Photo by Keyli Chisesi (Go Big Blue Country)
When looking for an areas that needs to improve for Kentucky to climb out of a recent slump, passing and scoring the basketball are at the top of the list. Yes, that sounds obvious if you’re talking about winning in any sport but the two are a big reason why the Wildcats have lost three straight games.
Scoring droughts have been a major problem for Kentucky, especially in the first half of games. The Wildcats have had 11 games in which they failed to score a basket over a five-minute stretch. That’s right, eleven different games have contained a scoring drought of at least five minutes. Kentucky is 5-6 in those games but the deficits have been too large to overcome in recent weeks.
During the current three game-losing streak, the scoring droughts have occurred in the first half. Once that drought occurs, momentum swings in favor of the opponent, resulting in the Wildcats having to expend all their energy just to fight back in the second half. In the last five games, they have fallen behind by double digits in four of them.
One thing that could help avoid these dreaded droughts is ball movement, something they have struggled with the last few games. The number of shots players are taking is not a problem. However, the quality of shots is.
The Wildcats struggle to pass the basketball but it’s not necessarily selfishness. At times, they look confused and unsure of what to do with the basketball or it sticks in a player’s hand for a long period of time. Before a 15 assist performance at Texas A&M, Kentucky averaged 7.7 assists in a three game stretch vs. Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Tennessee. UK is averaging only 11.6 assists per game in their 8 losses.
If they’re ever going to get things figured out, passing the ball will go along way towards fixing offensive issues and hopefully, will result in better offensive flow and shot attempts.
