New year, same result, as the Cats continue their dominance over the Cards.
The Kentucky Wildcats picked up their 10th win of the season Saturday night in the Battle of the Bluegrass as they defeated their arch-rival, the Louisville Cardinals, 93-85. This rivalry game lived up to the preseason expectations, as it was a fight from start to finish for the first time since the Chris Mack era.
As good as Kentucky was the whole night offensively, the Cards continued to fight with everything they had and gave the Wildcats all they could handle, but the Cats would not be denied this night.
Saturday night’s win over the Cards now gives the Cats their 40th win in the Battle of the Bluegrass series, as they hold the all-time lead, 40-17.
Now, the Cats’ attention will turn to the Ohio State Buckeyes as they face off in Madison Square Garden for this year’s CBS Sports Classic.
With some time off this week, let’s take a look at a few things to like and what needs to improve for this Kentucky group going forward:
What to Like
3-point shooting
Kentucky couldn’t have picked a better game to get their hot 3point shooting back.
The Wildcats shot better than 70% percent from behind the arc in the first half, and that hot 3-point shooting continued as they finished a little over 50% (11/21) from 3 on the night.
Starring in the Cats’ hot shooting performance from 3 was, of course, Lamont Butler, who was a perfect 6/6 from distance.
It feels good knowing that this group was finally able to get out of that shooting slump from what they had the last few games, but the remaining question is: have the Wildcats found that consistency from 3 again moving forward?
If the answer is yes, this group will be hard to deal with for the rest of the season.
Otega Oweh’s continuous rise
Kentucky fan favorite Otega Oweh has been nothing but spectacular in his first 11 games as a Wildcat. He continues to come up big in crucial moments, including the late steal/dunk and 3-ball that capped off the win over Louisville. Oweh also finished with 17 points in Saturday night’s contest.
Oweh has scored in double figures in all 11 games as a Wildcat, and his intensity on both ends of the floor is a beautiful sight to see if you’re a Kentucky fan and a complete nightmare for the opposition.
The return of Lamont Butler
Lamont Butler returned just in time to deliver a historic performance against the Cards Saturday night. Butler was a perfect 10 of 10 from the field and 6/6 from deep in this contest, as he went for 33 points while dishing out six assists. Butler also etched his name into this rivalry’s game history as this was the second-most points scored by any other Kentucky player in the history of this rivalry.
His presence was definitely missed in the last couple of games. If it wasn’t already clear about how important Butler is to this year’s team, it definitely is now.
Things to Improve
Free throw shooting
As great as Kentucky was offensively in Saturday night’s game, free throws continued to be a major head-scratcher.
Missed free throws were another big reason why Louisville was able to stay in the game, as the UK missed a total of 10 free throws (18/28) during the matchup.
Let’s hope to see some improvement, as free-throw shooting will be one of the most important factors in determining a win or a loss in SEC play.
Defensive lapses
Kentucky’s effort to fight through screens and not contesting at the rim the last few games has been worrisome.
We saw it happen in the first half of the Gonzaga game while also seeing it throughout the whole game against Colgate last Wednesday night.
It also played a factor in Louisville being able to force some one-on-one matchups against the Cats to stick in the game.
For a veteran group, that kind of trend on the defensive end of the floor is borderline inexcusable.
Our offense has been more than enough to make up for those lapses on the defensive side, but if it continues, I guarantee that luck will run out eventually.
Giving up offensive rebounds/second-chance points
As good of a start as the Wildcats have been off to, giving up offensive rebounds still remains an ongoing issue for this year’s squad.
Kentucky shot almost 70% from the field in the first half, which you would think led to a big halftime lead. Well, you would be wrong, as the Cats only took a six-point lead into the locker room.
The Cards had a 5-1 advantage in offensive rebounding, including eight second-chance points to the Cats’ zero in the first half.
Kentucky ended up cleaning up those two areas in the second half as they flipped the script yet again coming out of the break. With eight second-chance points and Louisville being held to zero, the adjustments continue to be impressive.
Let’s just hope a game comes soon where Kentucky shows it can do this well for 40+ minutes.