With just one game under their belts, Kentucky has made a huge impact so far in terms of their assist-to-turnover ratio. In the season-opening win against Wright State, the Wildcats had just seven turnovers compared to their 30 assists.
That’s a recipe for success, and Mark Pope knows that taking care of the ball will be the emphasis, especially with how fast they play and how much they pass the ball.
“We’ve never had to deal with pressure teams. We’ve never had to deal with teams that are focused on turning you around. That being said, a lot of times it’s more on us than our opponents. We’re very pleased. Our guys are very focused on protecting the ball. We actually try not to talk much about protecting the ball, and more importantly than protecting the ball, we talk about how we do it, we play two hands, two feet Go. you drive? Are you a KDA man? Are you winning catches, are you winning holes and are you winning 50/50 balls?’
– Pope on how they limit turnover.
So far this season, the players have made sure to take care of the ball at all times as they know this can lead to easy scoring opportunities for the other team. Pope says they play to execute, not necessarily not to turn the ball over.
“Our guys have done a good job so far early in the season of latching onto these concepts and trying to emphasize them. The reason we’re going to continue to do well in the turnover game is because our guys, they don’t play for the ball NOT to turn They play to win holes and to reach two feet, and they play to play with two hands that our guys have rejected in our matches so far has actually been more special for us than what they brought. ”
– Pope on emphasizing different concepts.
Kentucky has certainly put that emphasis, and limiting their turnovers against one of the top teams in the country, like Duke who they face on Tuesday, will be a big factor in getting those wins. But first they get to play Bucknell at Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon.