Kentucky is in a weird spot right now with not much time left

Several things are true about Kentucky right now and why the Wildcats are struggling, losing two in a row and four of the last five. This one was mostly a disaster, falling behind by as many as 27 points early in the second half before clawing back to lose by only 14 points — the second-worst margin of defeat this season, behind only the 20-point loss to Ohio State before Christmas and the fourth double-digit loss this season.

Lamont Butler being out has derailed the backcourt, Kentucky struggling to get the ball up the floor and watching turnovers rise while defensive efficiency tanks. Kerr Kriisa’s absence is more energy-focused with the Wildcats missing their change-of-pace guard in the second unit, thrusting Travis Perry into that role whether he was ready for it or not. He’s had good days and bad days — this one more positive, finishing with five points, two rebounds, two assists and a block in 14 minutes — but you’d still like to have Kriisa in your back pocket.

Jaxson Robinson has been fine in Butler’s role while others have stepped up as playmakers — Amari Williams became the fourth player in Kentucky history to finish with a triple-double, putting together a stat line of 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 26 minutes — but that doesn’t replace the brilliance of No. 1. The SDSU transfer is having the best season of his career against the best competition of his career, a total game-changer defensively, something this team is desperately missing.

It’s been a domino effect from there, Kentucky’s lack of answers defensively leading to poor body language and energy. After taking the first punch early, the fight never followed as Ole Miss came up with big shot after big shot to build a massive lead, one that would take a miracle to overcome. You saw players distraught going back to the locker room for halftime and their on-court approach no better, carrying themselves with a sense of helplessness that did not look good with Kentucky across their chests.

Was the defense a chicken or the egg kind of deal? Ask the Rebels’ nine first-half 3-pointers after entering the day hitting just 8.8 per game, ending with 13 made threes on 30 attempts. The Wildcats still hit 10 threes, but did so on just 21 attempts, falling short of that 30- to 35-attempt barrier Mark Pope has been trying to reach since the team first arrived on campus once again — they’re being outpaced 100-68 in the last three games from deep. Whether Kentucky was giving up wide-open looks to perceived non-shooters or tightly contesting attempts, Ole Miss continued to hit shots at a rate that exceeded its season average by 8.5 percent. Five different players finished in double figures, led by Matthew Murrell with 24 points on 6-11 from three. They were hitting everything, tough buckets falling in key moments to crush the comeback effort. It was a combination of poor defense and sensational shot-making from the Rebels.

It doesn’t help Ole Miss turned the ball over exactly one time compared to 24 assists after entering the day with the No. 3 turnover margin in college basketball and finishing with the No. 1 turnover rate in the country. Kentucky, meanwhile, sits at No. 324 nationally forcing 10.14 per contest with a margin of -0.5 on the year, good for No. 239 overall. Eight turnovers was a win for the Cats, though forcing just one simply wasn’t enough.

Nine games remain on the year and the Wildcats have fallen to No. 112 nationally in defensive efficiency — even with the No. 2 offense in college basketball. Do you blame Butler’s absence or credit Ole Miss’ shot-making? How about the lack of defensive pressure, watching the game unravel before throwing new wrinkles at the Rebels? Playing without a lick of heart in the first half didn’t help things, either.

“It’s just us. We have all the tools and weapons to be a great defensive team, we just have to have that urgency,” Otega Oweh told KSR. “We’ll figure it out, but we just didn’t have it in the first half.”

Kentucky played like a team losing hope without its leader, waiting until the game was out of reach before waking up and praying to put together an all-time comeback effort, assuming Ole Miss wouldn’t throw daggers of its own back. Don’t blame the crowd at The Pavilion, either — the place was empty when it comes to hostile road game standards. Fans showed up late and never filled up the place, students the only ones in the building stepping up to give a top-25 team the help it deserves. Everyone else stunk out loud, not bothering to show up on time (if at all) without hardly making a peep. That’s what made the slow start so frustrating for the Cats. It was the perfect environment to steal a road win and they crumbled.

Ole Miss jumped out to a 10-point lead with 14:33 to go before leading by 23 points at halftime, using a 15-3 run to give Kentucky its third-worst deficit at the break in program history. Pope’s group just wasn’t competitive, and then when it decided to be, it was far too late. It shouldn’t take that level of desperation to get this team to play with an edge and avoid crummy body language. Other teams shouldn’t want it more than this one. But they did and they do.

Maybe the simple answer is to just get Butler and/or Kriisa back to run the show with some efficiency, keep the ball moving. Maybe it’s to figure out how to avoid Ansley Almonor and Trent Noah from combining for 28 minutes with zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, zero blocks and zero steals in the loss? I’d rather avoid those late collapses before half, if possible.

Either way, Kentucky has four losses in the last five with the defense regressing at an alarming rate, only five weeks away from the start of SEC Tournament play. Clock is ticking.