Watching the way the Ole Miss Rebels defended the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday was incredibly frustrating because Kentucky fans have not seen that level of defensive effort from this team all season long.
Ole Miss was defending way past the three-point line, making it really hard for the Wildcats to find any kind of good looks and creating turnovers. The Wildcats only turned the ball over eight times which would win the turnover battle more times than not.
That wasn’t the case in this game, as Ole Miss only turned the ball over one time. That is the least number of times a team has turned the ball over in an SEC game in 25 years.
This game is an excellent example of why the Wildcats are ranked 337th out of 355 teams in college basketball when it comes to creating turnovers. The Wildcats only turn over their opponents 9.73 times per game. Knowing Kentucky is a team that wants to play fast getting out in transition not creating turnovers really hinders their ability to do that.
This shows how little pressure the Kentucky defense is creating if the opposing team isn’t turning over the ball. This is also a great example of why the Wildcats need Lamont Butler back on the floor, as he gets a lot of steals.
This Kentucky team won’t make any kind of run in March if they aren’t able to start creating turnovers and scoring points off of those turnovers. Coach Pope needs to start doing a press or finding some way to put pressure on the opposing team.
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