknesses coming into the season, and — though it’s still a small sample size — that hasn’t been the case so far.

Kentucky has made 32 of 85 three-point shots for 37.6 percent. That would be the third-best mark in nine seasons under Calipari. The 2010-11 team made 39.7 percent of its outside shots, and the 2011-12 championship team was 37.8 percent from long range. Both of those teams had sharpshooter Doron Lamb, who made 47.5 percent of his three-point attempts in two seasons at Kentucky — the best mark in program history.

Green is 8-for-16 from deep (50 percent) so far this season. Knox (11-for-31 for 35.5 percent), Gabriel (5-for-15 for 33.3 percent) and Diallo (5-for-14 for 35.7 percent) are the only other Cats with more than 10 three-point attempts after seven games.

▪  The free-throw shooting has not been good early. Kentucky has made 63.6 of its foul shots, and no Calipari-coached team has done worse than that over the course of a full season. The poorest free-throw shooting team in the Calipari era is the 2012-13 squad, which shot 64.2 percent from the foul line and missed the NCAA Tournament.

Green is 10-for-11 on free throws to start the season, good enough for 90.9 percent. Ulis made 85.6 percent of his free throws in 2015-16, and that’s the best mark for a full season in the Calipari era. Starting center Nick Richards is second on the team in free throw shooting at 77.8 percent (14 of 18).

▪  Richards is making 65.7 percent of his field-goal attempts. Only Marcus Lee (68.0 percent in 2015-16) has a better shooting percentage during the Calipari era. The Cats are shooting 50.7 percent as a team and holding opponents to 38.4 percent shooting from the floor and 27.7 percent from three-point range. UK’s highest field-goal percentage in the Calipari era is 48.8 percent in 2011-12.

▪  UK has committed 111 turnovers with just 115 assists. Gilgeous-Alexander and Washington both have 21 turnovers after seven games.

▪  Other than Gilgeous-Alexander’s start in the regular-season opener, Calipari’s lineup has been the same all season. Green started the other six games at point guard, and Diallo, Knox, Washington and Richards have started seven games each.

▪  Knox is far and away the leader in playing time so far this season with 35.1 minutes per game. He’s followed by Diallo (27.9), Gilgeous-Alexander (27.7), Washington (25.4), Green (23.3), Gabriel (21.1), Richards (17.3) and Sacha Killeya-Jones (17.1). Tai Wynyard has 22 total minutes in five games played.

This story was originally published November 26, 2017 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Statistical look — some good, some bad — at the UK basketball team so far this season."