Watch the Tape: Marshall Thundering Herd

First off, shout out to the Kentucky Football team for defeating the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday afternoon! The Governor’s Cup remains in Lexington and Little Brother is still Little Brother.

Mark Stoops and company deserved the shine on Saturday, so Watch the Tape was put on hold until Sunday. Nobody will mind reliving this one as the ‘Cats won 118-82 over the Marshall Thundering Herd on Friday night. The offense, clearly, was hitting on all cylinders in Kentucky’s final “tune-up” prior to the Miami Hurricanes coming to Rupp Arena on Tuesday evening.

Fans have clamored in recent years for head coach John Calipari to embrace “modern basketball.” While that was generally used as a blanket term for displeasure about results, it mostly boiled down to a desire to shoot more three-pointer shots. Now, so far this season, the Wildcats are one of the best three-point shooting teams in college basketball. Through six games, 42.8% of their shots are coming from beyond the arc which is by far the most of the Coach Calipari era. Furthermore, Kentucky is connecting on 42.5% of those shots which is sixth nationally. It still needs to translate to beating the best teams, but this brand of Kentucky Basketball certainly is more fun to watch.

As always, we’ve been in the KSR Film Room breaking down Kentucky’s most recent game. Fans were treated to a historic offensive performance at Rupp Arena on Friday night. Elite ball movement and unselfishness were on full display, the halfcourt execution was excellent, and DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards continued to prove some early season “struggles” were nothing more than freshman growing pains.

Let’s dive in and watch the tape of Kentucky’s dominant win over the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Ball Movement & Unselfishness

Kentucky assisted on 27 of their 45 made field goals against the Marshall Thundering Herd. That brought their assist rate to 58.3% on the season which is 55th in college basketball. If anything, there are times when the Wildcats share the ball too much. However, that is by far a better problem to have this time of year. These players clearly trust each other and are playing a very unselfish brand of basketball. Through six games it has led to having one of the best offenses in the country. Let’s take a look at some of the ball movement from Friday night’s offensive clinic.

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If there is one play that everyone remembers from Friday night’s win it is probably this one. Kentucky put so much pressure on the Marshall defense by pushing it hard in transition and then moving the ball crisply. Rob Dillingham does a good job of slicing the floor to move it ahead to Antonio Reeves. Reeves then hits Adou Thiero who drives baseline but is cut off at the block. Thiero then whips a pass back out to Dillingham on the perimeter who immediately throws the quick one-more pass to Reeves for a wide-open three-point shot. There isn’t much a defense can do against this level of ball movement.

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The Marshall Thundering Herd switch everything defensively, which can sometimes cause an illusion of a zone defense. However, on Friday night, they explicitly went to a 2-3 Zone for a few possessions in the second half. Just as we saw against Stonehill when the ‘Cats hit 17 three-pointers, this team will be very difficult to zone. The amount of playmakers and shooters on the perimeter, along with Tre Mitchell patrolling the high post, gives Kentucky too many weapons. Their ball movement and unselfishness are a big part of that as well. You can see how the ball gets moved around in this clip and ultimately DJ Wagner is rewarded for an unselfish play. He did a great job of playing off of two feet, hitting Reed Sheppard, and then relocating into space.

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Whether you are playing against man-to-man or zone defense, the goal offensively remains the same. If you can make two guys guard one then you will be in an advantageous situation. Kentucky was able to do that consistently against Marshall. Especially this late in the game with a comfortable lead nobody would have faulted Tre Mitchell for squeezing off this three-point attempt. However, he turned down a good shot for a great shot and threw the one-more pass to Reed Sheppard. That has been a staple of this team through six games this season.

Offensive Execution – Transition & Half-Court

You don’t put up 118 points by accident. It doesn’t matter if you are playing Transylvania, the Marshall Thundering Herd, or the Boston Celtics. Kentucky scored over one and a half points per possession on Friday night which helped move them to seventh in KenPom’s adjusted offensively efficiency metric. Talent and skill help to make all offense look better, but this group is also executing at a high level. Whether it is in transition or in the halfcourt, the Wildcats do not look like a group that is relying so heavily on three freshmen guards.

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This clip starts with yet another excellent defensive play by Reed Sheppard, but that is not what we are here to talk about. In a few “Watch the Tape” articles this season we’ve talked about Kentucky throwing the ball ahead a bit too much in transition. This is a good example of the benefit of your point guard just being the point guard. Sheppard races the ball up the floor and then pitches it to Rob Dillingham creating a little rub screen action. Dillingham is then able to get to the SEC logo, force Tre Mitchell’s defender to step up, and dish it off for an easy assist. This is high-level transition execution.

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Coming out of a timeout Coach Calipari dials up one of his go-to actions for this season. Kentucky has a different call for it, but it is really just traditional Spain action. What stands out about the execution of this play is the patience displayed. Marshall ends up switching the ballscreen with DJ Wagner’s man going to cover Rob Dillingham on the pop. Wagner lets the dust settle and finds Tre Mitchell up at the front of the rim. The spacing here stands out too as the Thundering Herd defenders didn’t want to help off of Reed Sheppard or Dillingham. In the post, Mitchell always plays with such patience. He gets the catch, doesn’t dribble right away, pump fakes to his right, steps to his left, power dribbles, and finishes. Excellent out-of-timeout execution.

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When you face a team like the Marshall Thundering Herd that switch everything defensively, slipping screens is one way to combat it. You see Tre Mitchell do that to perfection here in this clip. As he and Antonio Reeves come together the defenders prepare to switch. However, Mitchell slips to the rim and Reed Sheppard delivers a perfect pass. That is simple, but beautiful, execution of a game plan.

DJ Wagner & Justin Edwards Taking Steps Forward

What we are seeing from Kentucky’s freshmen so far this season is not normal. Even at the highest levels there is almost always a learning curve when coming from high school to college. However, guys like Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard set unrealistically high expectations for the rest of the incoming class. Guys like DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards weren’t playing badly necessarily, but they objectively weren’t living up to the hype in their first few college games. However, that has started to change in a hurry. Wagner has led Kentucky in scoring in back-to-back games and Edwards is emerging as a legitimate catch-and-shoot threat. Let’s take a look at the film.

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Increasing three-point volume isn’t about having four Antonio Reeves’ on your team. That simply isn’t realistic. However, you need guys who can make one three per game at 33% or better. After his 3-4 performance on Friday night, Justin Edwards is now doing exactly that. He still is far too loose with the ball and weak around the rim, but if Edwards can develop into a legitimate catch-and-shoot threat from three-point range it will take a lot of pressure off of his interior game while he develops. He is now 5-7 from three over his last two games.

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DJ Wagner really struggled to finish in his first few games at Kentucky. However, after going 8-9 from two-point range against the Marshall Thundering Herd his percentages look a lot better. He is now 14-22 from two of the last two games while scoring a combined 50 points. Furthermore, he is 3-9 from three which fits that one three per game at the 33% benchmark outlined above. This is the DJ Wagner that Kentucky fans expected to get. It is a subtle difference of just a few inches or a half second, but Wagner is able to get his shoulder just beyond #41 here for a better look at the rim than he has had in previous games.

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Starting the season 1-9 from three puts you behind the eight ball a little bit. However, DJ Wagner’s outside shooting is trending in the right direction. He is now 6-17 over the last three games, again inside of that one per game at 33% benchmark, and we are seeing the rewards of his confidence. Wagner is certainly not shy about letting them fly. That will probably lead to his percentage not being the prettiest, but if he can be a threat from deep it’ll open up driving lanes. Use this clip as an example. Marshall switches the screen but does so passively to guard against the drive. Wagner makes them pay by shooting it in behind the screen. If he can make this consistently, defenses will be forced to be more aggressive which will allow him to drive it.