Notable statistics and numbers from Kentucky's first 5 games

We’re officially five games into the 2023-24 Kentucky men’s basketball season. The Wildcats sit on a 4-1 record following Monday night’s tough 96-88 overtime win against Saint Joseph’s. Kentucky has beaten New Mexico State, Texas A&M-Commerce, Stonehill, and St. Joseph’s by an average margin of 25.5 points. The lone loss was more than respectable, an 89-84 defeat to No. 1 Kansas on a neutral court. UK even led by 14 points in the second half against the Jayhawks before fumbling the lead down the stretch.

All in all, the record is what most fans expected it to be at this point. In fact, a majority of the fanbase might think that this group is ahead of schedule at this early point in the season. I’m certainly one of those individuals. Five games isn’t a massive sample size to work from and can still spit out some numbers that don’t tell the full story, but it’s also enough to identify early trends: who is shooting well, who is turning the ball over, etc.

After diving into the numbers, here are some of the more notable things that stood out.

6 double-digit scorers

Without his three seven-footers, John Calipari has carved out an eight-man rotation. In reality, it’s mostly a seven-man rotation, with Jordan Burks filling in as the backup center whenever Tre Mitchell needs a break. Six of those seven primary rotation players are averaging double-digits in scoring through five games: Antonio Reeves (18.2 PPG), Rob Dillingham (16.0), Mitchell (14.4), DJ Wagner (11.8), Reed Sheppard (10.6), and Justin Edwards (10.0). Adou Thiero isn’t too far off from making it all seven with his 8.5 points per game either (he’s also the only one of the eight players mentioned who has sat out a game this season).

Three players scored at least 20 points on Monday, the first time that’s happened since John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Patrick Patterson did the same in 2009. Only Wagner (34.4 percent) is shooting worse than 46 percent from the field among the top eight in the rotation. Sheppard, Burks, Dillingham, and Mitchell are all shooting 50 percent or better.

Lots of assists, not as many turnovers

Random basketball has been the trendy phrase through five games this season. Calipari preaches that all of his players can pass, shoot, and dribble. It’s resulted in a fun brand of basketball that features plenty of high-paced action. In spite of that, Kentucky is doing an excellent job of taking care of the ball without sacrificing any speed or efficiency. UK has 93 assists to just 40 turnovers. That equals a 10.7 percent turnover rate, which is good enough for the fourth-lowest in the entire country, per KenPom. Only once have they recorded double-digit turnovers in a single game (13 against Stonehill).

Kentucky has recorded at least 24 assists in back-to-back games, too. Taking it a step further, all four of UK’s primary guards — Reeves, Dillingham, Wagner, and Sheppard — along with Mitchell all have more assists than turnovers (with a combined assist/turnover number of 84-28). Wagner is the only Wildcat averaging more than 1.5 turnovers per game on the team. On the flip side, Kentucky’s steal rate of 6.4 percent ranks 38th in the country. Sheppard’s individual steal rate of 8.0 percent is second-best in all of college basketball. Kentucky is turning teams over, sharing the ball, and doing so without coughing it up.

Most 3-pointers of the Calipari era (by far)

And it’s not even close. Kentucky is attempting 29.4 three-pointers per game so far this season, 25th-most in the country. Even better, the Wildcats are making 11.6 of them per game, which ranks sixth in the nation. The team’s 39.5 percent shooting clip from beyond the arc ranks 31st. In the Calipari era, Kentucky has never attempted more than 19.9 per game (2016-17). 38.8 percent of UK’s total scoring this season has come off three-pointers, the program’s highest since 2010-11 (just 29.6 percent).

Additionally, UK has made double-digit three-pointers in three straight games for the first time since 2016, which saw a five-game streak. Kentucky’s 89.6 points per game ranks 22nd in the country. Their 116.9 adjusted offensive rating currently ranks 10th. Shots from behind the arc and at the rim — with very limited mid-range attempts — have showcased a modern offensive game plan that is putting up points in a hurry.

Rebounding is a top issue, but there are positives

Rebounding is going to remain an issue until one of the three seven-footers returns. Kentucky ranks 140th in the nation in rebounds per game at 38.8 and 281st in offensive rebounding at just 9.2 per game. The lack of size has hurt Kentucky in both of its close games this season. In the games UK won by 20-plus against New Mexico State, Texas A&M-Commerce, and Stonehill, the Wildcats outrebounded the opponent 108-83, but against Kansas and St. Joseph’s — two teams with their own seven-footers — in close games, UK has been outrebounded 83-71.

On a similar note, no Kentucky player is averaging more than 7.5 rebounds per game (Thiero), but all eight rotational pieces are averaging more than 2.4, including five with at least 4.2 per game. Reeves is especially notable at 5.2 rebounds per game, easily a career-best. Coming into the season, he was averaging just 2.8 rebounds per outing for his career. Dillingham grabbing 4.2 rebounds per game is also a pleasant surprise.

Plus/minus breakdown

With a small sample size, plus-minus numbers can be misleading. They are especially susceptible to being misleading when used to identify a player’s impact in just one game or a single half of action. There are far too many factors involved to form any concrete conclusions using one game of plus/minus numbers.

Five games is a better sample size that can provide a closer glimpse of reality, but still not enough to tell the entire story. So take that into consideration when reading the plus/minus figures for each player so far this season. It’s still a useful tool though, and as the season rolls along, the numbers will begin to more accurately reflect what’s happening on the floor.

• Reed Sheppard: +101 (5 GP; 116 MIN)
• Rob Dillingham: +88 (5 GP; 115 MIN)
• Tre Mitchell: +72 (5 GP; 177 MIN)
• Jordan Burks: +68 (5 GP; 59 MIN)
• Antonio Reeves: +58 (5 GP; 157 MIN)
• Justin Edwards: +51 (5 GP; 140 MIN)
• DJ Wagner: +30 (5 GP; 145 MIN)
• Adou Thiero: +6 (4 GP; 108 MIN)