John Calipari has made it clear many times that he believes his team's defense and rebounding will tell the tale of how the Cats end up performing in March.  An interesting--and worrisome--trend has developed for the Wildcats.  In the last four games--against Louisville, Georgia, Florida and Auburn--the opponent rallied from a substantial first-half deficit to either pull even or get close in the second half and they've done it by shooting 46% or better after halftime.  Here the respective shooting percentages for each of those opponents:

 

OPPONENT     FG%-1st half     FG%--2nd half

Louisville            17                      47

Georgia              44                      50

Florida               30                      46

Auburn              29                       55

 

In looking for the reason, one might lean toward fatigue, but you would think that would show itself in a dropoff in Kentucky's second-half shooting and that has not happened.  The only thing I come back to is the Cats' inexperience.   It's not as much fun to dig in and defend, so perhaps UK's focus wanes when they move out to a significant lead.  It's only four games so maybe it's just a coincidence.  If not, then perhaps a little more mental toughness will do the trick.  Or perhaps coach Cal will make some changes in his substitution rotation to try and reverse that trend.  It'll be interesting to watch in the coming weeks because if the trend continues, the chances of staying undefeated figure to decrease significantly.

 

 

 

 

@ South Carolina
Saturday / 6pm eastern
listen on UK-IMG Sports Network
See full schedule