Mark Pope has brought his modern-day offensive approach with him to Lexington. The early returns will have you grinning from ear to ear.
During Monday night’s 103-62 season-opening win over Wright State, Kentucky looked the part of an offensive juggernaut. The Wildcats shot 68.3 percent (28-41) from two-point range and 45.8 percent (11-24) from beyond the arc. 30 assists (on 39 made baskets) as a team were countered by just seven turnovers.
“Listen, if you give me a 30-7 (assist-to-turnover) game, I’m pretty excited about that for sure,” Pope said postgame. “If we do that all year long it would be the all-time record of the history of the world. I would like to do that.”
Over 75 percent of UK’s field goals against Wright State came off a pass from a teammate. Looking at the shot chart, only two of Kentucky’s 65 total field goal attempts came inside the perimeter or outside the paint — the dreaded “long-two” area. Wright State made it a point to focus on the Wildcats’ three-point shooting early, which was answered by easy looks around the rim. Kentucky’s 4-9 start from deep in the first half was met with a 7-15 mark in the second half as the floor opened up even more.
As KSR’s Brandon Ramsey pointed out, Kentucky’s points per possession figure of 1.39 would have ranked fourth-best out of any game from last season’s UK team, which was undeniably talented on offense, as well. That’s a pretty good way to start the Pope era in Lexington.
Wright State’s defense simply had no answers for Kentucky’s seemingly endless number of outside shooters and playmakers. Guard Lamont Butler had five assists to one turnover. Wing Jaxson Robinson and forward Andrew Carr combined for six assists and one turnover. Guard Kerr Kriisa and center Brandon Garrison both recorded five assists without a single turnover.
That’s clean basketball. Notice the positional difference among these players, too. There are capable playmakers all over the place. We also saw similar numbers during Kentucky’s two exhibition wins. Expect more of this from Pope’s offense as the season rolls along.
