Kentucky’s strong start to the season continued last Saturday as they strolled to their eleventh consecutive victory with a commanding 14-point win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. They will look to make it 12 wins in a row this coming Saturday when they face the UCLA Bruins who are coming off their first home defeat of the season.
Can the Wildcats stretch their winning run? Or will the Bruins score a massive upset? Read on below for a preview of this highly-anticipated matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the game between Duke and Connecticut here.
It’s back to the drawing board for head coach Steve Alford and the rest of the UCLA Bruins after their four-game winning streak was snapped Saturday by Gonzaga. The 87-74 defeat was also the Bruins’ first home loss of the season who now has the unenviable task of facing the still-unbeaten Kentucky Wildcats this coming Saturday.
If they are to avoid falling into a two-game hole, the Bruins will need to re-establish their interior offense against Kentucky. The Bruins scored a season-low 22 points inside the paint on 11-of-25 shooting against Gonzaga last Saturday, way below their season average of 31.8 paint points per game.
Aside from points in the paint, the Bruins will also need to improve on their second-chance opportunities. Prior to their game against Gonzaga, the Bruins were averaging a Pac-12 best 14.9 second chance points per game. They were held to a season-low nine points by an uncompromising Gonzaga defense.
Unfortunately, it won’t get any easier for them this coming Saturday as they’ll face one of the best defensive teams in the nation today in Kentucky. The Wildcats are second in scoring defense this season, allowing just 48.0 points per game.
If they are to solve the riddle that is the Kentucky defense, the Bruins will need to share the basketball more. One of the reasons behind their loss to Gonzaga was that the Bruins relied mostly on individual plays in that game. As a result, they had a total of only 11 assists, way below their season average of 16.0 assists per game which is 31st in the entire nation.
The onus is on Bryce Alford to orchestrate the offense much better. Although he top-scored for the Bruins with 24 points, he only dished out three assists, way below his 6.8 APG average during their four-game winning run.
Just when you think it’s easier to beat Kentucky with Alex Poythress out due to a torn ACL, here comes Kentucky with more weapons to trouble their opponents. The North Carolina Tar Heels learned about it the hard way Saturday as they suffered a thorough 84-70 beating at the hands of the Wildcats. Kentucky has now won 11 consecutive games to start the season.
What helped Kentucky’s cause in this game was its superb three-point shooting. The Wildcats shot 7-of-15 (46.7%) from beyond the arc, their best three-point field goal percentage thus far this season. That was a far cry from their form the previous three games where they connected on just 6-of-42 three-point attempts. The Wildcats were hitting just 27.7 percent of their three-point shots this season prior to their game against North Carolina.
This is a game-changer for a Kentucky offense accustomed to seeing opposing defenses packing the paint and leaving their perimeter shooters wide open. If they can continue to hit their outside shots, this will leave Willie Cauley-Stein (10.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG) with more room to operate and wreak havoc for the Wildcats down low.
Knocking down their long bombs will be easier said than done, though, as the UCLA Bruins are a good perimeter-defending team. UCLA opponents are shooting just 31.5 percent from the three-point area this season.
The Wildcats are 5-0 in their last five home games.
