Watch the Tape: Kentucky Defeats the Wright State Raiders

It was about as poetic of a start to the Coach Mark Pope era as you could have drawn up. The Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Wright State Raiders by 41 points, 103-62. Why is that significant? Well, that was Coach Pope’s number when he was a player at Kentucky. While the added sentimental touch was nice, the play on the court was the real treat. The Wildcats assisted on 30 of 39 made field goals, surpassed the 100-point threshold, and placed six different scorers in double-figures. That mixture of balance and explosiveness is what has made this group so exciting through our first few opportunities to see them play live.

Nobody is surprised that Kentucky is 1-0. In fact, nobody is even surprised that it was a bit of a blowout. However, anytime you cover the betting spread in the first half and go on to essentially double it up means you exceeded expectations. That has been a common theme coming out of the two exhibition games and now the season-opener. This team is very far along for it to still be early November. There will be a lot of judgement reserved until November 12th against Duke, but it is really hard to not allow yourself to jump all of the way on board with this team. They are very, very fun to watch.

As always, we’ve been hard at work inside of the KSR Film Room breaking down Kentucky’s latest contest. The Wildcats posted 1.39 points per possession proving themselves as one of the best offenses in college basketball. Amari Williams starred, Koby Brea and Otega Oweh were perfect from deep, and Lamont Butler drove the car like only he can. However, it was Kentucky’s defense that was as encouraging as anything we saw on Monday night. Let’s talk a little bit more about the Wildcats’ defense, how it succeeded on Monday night, and why it is translatable to a higher level of competition. Here is more on Kentucky’s season-opening 103-52 blowout against the Wright State Raiders.

Mixing in Full Court Pressure

Coming out of a timeout or after a free throw, Coach Pope turned up the pressure a handful of times in both exhibition contests. In fact, in both games, Kentucky forced a 10-second violation. Despite only showing a token 2-2-1 pressure, the ‘Cats were finding success with it simply due to the change of pace. Against the Wright State Raiders, we saw full court pressure utilized in a similar fashion.

Kentucky mixed it up with a bit more aggressive press on Monday night. This is a typical diamond press that looks to trap the first pass and along the sidelines. The Wright State Raiders narrowly avoided the 10-second violation. However, the full court pressure still kept them from initiating offense until there were 15 seconds remaining on the shot clock. That can be just as valuable as forcing turnovers if you consistently cut the opponent’s possessions in half.

Not only did the full court pressure cause some problems on this possession, but the Wildcats executed in the half court as well. Andrew Carr and Koby Brea displayed great recognition to switch the diagonal backscreen to improve their matchup. Then, Brandon Garrison made an aggressive move to come essentially double the post from the low side. Subsequently, Jaxson Robinson cracked down on the opposite block to take that pass for a layup away. Finally, with the shot clock winding down, Robinson flew at the shooter to make him reload as the clock expired. #4 Norris for Wright State missed it badly due to being sped up. This was 30 seconds of nearly perfect defensive execution.

Second Unit Gets Stops

Lamont Butler is a truly game-changing defender. He makes everyone else better when he is in the game. Otega Oweh and Jaxson Robinson would grade out as Kentucky’s next two best defenders. However, against the Wright State Raiders, Kentucky’s second unit had success on the defensive end of the floor as well. Kerr Kriisa, Collin Chandler, and Ansley Almonor specifically stood out among that group.

There is a lot to like in this clip. First, you see good on-ball pressure provided by Kerr Kriisa. He may not be the most technically sound defender on this team, but he plays so incredibly hard that he will be good enough. Then, you see Collin Chandler do a great job of cutting off #3 Huibregtse’s right hand drive. Finally, in the post Ansley Almonor bangs with the Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year and gives up zero ground. He finishes with a picture-perfect wall up to force the miss and tracks down the defensive rebound. This is a big time defensive possession with Kentucky’s entire second unit on the floor.

Forcing Turnovers

The Wright State Raiders turned the ball over 12 times which isn’t a lot, but when 11 of them are steals it can really make a big impact on the game. That was a big reason why Kentucky posted 18 points off turnovers and 36 fast break points. Both Lamont Butler and Otega Oweh finished with three steals. Those two are going to be consistent game-wreckers on the defensive end this season for the Wildcats.

There will be a couple of defensive plays per game where Lamont Butler just takes over and decides to be better than everyone else. This isn’t just something you’ll see against teams like Wright State either. He was taking the ball from people in a similar fashion in the 2023 NCAA Championship Game as well. Obviously we know what happened at the end of the play, but his ability to strip the ball away is so impressive.

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Similar to how Lamont Butler will simply take the ball from his man, it is fair to say that Otega Oweh will likely jump at least one passing lane per game. You cannot afford a lazy dribble around Butler and you can’t afford a lazy pass around Oweh. He saw this coming from a mile away and jumped the passing lane for a steal and breakaway dunk.

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First off, watch how Otega Oweh rides his man over top of the handoff effectively denying him the ball. He does such a good job of not getting screened both on and off of the ball. Then, he is physical inside and ends up getting his hands on the ball to force the turnover. Great hands and great instincts.