Chin Coleman hopes teams "have nightmares" scouting Kentucky offense

Kentucky’s offensive attack has emerged as one of the most lethal in all of college basketball. With all five starters averaging ten-plus points per contest and the team’s two core rotation pieces off the bench adding at least six points per game, it’s an offense capable of beating you at all five positions.

That much is reflected in the updated KenPom rankings, as Kentucky is now ranked No. 3 overall in offensive efficiency, behind only Purdue (No. 1) and Gonzaga (No. 2). The Wildcats are also ranked No. 5 in field-goal percentage (49.74%), No. 6 in scoring margin (+18 PPG) and No. 8 overall in points per game (82.1).

It’s an offensive display opposing coaches see as a clear challenge when scouting the Wildcats.

“We know them. We know what they present,” Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse said of Kentucky on Monday. “They’ve got [Kellan] Grady, who’s a three-point shooter. They’ve got [Oscar] Tshiebwe, who’s a really big threat on the post and then you feel like you want to take those guys away, TyTy Washington, try to focus on the perimeter and the big, and then Keion Brooks comes and gives 27 [points vs. Kansas]. So, they’re a really good team. We’ve got to be prepared to guard them.”

And that’s not even counting Sahvir Wheeler, who is averaging 10.8 points and 6.9 assists per game in his own right. He was unable to take the floor vs. Vanderbilt during Kentucky’s head-to-head battle vs. the Commodores back on January 11. Davion Mintz and Jacob Toppin? They’re pretty good, too.

As a team, Kentucky has had four players finish with 25 or more points in a game, with Grady hitting the 23-point mark twice. Mintz has gone for 19, while Toppin has hit the 14-point mark to round out the core rotation. Hell, even Daimion Collins (14) and Dontaie Allen (14) have scored in double figures this season for the Wildcats.

Five players with at least 23 points in one game this season, nine players with at least 14.

How do you stop that? That’s a question for opposing coaches to lose sleep over.

“We hope it’s a big challenge,” UK assistant coach Chin Coleman said Tuesday. “We hope that they have nightmares before they play against us with the fact that we’ve got so many guys that are capable and it’s hard to scout against.”

In most cases, teams have one or two key threats to keep a close eye on, with the remaining players in the rotation not seen as make-or-break pieces. That’s not how things work with Kentucky.

Limit one or two of the team’s top scorers? UK still has three more capable of putting up 20 points on any given night. That’s what makes the Wildcats dangerous.

“Most teams, you can put a few guys on top of the scouting report and then you can worry about the relevant guys and try to keep the irrelevant guys irrelevant,” Coleman said. “Hopefully for us, because we have so many guys that are capable of impacting a game, it’s tough for teams.

“You want to be a team that is hard to scout, a team that is hard to guard, and hard to take away this guy, that guy.”

Kentucky has clearly built that team.