We have talked about the biggest issue facing Kentucky Basketball right now: the slow starts. It happens nearly every game.
The Wildcats find themselves down 10 points or more way too often. In the last two games alone, they fell behind by 18 to LSU and 17 to Tennessee. While they were able to pull themselves out of the hole on the road both times, you can’t depend on a miracle comeback every single time you take the floor. And yet they find themselves in that position far too often.
Sooner or later, you have to go out and play 40 minutes of good basketball. They have yet to do that this year. There have been flashes or spurts. But against a Power 5 team, there is not a full 40 minutes where you can go, “That’s it, that is what we need more of.”
When asked about why it is happening, newly inserted starter Andrija Jelavic didn’t really have an answer. He said, “I don’t really have an answer to that, I’m not going to lie… I don’t really have an answer to that.”
But Mark Pope isn’t just sitting around watching it happen over and over; he is trying new things to wake this group up during the first half.
“We’ve actually talked to the team about changing the way we do our 40 minutes before tip,” Pope told reporters this week.
The head coach didn’t reveal exactly what that entails, whether it is a change in the warm-up drills, the locker room speech, or the timeline of their arrival, but it is a clear acknowledgment that the current setup isn’t working.
A lot of fans point back to Auburn last year to notice the difference in the warm-up speeches from Bruce Pearl and Mark Pope. You can see the difference for yourself:
Mark Pope is a more cerebral guy; he is not going to do a lot of yelling and jumping. He has told BBN that burning white hot is only good at times. But maybe this team needs some more of that.
Whatever it is, we will see if we notice any change in the energy level tonight as the Cats take on Texas. Kentucky can not keep digging themselves 20 point holes in mid-January, and beyond, that’s for sure.
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Drew Holbrook has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time, he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion
