College basketball week 4: 5 biggest takeaways
By Chris Stone
3. Kentucky’s shooting woes may limit the Wildcats’ ceiling
The biggest game of the weekend took place at Rupp Arena as the Kentucky Wildcats squared off with the UCLA Bruins. Kentucky entered the game as the top-ranked team in the country and arguably had played better basketball up to Saturday than anyone else.
The Wildcats are a vicious combination of defensive want-to and athleticism that breeds transition buckets and highlight reel slams. The problems can come when those defensive stops don’t materialize and Kentucky is forced into a shootout with an opposing team capable of scoring at a high level. So it was against the Bruins who snuck away from Lexington with a 97-92 win.
The biggest worry going forward for Kentucky is whether or not they can consistently make enough outside shots to force defenses to guard the perimeter and allow space for players like De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Isaiah Briscoe to attack the rim. The Wildcats are shooting just 32.4 percent from deep and made only 8-of-24 threes against UCLA. Exclude Monk and those numbers fall to 28.4 percent and 4-of-16.
The lack of shooting is certainly not a death knell for Kentucky’s national title hopes. The Wildcats will overwhelm many with their athleticism and already impressive defense, but being unable to make shots certainly won’t help. Keep an eye on how opposing coaches choose to defend them in the halfcourt as the season rolls on. If they sag off of the shooters and force the Wildcats into more jump shots, it’ll make it much tougher for Kentucky to score points.