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Kentucky

Jay Bilas says Kentucky's defense is cause for Wildcats' struggles this season

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•01/14/23•

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(Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

The 10-6 Kentucky Wildcats take on No. 5 Tennessee Saturday, but John Calipari and company struggled defensively recently, leading to a team not ranked in the top 25.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas said the defense was responsible for the team’s struggles but it could not be blamed on having a young squad. In fact, Bilas said the problems are fixable, but time is running out.

“It’s defense,” Bilas said on College GameDay when asked why Kentucky was struggling. “This team, you can’t blame any of this on youth because this is an older team. It’s full of a bunch of transfers just like last year’s team. They had some personnel losses. They may not be as talented as prior John Calipari teams, but they need to be better defensively. 

“I mean, this team struggles to guard the ball number one, they struggled guarding pick and roll. They struggle guarding duck ends, and then they’re constantly in rotation which means they’re giving up way too many open threes. They have difficulty guarding the three point line.”

Bilas gave a little more props to the Wildcats’ offense, although that side of the ball needs improvement as well, according to the ESPN analyst.

“Offensively they’re not great, but they can still score,” Bilas said. “When you’re trying to get healthy, I think the big problem they had was that loss against South Carolina. There wasn’t the sense of urgency that you expected against the team. Frankly, and no disrespect to South Carolina, Kentucky should have hammered them. You know whether they had Cason Wallace and Jacob Toppin or not, Kentucky should have hammered them and they wound up losing the game. 

“So now they come into Knoxville to play Tennessee, the best defense in the country. And there’s blood in the water. Believe me, nobody wearing orange feels sorry for Kentucky.” 

In the end, it might be salvageable for Kentucky and Calipari.

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“I think their defensive problems are fixable,” Bilas said. “I think they can be better. But their sense of urgency on defense needs to improve and it needs to improve right away or this team will not be in the NCAA Tournament.”

Kentucky (10-6) takes on No. 5 Tennessee (14-2) Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.