What’s gone wrong for UK’s offense of late? ‘A couple spacing issues,’ John Calipari says.
It’s a big week for the Kentucky men’s basketball program.
Now ranked No. 10 in the nation, the Wildcats (15-4 overall and 5-2 in SEC games) are coming off two unconvincing performances on the road: a lopsided loss at South Carolina and an ugly win at Arkansas.
Head coach John Calipari’s team is back in Lexington for a pair of games this week, and both are major matchups: UK hosts Florida (its first repeat game in league play) on Wednesday night before a rivalry showdown against No. 5 Tennessee in prime time Saturday.
Will Calipari’s team look more like the high-powered offense that we’ve seen for most of the season? Or the one that’s scored a combined 125 points over its last two games?
Time will tell.
But until then, Kentucky’s head coach spent nearly an hour discussing several topics of interest on the airwaves Monday night during his weekly radio show.
What has led to Kentucky’s recent offensive issues
It’s no secret that Kentucky’s offense has hit a rough patch of late.
After a 105-point outburst in a home win over Georgia on Jan. 20 (powered by the college basketball debut of freshman center Zvonimir Ivisic), the Cats have put up a pair of offensive duds. UK scored only 62 points in the blowout loss at South Carolina and just 63 in Saturday’s road win at Arkansas.
Kentucky missed 15 of its first 16 shots in Fayetteville.
According to ESPN, these two games marked the first time in the Calipari era that the Wildcats scored 25 or fewer points in consecutive first halves.
Once ranked as the highest-scoring offense in the country, Kentucky (now averaging 88.5 points per game) entered Monday night’s slate of games fourth in that category behind Alabama (89.6), Arizona (89.2) and Samford (88.6).
“Offensively, when we move the ball, there are people open that we’re not finding, that, two weeks ago, we found,” Calipari said. “There were a couple spacing issues. So we talked about it, we showed them on tape … And they came out, and all of a sudden I just stopped them (in practice) and I said, ‘That’s how you play when you’re us.’ That’s the spacing. That’s who you’re looking for. You’ve got to see where people are.”
Calipari said part of the reason for Kentucky’s lackluster scoring performances of late can be tied to the fluctuating Kentucky roster: Ivisic was added to the rotation for the first time in that Georgia game. Sophomore Adou Thiero returned from a seven-game injury absence in the Arkansas win, but freshman guard Rob Dillingham missed that game against the Hogs due to illness.
Now 19 games into the 2023-24 season, Kentucky is still yet to be at full strength for a game this season.
“When you start adding players in the middle of a season, it’ll affect your chemistry a little bit. It does,” Calipari said. “Because you’re trying to figure each other out on the run. We don’t have a whole lot of practices.”
Calipari estimated that Kentucky has about one-and-a-half practices per week at this stage of the season, although he’s also talked up the physicality of those practices following the South Carolina loss.
“… When there’s great chemistry, they’re helping each other and making it easy for each other, and they’re more confident,” Calipari added.
Kentucky basketball finally on the verge of being at full strength
Speaking of being at full strength, it sounds like Kentucky is finally on the cusp of playing a game with all of its players available.
Calipari said Dillingham — who woke up sick Saturday morning and couldn’t play at Arkansas — was “pretty good” in UK’s Monday practice.
Right now, indications are that Dillingham should be able to play for the Cats on Wednesday night against the Gators.
“He’s a guy that, if you have anybody on this team that wants to play basketball, it’s him,” Calipari said. “He wants to play. But it’s injuries and sickness and, they’re not machines, they’re not computers. We haven’t had a full roster.”
Having more players available will give Calipari plenty of options when it comes to potential rotations and on-court pairings, something the UK coach said he is still trying to navigate with only 12 regular season games remaining until the SEC Tournament.
Next game
Florida at No. 10 Kentucky
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Florida 14-6 (4-3 SEC), Kentucky 15-4 (5-2 SEC)
Series: Kentucky leads 110-41
Last meeting: Kentucky won 87-85 on Jan. 6 in Gainesville, Fla.
