Don't look now, but Kentucky leads the country in assists

The dazzling adjectives used to describe Mark Pope‘s Kentucky offense are turning into measurable superlatives. No longer do we have to only rely on calling the Wildcats’ ball movement pretty or their constant motion a thing of beauty. Now we have some stats and they’re good. Most impressively, through two games Kentucky leads the country in assists at 26.5 per game.

Of course, you can insert all of your very valid caveats here. The sample size is minuscule, the Wildcats’ opponents haven’t exactly been juggernauts, et cetera, et cetera. Still, if you want a number to back up what you’re eyes are telling you, this is a pretty good one.

Also, in case you’re wondering, Arkansas is ranked 231 in the nation, averaging 11.5 assists in their first two games.

Not that they count for more, but Kentucky also probably leads the country in no-look assists. I don’t know how anyone could ever validate this, but considering the ‘Cats made about five no-look passes in one possession that led to a wide-open 3 against Bucknell, we’ll say they hold the top stop in that imaginary category as well.

Unsurprisingly, Kentucky’s elite passing has led to points. They have broken the century mark in each of their two games and at 101.5 points per game, they rank 6th in all of college basketball.

Again, this is all based on just two games against mid-majors, but you have to like what you’re seeing so far from Mark Pope’s offense. Look for them to keep up the master class in passing against Duke on Tuesday.