It has been repetitive for Kentucky basketball fans to hear this season, but the offense has been outright brutal, with no flow, no ball-movement, and no off-ball movement.
Kentucky’s offense all season long has put a stagnant product on the floor, with everyone on the floor looking for someone else to be the one to make a play. Something clicked on Saturday against Mississippi State, because Kentucky actually put an offense on the court that produced.
The Wildcats had their highest assist numbers of the entire season against power conference teams, dishing out 21 assists, to just 9 turnovers. Kentucky fans were ecstatic, and a little surprised, to see their team respond the way they did after they started the game down 11 points early. but stormed back. The Wildcats had a lot of help from their incredible defensive intensity, but even in the half-court setting, they were able to find real success. How were they able to do it? Ball-movement, which fans have rarely seen from their team this season. Mark Pope talked in-depth about what his team was able to do in order to make that happen:
“Schematically, we kind of went to just moving more bodies on the floor, and kind of went to a little bit of a revamped spacing system. But I’ll be honest with you guys. You know, 21 assists is the most we’ve had against a high-major team by five. And it just is amazing what happens when you pass the ball to your teammate. I was really proud of our guys. …We’re making some progress understanding each other a little bit. I thought our guys attention to the scout and the build of the scout was really good. I think that’s positive. The 21 assists is, like I said, it’s our high major record by a lot, and to be a 21-9 (assist-to-turnover) was really important for us tonight.”
Mark Pope talked more about Kentucky’s assist numbers against Mississippi State, which he continued raving about throughout the night after the game: “To finally get over 20, which is where we normally live, it was a really good sign for our team. We’re challenging guys to make plays for each other and understand what that means. The first six minutes, we had no interests in making plays for anybody on our team except for ourselves. But, the last 34 minutes was really fun to watch.”
Kentucky’s offense was fed a lot of the game by the defensive end, getting out in transition, but even in a half-court setting, it was the cutting that really helped open things up, with spacing and ball-movement then coming as a result of that. Mark Pope’s offense looked like its normal self on Saturday.
