Kentucky will be more prepared for Clemson's physicality compared to last two games

Amari Williams admitted that Kentucky wasn’t fully prepared for the physicality the Wildcats’ previous two opponents brought to the hardwood. Western Kentucky and Georgia State knew they were coming in as massive underdogs with a sizable talent disadvantage, so they made up for that by being extra physical. At times, it worked.

That’s going to be the game plan for plenty of opposing teams that simply can’t match up with Kentucky’s overall skill and talent. In particular, Georgia State (looking at you, Clash Peters) made an effort to muck things up from the opening tip. But this was UK’s first instance of dealing with that kind of physicality.

That approach shouldn’t surprise the Wildcats anymore.

“We didn’t realize those two games were gonna be physical,” Williams said during Monday’s press conference. “But now that we kinda see the level of physicality that teams are bringing, I feel like keeping it at that level for us and bringing it to the next game will help us a lot.”

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The Clemson Tigers, Kentucky’s next opponent on Tuesday night (9:30 p.m. EST on ESPN) in what will be the Wildcats’ first true road game, will bring a similar level of physicality, but with more talented players up and down the roster. Clemson has size on the wings and in the frontcourt.

6-foot-8, 240-pound big man Ian Schieffelin is one of the best rebounders in the country and a double-double machine. 6-foot-11, 245-pound center Viktor Lakhin is dangerous on the glass in his limited minutes. The Tigers also play very fast and have shot the ball incredibly well from deep thus far. 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard Chase Hunter has been impressive in the backcourt as the team’s leading scorer.

But there’s one area that head coach Mark Pope has preached as a focus to his players as they comb through film on Clemson.

“It’s just about rebounding,” Williams added. “They’re a good rebounding team. If we just handle that side of the game, do what we’ve done against every other team so far, I feel like we’ll come out with the victory.”

As KSR’s Brandon Ramsey noted on social media, Clemson is a high-level offensive rebounding team. The Tigers haul in over 36 percent of its missed shots, which ranks Top 50 in the country. Kentucky actually leads the country in defensive rebounding with 34.3 per outing. Whichever side wins that battle on the glass will have an edge.

But at the same time, if Kentucky can go back to being the team we saw through the first five games — the team that shot 42.3 percent from deep — then rebounding might not be as much of a talking point. UK shot just 27.3 percent from distance over the last two games. The opponents weren’t as good as Clemson, but the Wildcats still won those games by 19 and 29 points thanks to excellent defensive performances and by scoring at will inside the arc.

It also proved that Kentucky can still win games when the outside looks aren’t falling.

“We didn’t make shots really in the past two games. That was really the biggest thing,” Junior guard Otega Oweh said. “The ball is gonna fall, sometimes it’s not gonna fall. In terms of our defense, we played really good defense because we weren’t scoring that well so we had to get stops and create our own energy and stuff like that. I think we did pretty good all around.”

Kentucky will be the more talented team against Clemson, but this is the first time having to play in enemy territory. Countering the Tigers’ physicality and dominating the glass will go a long way in helping lock up a win.