Mark Pope explains how Kentucky’s defense has been elite lately
Kentucky is getting ready for the last game of the regular season on Saturday when they head to Columbia to take on the Missouri Tigers, an offense that is one of the best in the entire country. The good thing for Kentucky, they have really improved on the defensive end in the last few weeks, and especially have with catalyst Lamont Butler back from his shoulder injury.
Mark Pope said on Thursday that both Butler and Andrew Carr, who is on the side of recovery from a back injury, came out perfect in terms of health from Tuesday’s win over LSU. That’s a great sign for Kentucky as the postseason looms, and the Wildcats will look to continue that defensive improvement. Pope talked about the importance of that area when previewing the matchup with Missouri, saying, “You don’t have a chance to be competitive if you can’t function defensively.”
“”We got into the 50’s guys (in defensive ratings). My gosh. …Lamont makes a massive difference. Now, to the team’s credit, we made a huge jump (without) Lamont, and then him coming back, I mean come on, it makes such a difference for us having him at the point of attack. It just is a massive difference. It’s both the impact that he has on the game, which is incredible, he’s done it his entire career, and it’s the team catching up. I think still in the last seven games now we’ve been a top 20 defensive team. You don’t even have a chance to be competitive if you can’t function defensively. Mark Pope on Kentucky’s defense.
The numbers really do back up significant improvement defensively for Kentucky. The Wildcats, on KenPom, an advanced analytics site, is 56th in defensive efficiency, including 18th in three-point defense, holding opponents to just 30.1% from deep. Not just that, but they are terrific on the defensive glass, ranking 27th in the country there.
Now with Lamont Butler back, that will certainly help add to their defensive intensity, and as Kentucky fans saw against LSU, that defense can really turn to offense.
