"We just didn't pay attention to detail." Kentucky still missing out on the smaller things

Kentucky certainly has the talent level to be among the country’s top defensive teams, it’s just not translating onto the hardwood.

The frustrations on that end of the floor were at their worst over the weekend. Kentucky gave up 103 points to Tennessee at home on Saturday, capping off a stretch that saw the Wildcats give up at least 94 points for the third game in a row at Rupp Arena.

Offense came easy to the Volunteers, which shot 48 percent from the field and made 12 three-pointers. Tenneesse was equally efficient in the first half as it was in the second. Star player Dalton Knecht was even held in check relative to his standards (16 points on 5-14 shooting), but 26 points apiece from Zakai Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James canceled that out.

Kentucky was its usual, hot-shooting self against Tennessee (49 percent from the field, 12-27 from deep), and Rob Dillingham‘s career-high 35 points kept the Wildcats in the game until the closing minutes. However, too many mental lapses on defense ultimately cost UK in the end. Kentucky gave up far too many points to the Vols by not paying attention to the finer details of what was happening in front of them. This wasn’t the first time this season it led to Kentucky’s downfall, either.

“We have to be more consistent in our details,” Associate to the head coach Bruiser Flint said during Monday’s press conference. “I think that’s the one thing we’ve been talking about throughout the entire season and that’s some of the things we gotta talk about.

“I thought in the game (against Tennessee), they beat us to a lot of 50/50 balls. We talked about that a lot after watching the film. We had some breakdowns in our OBs (out of bounds), so we talked about that a lot. Those are small things that beat you in the game. And that’s one of the things they beat us in on Saturday.”

Throughout his 16-minute sitdown with reporters, Flint harped on the Wildcats’ lack of attention to detail. Notably, Tennessee scored on multiple out-of-bounds plays where they were wide open under the basket and a Kentucky player was trailing behind. Those points can add up in a hurry.

“You’ve given up 10 points on out-of-bounds plays and they scored on, I want to say, seven points on 50/50 balls,” Flint added. “In a game in which you had your opportunities to come back and get it, those things hurt you. I think that’s probably one of the biggest things we talked about.”

Granted, Kentucky is rolling out more freshmen than most — if not all — high-major teams in the country. Six first-year Wildcats average more than 16 minutes per contest. As mentioned ad nauseam, UK has still yet to play with a full roster this season. But at what point does that reasoning no longer cut it? Kentucky’s top two rotational pieces are fifth-year seniors. We’re now over 20 games into the season with roughly one month left until tournament time.

“Some of our stuff that lost the game, we just didn’t pay attention to detail,” Flint continued. “Our detail got to be better.”

Eventually, continually missing out on the small details is going to cost Kentucky in even bigger moments. Getting injured point guard DJ Wagner back on the floor could certainly help in those areas. He’s also a freshman, but his leadership qualities and ability to communicate with his teammates have been praised all season.

“I think he communicates, not just in the game, but within our team with the huddles and things like that, we’re a little bit more organized,” Flint said of Wagner. “He’s more of a leader in that respect. So you always miss that.”

But Wagner can’t keep his teammates from falling asleep on defense or ball-watching in the halfcourt. Everyone just has to be on the same page at the same time. The good news? It’s all fixable. But time is running out.

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