Kentucky dropped it’s first SEC game of the season yesterday in a 97-92 loss to the Aggies of Texas A&M. Predictably the Aggies broke out of their several week shooting slump and Kentucky struggled to make the right adjustments on the road. Lets dive in to some takeaways and decide how panicked we should be.
The Defense Is A Work In Progress
Kentucky’s defense had been improving the last couple of weeks (do not listen to gasbags who tell you this team can’t be a decent defensive team) but took a step back against a good Texas A&M backcourt. Just about every guard struggled to stay in front of their man and it caused problems all game for the Cats. Dillingham had good moments of on-ball pressure but he gambles too often to keep him there consistently.
The inability to stop straight line drives is what got Aaron Bradshaw into foul trouble. It also forced off-ball defenders to leave their man to help which created more open shots and allowed more room for offensive rebounds as Kentucky had to scramble. Kentucky really missed Adou who is a good weak side defender and athletic enough to cover for mediocre execution.
Ugo Steps Up
With Bradshaw falling victim to poor on-ball defense and A&M foul-hunting Kentucky needed big minutes from Ugo. He delivered in spades. It is important to remember that Ugo is coming back from a pretty serious foot injury himself that required surgery. This forced him to miss the entirety of the preseason camp almost all of the cupcake non-conference games. He’s been cleared for less than a month and has just 6 appearances playing no more than 15 minutes in each game. Yesterday he played 31 and gave Kentucky 7 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Most importantly he avoided committing a ton of fouls to give Kentucky some consistent size.
It wasn’t a perfect game by any stretch as he’s still playing his way into game fitness but he came into the game and kept things from snow-balling. A lot of folks were adamant back in the summer that Ugo wasn’t necessary, but he’s provided good minutes in two of the first three SEC games.
Margins Are Thin
This young Kentucky team is having to learn that even small mistakes are punished at this level. Shooting 13-21 from the FT line on the road is a good way to get beat. Nobody shot particularly poorly from the line but three different guys when 1-2 on their FT attempts. It’s also hard to win when you give up 25 offensive rebounds. Multiple times Kentucky was just a half-step late and a veteran/athletic A&M team punished the indecision.
It’s a little annoying that even small mistakes are being punished but that is the reality of the new SEC. It’s a good learning experience for the young Cats to figure it out now. It’s also encouraging that they are able to battle threw it to be in the game when it happens.
What Does It Mean
Kentucky wasn’t going to go 18-0 in the SEC, there are too many good players and coaches in the SEC. A loss here isn’t the end of the world. A&M is a bad matchup as they can play 3-4 long/athletic players who have the physicality and skill to go at Kentucky. Kentucky really only has one of those guys (Adou Thiero) and he was hurt. Despite that matchup advantage, being at home, and their shooting percentages progressing to the mean Kentucky still probably should have won the game. For me, there is no reason to panic. A&M is a top 20ish team and it was only a matter of time before their season got back on track.
Calipari will have some things to clean up with execution on both ends of the floor. The flaws have been on display for awhile but Kentucky finally ran into a team with the personnel to take full advantage. Kentucky has another tough team coming to Rupp on Wednesday in Mississippi State and the blueprint is out.
