How this Kentucky team compares to others in the Calipari Era

by:Mrs. Tyler Thompson01/29/20

@MrsTylerKSR

We’re well past the midpoint of the regular season. How does this team compare to others in the John Calipari Era through 19 games? Let’s take a look at the stats, which are collected each week by the UK Athletics staff.

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Some takeaways:

Free-Throw Percentage: 77.1% – Highest of the Calipari Era

Right now, Kentucky is making 77.1% of its free throws, which is the best mark of the John Calipari Era, beating out last year’s team (75%) and the 2011-12 national championship squad (71.8%). Kentucky ranks 15th in the country in free-throw percentage, thanks in large part to Immanuel Quickley, who is hitting 90.9% from the line, which is tied for seventh nationally.

Rebounds per game: 38.5 – Fewest of the Calipari Era

The last three teams rank the lowest in rebounding at this point in the season, which probably says something about the game changing, but also the frontcourt. While Nick Richards is becoming a double-double machine, EJ Montgomery and Nate Sestina are only averaging 5.4 and 5.0 rebounds per game. That’s a number Calipari would always like to see improve.

Blocks: 99 – Fewest of the Calipari Era

Everything I wrote about rebounding also applies to blocks. The 2019-20 team, the 2017-18 team, and the 2018-19 team rank at the bottom of this list in rim protection. This team has only 99 blocks through 19 games, compared to the 2011-12 team, which had 177. If anything, that just makes me respect Anthony Davis more. He averaged 4.7 blocks per game that season. Nick Richards is currently averaging 2.5.

Points Per Game: 75.7 – Second fewest of the Calipari Era

The team with the fewest points per game through 19 games? The 2014-15 team, who was averaging only 74.6 points per game at this point in the season.

Assists: 278 – 5th most of the Calipari Era

Shoutout to Ashton Hagans, who is sixth nationally in assists per game, with 7.3.

We’ll keep track of these numbers as the season goes on. Feel free to leave your own observations in the comments.

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