Kentucky basketball was finally back in action on Tuesday after a 10-day break between games as they welcomed the Brown Bears into Rupp Arena. The Wildcats were in need of a feel-good win after the ugly 20-point loss to Ohio State on Dec. 21, and they got just that, defeating Brown 88-54 with help from a huge second half that really opened up their lead.
Mark Pope was proud of the blowout win, and he knows they checked some boxes in some areas defensively that have been needing improvement. Pope says his team rang the bell defensively, responding well to their poor defensive efforts the game before.
“I was proud of us kinda ringing the bell defensively. It was really important to us, minus some letdowns on the glass, I thought some guys were stellar. It was a season-high in deflections, which is really important for us, and our percentages challenging shots, which is really good, and I think our guys had fun tonight. …I thought we were brilliant to start the game defensively. We turned the ball over three times in the first 90 seconds, and from then on, the guys ball protection was elite. …Five turnovers which I think ties our best or maybe one better than our best this season. They were motivated by aggressiveness.”
– Pope on defensive improvements.
The Wildcats were certainly impressive on that end of the floor. They forced 23 Brown turnovers and scored 33 points off of them, while also coming up with a season-high 14 steals. Kentucky, in fact, forced the most turnovers since forcing 25 against Texas A&M in 2017. In contrast, the Wildcats really took good care of the ball, only committing 5 turnovers the entire game, their fewest amount of the season.
Now, Kentucky will gear up for a top-10 showdown with No. 6 Florida in Rupp Arena to open SEC play, which is going to be an absolute gauntlet.