Kentucky will attempt to pound Arkansas on the boards. Here’s why.
Arkansas has been out-rebounded by 11 straight Southeastern Conference opponents. Tuesday night’s game against the Razorbacks should put Kentucky’s trendy new statistic in italics: rebounding attempts.
One question comes to mind: What exactly is a rebounding “attempt?”
Assistant coach Joel Justus, who substituted for John Calipari at Monday’s interview session, acknowledged that this UK statistic can be a bit fuzzy. One man’s attempt can be another man’s example of happenstance (good fortune got the ball to the UK player).
“It is not something as black and white as whether a ball goes in the hole or you get the rebound . . . ,” Justus said.
Coaches study video to track every shot taken by Kentucky and the opponent.
“You know, you’ve got to hit rewind four times, and, ‘OK, do you feel PJ (Washington) went after this ball? Do you feel Keldon (Johnson) went after this ball.’
“It’s obviously subjective.”
If a player contests a shot, he will not “get dinged” for not going for a rebound, Justus said. At the offensive end, the shooter is given a similar understanding for not attempting to rebound.
When asked if this rewind and study was a tedious part of his job, Justus paused before answering, and then said, “It’s a blessing to work here.”
This drew a laugh from reporters.
“And I’m excited every single day with what you can do . . . ,” he added. “And, you know, Go Cats!”
Of course, compiling a statistic on rebounding attempts follows another of Calipari’s numerical inventions: “kills,” which are three consecutive defensive “stops.”
EJ Montgomery explained the underlying purpose.
“At the beginning, we wanted to be as good a defensive team as we could be,” he said. “Now, it’s our main focus. It’s what we want to do.”
Calipari mentions rebound attempts every day, Montgomery said. When asked if a player ever disputes a coach’s conclusion about whether or not an attempt was made, Montgomery said, “Uh, no. No argument.”
Of course, Moses Malone, a rebounding machine in his day, worked the offensive board so well it was suspected that he purposely missed shots around the basket in order to increase his rebound total.
Might a UK player do likewise to pad his total of attempts? “I don’t think so,” Montgomery said.
In terms of rebounding, the difference in Kentucky and Arkansas is striking. In all games and SEC games, UK ranks first in rebound margin. Arkansas ranks last. The same is true in defensive rebounding in all games, plus offensive and defensive rebounding in league games.
“Rebounding to me is all about the effort and anticipating and getting in there,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said Monday. “You’re going to get some battle scars. You’re going to get some cuts and elbows and all that stuff. But you have to be able to go in there and push people out of there. That’s what (opponents are) doing to us. So I think it’s got to be a collective effort. I think when we’re at our best, our guards are rebounding. The guys that are coming off the bench are giving us (rebounds). To me, it’s all about maximum effort from everybody out there on that floor.”
Kentucky figures to be without its leading rebounder in league play again Tuesday night. Reid Travis sprained his right knee at Missouri a week ago and is not expected to play again for another week or so.
When asked how Travis was doing, Justus said, “Great. He’s doing what he needed to do. I know that. . . . Reid Travis is the ultimate professional in terms of how he approaches every single day. On the floor and off the floor. And he’s attacking rehab right now the same way he attacked his body in the summer. Same way he attacked playing differently. And he’s that guy now who’s got a different challenge in front of him. And that’s getting his body back to 100 percent and ready to go whenever that is.”
With Travis sidelined, Kentucky out-rebounded under-sized Auburn 43-24 in Saturday’s romp to victory. That marked UK’s second-most lopsided rebound advantage since the North Dakota game on Nov. 14.
“Our last game, the numbers were as high as they’ve ever been across the board,” Justus said.
Still, Montgomery said the Cats missed Travis.
“I missed him a lot,” Montgomery said. “Me and PJ and Nick (Richards) had to do some of the things he does. We just went from there.”
Montgomery’s seven rebounds against Auburn equaled the second-most he’s had all season.
“I’ve done it in the past,” Montgomery said of his board work on Saturday. “But not to the effect (Travis) did because he’s a bigger guy.”
Tuesday
Arkansas at No. 4 Kentucky
When: 9 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Arkansas 14-13 (5-9 SEC), Kentucky 23-4 (12-2)
Series: Kentucky leads 31-11
Last meeting: Kentucky won 87-72 on Feb. 20, 2018, in Rupp Arena.
