One area of Mark Pope’s UK offense hit a new low in loss to North Carolina
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- Kentucky basketball went 1-for-13 on 3-pointers in home loss to North Carolina.
- UK’s only made 3-pointer of the game was by junior forward Brandon Garrison.
- For the first time under Mark Pope, UK went a half of basketball without making a 3.
In one offensive category, Kentucky basketball’s home loss to North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge set a new low for the Mark Pope coaching era.
For the first time in Pope’s 44 games leading his alma mater, the Wildcats went a half of basketball without making a 3-pointer. The Cats missed all eight of their attempts from behind the arc in the first half of Tuesday’s 67-64 loss to the Tar Heels.
UK made only 1 of 13 3-point attempts in the game. The lone make came from an unlikely source, with junior forward Brandon Garrison rattling in a shot from distance nearly 27 minutes into the game.
“It’s uncommon for us to be 1 for 13 from 3,” Pope said postgame. “That’s not really who we are.”
This was a display of distance-shooting futility that a Pope-led program hadn’t experienced in years.
The last time a Pope-coached team went a half of basketball without making a 3-pointer was during the 2022-23 season. In February 2023, Pope’s second-to-last BYU team failed to make a 3-pointer during the first half of what became a home loss to Santa Clara.
Pope’s offensive approach as a college coach is predicated on letting the 3-pointers fly. This was never more apparent than in Pope’s final season in Provo: His 2023-24 BYU team attempted 32 3-pointers per game, the second-most in the nation.
Since arriving in Lexington, Pope and his top offensive assistant, Cody Fueger, have teased the idea of trying to get the Wildcats to attempt an average of 35 distance shots per contest.
That hasn’t happened. Last season, UK averaged just more than 25 attempts from deep per game. So far this season, that figure is slightly higher at 26.7 attempts.
The Cats may be taking more shots from deep this season, but the success rate of those attempts has decreased. Pope’s first UK squad shot 37.5% from 3-point range, a top-25 mark nationally. This year’s team is at 33.6%; that ranks 166th in the country.
This likely will fuel discourse surrounding Kentucky’s roster construction, from a shooting standpoint. The Cats entered the season with precious few proven 3-point shooters. The leader from that group, sophomore wing Kam Williams, is shooting just 26.1% on 3s this season.
On Tuesday night, four different Wildcats missed multiple distance shots.
“One, we weren’t making shots,” UK senior guard Otega Oweh said of his team’s poor 3-point shooting. “But then, the fact that we put up 13, I think we didn’t see the opportunity. I think we were getting to the paint, being aggressive... But we weren’t playing off two feet a lot (to) where we could hit guys for open shots.”
After the game, both Oweh and Pope pointed to Kentucky’s eight assists as an alarmingly low number and an indicator of UK’s offensive struggles.
Pope also touched on North Carolina’s defensive switching, as well as the physicality the Tar Heels played with on the perimeter.
This was by design.
“We knew that they were an elite 3-point shooting team,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said. “I think, in large part, we kept them out of transition. That’s where they made a lot of their 3s.”
“Just apply ball pressure and stick to our principles,” North Carolina freshman Caleb Wilson said. “... If you take good shots, you don’t really have to worry about transition, because you know they’ll be (getting the ball) close to the rim.”
Davis also referenced the length and size his Carolina team used to disrupt UK’s offensive flow. And he acknowledged the trade-off that came with this approach.
Kentucky claimed a 42-34 advantage in points in the paint. For all the Wildcats’ struggles with distance shooting, Kentucky converted on an effective 55% of its shots inside the arc (22-for-40).
But Carolina made five more 3-pointers than UK. That’s a 15-point swing that helped account for the game’s final margin.
“I wish it was one thing that you do, but it’s just a grouping of things where we just need to get better and get more solid,” Pope said. “We’ve got to find a balance between me meddling with the game and the guys feeling the game. But all that’s part of it. It’s a struggle for us right now.”
