Kentucky has work to do before taking on Duke in the Champions Classic

You saw the numbers, we all did. Kentucky returned 42.1% of its minutes, 41.9% of its points, 42.4% of assists, 39.0% of rebounds and 60.6% of 3-point makes. As a team, the roster — including returnees and incoming transfers — includes 13,385 minutes, 5,203 points, 1,917 rebounds, 1,132 assists and 543 3-pointers in total college basketball production.

Only two John Calipari-coached Kentucky teams returned more minutes and points (in terms of percentages): 2011-12 and 2014-15.

Factor in Kentucky’s three freshmen — TyTy Washington may actually be the team’s best player — and it’s understandable why optimism was so high going into the season. It remains warranted, too; the pieces are clearly there. The shooting, scoring, playmaking ability, veteran leadership, and depth is still there, just as it was before these exhibition play began.

The more opportunities we get to see this team take the floor, though, its flaws are growing more and more prominent. And with Kentucky set to take on Duke in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden just four days from now, they are issues that need to get fixed in a hurry.

“We got a lot of work to do,” John Calipari said following Kentucky’s Blue-White Game on Oct. 22. “… When I watch the tape, I thought we were pretty good offensively. Then I’m like, ‘Is that because we’re bad defensively?’”

That was the first hint at a potential issue.

Just one exhibition matchup later against Kentucky Wesleyan, the struggles came inside with interior defense. UK allowed KWC forward Jomel Boyd to finish with 29 points on 12-17 shooting to go with eight rebounds.

“The biggest thing came out of our interior defense,” Calipari said following the win. “… Again, we got to figure it out. I’ll be honest, I have not zeroed in on it, but I told them after the game, If you can play interior defense, you’re going to play for us. So you want to play? Play interior defense.”

Step two.

Fast forward to Friday evening, and those interior defensive struggles bled out to the perimeter. Miles College shot 11-15 from three in the first half to take a 46-39 lead at the break before finishing the game shooting 49.1% from the field (27-55) and 50% from three (15-30). The Golden Bears deserve credit for getting and staying hot early, but make no mistake about it, the defensive lapses were there for the Wildcats.

“Approach, defense and digging were way better, weren’t they?” Calipari said following the 80-71 win. “Now what fell? Three-point defense. And then you say, well, how much have you worked on it? Like some, but this was a great game. … The things that they did perimeter-wise, I didn’t expect them to make this many 3s, especially in a row.”

Interior defense improved — Miles finished with just 18 points in the paint on nine combined layups and dunks — but perimeter defense simply wasn’t good enough. And the team knows it.

“We definitely improved in our interior defense, but you could see we lack our exterior defense,” Jacob Toppin said after the game. “That’s what we have to work on now. That’s what we’re going to work on.”

“Last week, our defense was spread out. We were all outside, giving up easy penetration buckets,” Sahvir Wheeler added. “This week, we were focused on giving up nothing inside. Credit to them, though, they made shots. They forced us to play pretty well in the second half to come out with the win.”

The defensive struggles have come against inferior competition, both teams being Division II foes. Meant to be tune-up matchups for the team to dip its toes into the college basketball waters before the season, the Wildcats slid their legs in the pool against Kentucky Wesleyan before diving in head first against Miles College.

“They tuned us up,” Calipari joked. “Miles tuned us up.”

Tune-up games no more. Kentucky will now head to New York City to take on Duke at Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of college basketball. It’s a team ranked No. 9 in the country, one that features arguably the nation’s top freshman in Paolo Banchero. Oh, and in case you didn’t hear, it’s game one of the Mike Krzyzewski farewell tour — gag — and likely the legendary coach’s final matchup against John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The headlines and stories write themselves. All eyes in the basketball world will be on this game, just as they were when the two blue blood programs met to open the season back in 2018-19. We’ll ignore the final score of that one — or maybe we shouldn’t? Yeah, let’s bring that back to life. 118-84, final. A 34-point whooping, one led by RJ Barrett with 33 points and Zion Williamson with 28.

This Duke team may not have two players of that caliber, but they’ve certainly got one. Banchero is a surefire star capable of winning National Player of the Year honors en route to a top-five draft pick. Mark Williams is the team’s seven-foot, 240-pound anchor down low who is widely seen as one of the top shot-blockers going into the 2021-22 season. Between Jeremy Roach, Wendell Moore Jr., Trevor Keels, and A.J. Griffin, they’ve certainly got other name-brand talents, too.

It’s a team that has its flaws, particularly in the backcourt, but it’s one that won 106-38 in its first public exhibition game against Winston-Salem State. The Blue Devils hit 38 of 71 shots and 11 of 27 attempts from deep in that matchup. More notably, Duke also beat Villanova in a secret scrimmage this preseason, a game that took place of a second public exhibition.

The defensive issues for Kentucky have been pointed out, that much is clear. But the Wildcats’ issues aren’t limited to defense. The team also doesn’t have much of an identity in the frontcourt and depth seems to be an emerging issue in that area. Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 12 rebounds against Miles College, but added just four points on 1-3 shooting and 2-5 from the line. He also had three fouls and two turnovers in 23 minutes.

Elsewhere, Daimion Collins and Lance Ware combined for zero points on 0-5 shooting to go with five rebounds and one blocked shot in 23 total minutes. Tshiebwe missed four days of practice this week due to injury — he’s been dealing with a lingering hip issue — and struggles with fouls at times. If he’s hurt, in foul trouble, or simply struggling, who steps up? It’s a difficult matchup no matter which way you slice it against a Duke team that will rely heavily on its frontcourt stars this season.

Will Kentucky’s strong guard play with TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler be enough to compensate for the potential mismatch in the frontcourt? Will the team be able to clean up perimeter defense after struggling against Miles, or will the Blue Devils find open looks as the Wildcats collapse inside to slow down Banchero and Williams? Kentucky has to come up with stops somewhere. If not, you’d better hope they’ve got enough offensive power to win a shootout.

UK has the pieces to win Tuesday, but the execution has been lacking in its first two exhibition matchups. If that remains the same, Kentucky will have a hard time clawing out a victory on college basketball’s greatest stage.