Kentuckys defense didnt just look bad against Louisville; it was at times completely inept. The Wildcats gave up 96 points, allowing the Cardinals to shoot 45% from the field and 33% from deep. But the eye test was even worse. The team looked lost.
In his press conference, Mark Popes entire analysis centered on one single word: distracted.
Its really, dumb is not the right word. Its distracted, Pope said about his teams efforts in the clunker of a loss to Louisville Tuesday night. Its distracted effort, distracted focus when youre under pressure and duress, sometimes you just fall into bad habits, default habits distracted actions.
That distracted effort led to a defensive performance that Pope called so wildly out of character for his teams. What habits are they falling back into? Is he saying his defense is wildly different from the guys coming from other programs, who arent learning it fast enough? He then dropped a mind-blowing statistic from the film review that proves just how total and embarrassing the collapse was.
I mean, we gave up 34 points in the first 8 seconds of the shot clock. Thats actually really hard to do.
That stat is the very definition of a team getting blitzed, humiliated, and completely unprepared for an opponents pace. Pope said the teams response to Louisvilles pressure was simply to get out of character and get on our heels.
It wasnt just the transition defense. Pope also admitted his teams focus and body language were the worst theyve been all season, including exhibitions.
We grade out body language on the court and we had three guys that were underwater on our body language for the first time this year including exhibition games, Pope admitted. That was disappointing.
He elaborated that underwater body language doesnt mean a lack of intent or effort, but a lack of focus. Focus and effort go hand-in-hand, or they should. If you are super focused but give no effort, its lazy. If you are giving all you have but doing it without intention, that is just as bad of a problem. According to Pope, the effort is there, the focus just isnt.
The defensive problems are clear: Kentuckys communication wasnt great, and their principles incredibly poor. Now, Pope has to find a way to fix a problem he says was wildly out of character before it becomes the norm.
Which three players do you believe it was?
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who 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