These statistics will tell the story of UK basketball’s NCAA Tournament success or failure
Through 32 games of this 2023-24 Kentucky men’s basketball season, plenty of trends have emerged for John Calipari’s Wildcats.
Now, on the eve of UK’s NCAA Tournament first-round matchup against Oakland, it’s worth looking at some of the standout statistics that have defined the Wildcats’ season so far.
Only six wins separate Kentucky from a potential ninth national championship. And these three statistics will tell the story of whether or not the Cats end up cutting down the nets in a few weeks’ time.
Kentucky has not lost this season when matching opponents’ rebounding
Physicality has been stressed all season long for Kentucky as a trait in which the Wildcats must strive for improvement.
One of the reasons for this is that when Kentucky crashes the boards with force, good things tend to happen on the scoreboard.
The Wildcats are 15-0 this season when either winning the rebounding battle against their opponent or matching their opponent’s rebounding total.
Think back to some of the biggest wins of this Kentucky basketball season: The CBS Spots Classic win over North Carolina in Atlanta. A road triumph in conference play at Auburn. And the regular season finale rivalry win at Tennessee.
The common thread that ties these wins together? Kentucky won the rebounding battle in all of these games.
UK basketball’s high-flying offense is good enough to win games
Plenty of deserved praise has come this season for Kentucky’s high-scoring offense.
The Wildcats enter the NCAA Tournament with the fifth-best adjusted offensive efficiency in the country, per KenPom. Kentucky’s average of 89.4 points per game is second in the nation, behind only Alabama.
While UK’s defense has also been, deservedly, criticized for its shortcomings, the statistics show that, more times than not, UK’s offense is good enough to win games on its own.
Kentucky is 15-1 this season when making at least 50% of its shots from the field. That’s quite the sample size as well: UK has shot 50% or better from the field in exactly half of its games.
One sticking point with this stat? That lone loss came in Kentucky’s most recent game.
The Wildcats went 30-for-60 (50%) from the field in last week’s SEC Tournament quarterfinal loss to Texas A&M, during which the Aggies scored a staggering 97 points in just 40 minutes.
UK has rarely let halftime leads slip this season
There’s some noise in this statistic from playing several overmatched teams during nonconference play, but the fact remains that Kentucky basketball has done well when playing with a halftime lead this season.
UK has held a halftime lead in 23 of its 32 games during the 2023-24 season. The Wildcats own a 20-3 record in games that they’ve led at the break.
The three losses?
To Kansas in the Champions Classic in UK’s third game of the season.
To Florida in overtime at home in a game Kentucky gave away in the closing moments of regulation.
To LSU in a road defeat that saw the Wildcats squander a 15-point second-half lead.
Thursday
No. 3 seed Kentucky vs. No. 14 seed Oakland
What: NCAA Tournament South Regional
When: 7:10 p.m. EDT
Where: PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh
TV: CBS-27
Records: Kentucky 23-9, Oakland 23-11
All-time series: First meeting
