Kentucky is putting up historically bad defensive numbers

There has been a lot of talk through the years about John Calipari’s offensive philosophy. Many believe that the style of play on offense is outdated and needs to be updated. While that may be true, the offense isn’t the No.1 reason why the 2022-23 team is currently in the middle of a dreadful season.

After Tuesday night’s upset home loss to woeful South Carolina, Kentucky’s offense still ranks inside the top 25 of KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings as the Wildcats do not turn the ball over a lot, are an elite offensive rebounding team (No. 4 in offensive rebound percentage), and rank inside the top 30 in three-point field goal percentage.

Meanwhile, the defense has fallen off of a cliff.

The Kentucky defense is allowing more points in SEC play (1.22 PPP) than Georgetown's D is giving up in the Big East (1.21).

— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) January 8, 2023

People still complaining about Kentucky's offense but that's not the issue. 1.19 points per poss without Cason Wallace. It was a 57 possession game. South Carolina scored 1.24 ppp, their best of the season!

— Ken Pomeroy (@kenpomeroy) January 11, 2023

The Wildcats are dead last in conference play when it comes to points per possession and three-point field goal percentage defense. Kentucky does not force turnovers and that has led to four bad performances against Alabama, LSU, Missouri, and South Carolina who got whatever they wanted against Kentucky’s defense. UK currently ranks No. 93 in adjusted defensive efficiency and this would go down as the worst finish under Calipari.

However, things have been trending the wrong way for a few seasons.

In the first 10 years under Calipari, Kentucky’s defense produced five top-10 finishes in adjusted defensive efficiency. In each of those years, Kentucky reached at least the Elite Eight and won the national championship in 2012. Since a No. 9 overall finish in the 2018-19 season, Kentucky has not ranked inside the top 30 since.

Kentucky had an average defensive finish of No. 41 overall over the last three years entering this season. Those teams all had issues getting consistent stops. Last year, UK had a very hard time stopping opposing guards and that was a big reason why the Wildcats bowed out of the tournament against Saint Peter’s. The issues are only magnified this season.

UK doesn’t have elite rim protection in the paint and has guards on the perimeter who have a very hard time limiting dribble penetration. That is a recipe for disaster as past Calipari defenses have been built to keep a man between the ball on drives and have a shot blocker in the paint to deter easy scoring opportunities when there were breakdowns. Kentucky has neither this season.

A bad season will only get worse if Kentucky cannot find some type of solution on defense. The Cats can’t stop a nosebleed right now and opposing offenses know it. Can the coaching staff counterpunch?