Kentucky is among the country's best in early shot-clock scoring

Kentucky’s offense this season models the mindset of Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights: they want to go fast. For the most part, when the ‘Cats have successfully played with a high sense of offensive urgency, they have done a good job of, you know, urinating excellence.

The simplest of advanced stats to determine the speed of play is pace, which is an estimate of the number of possessions per game. Kentucky is tops in the SEC and 16th in the country in this category at 72.7.

Against South Carolina, the ‘Cats mustered a pace score of just 62, and the results were self-evident. Part of this is because the Gamecocks dictated a slower approach to the game, which is their M.O. They rank as the 347th out of 362 Division I teams in pace on the season, and this methodical (and boring) style won the day in Columbia.

However, there is a much deeper rabbit hole we can dive into when it comes to judging Kentucky’s speed of play, specifically shots within different ranges in the shot clock. Spoiler alert: the ‘Cats take a lot of shots early in the clock and they are at their most unstoppable when they do.

As always, credit goes to CBBAnalytics.com for this info. The green and red boxes in the chart below indicate what percentile the ‘Cats rank in each category.

Shots early in the shot clock

Simply put, the Wildcats are one the best teams in college basketball when it comes to getting up a quality shot early in the shot clock. Kentucky is shooting an NCAA-best 60.8 effective shooting percentage on field goal attempts within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock. The vast majority of these early shots are analytics-approved, as 89.5 percent of attempts come from either in the paint or behind the arc.

Regardless of where they shoot on the floor, as long as it is early in the shot clock, Kentucky is absurdly effective. They rank in the top half of all college basketball in shooting percentage in every zone: at the rim, in the paint, mid-range 2s, corner 3s, and above-the-break 3s.

Not only do the ‘Cats shoot well early in the shot clock, but they take a good chunk of their shots within the first 10 seconds of possession. More than a third of their total field goal attempts, 36.1 percent to be exact, go up within the first 10 seconds, which ranks as one of the quickest shot-taking teams in the country.

In short, Kentucky shoots more shots early in the shot clock than almost any team in the country, and they make those shots more than almost every other team as well.

Shots in the middle of the shot clock

Statistically speaking, the most effective shot Kentucky has taken this season has been a 3-pointer above the break with 10 to 20 seconds left on the shot clock. The ‘Cats are shooting a blistering 46.2 percent from this very specific range, which is third-best in the country.

Coincidently, they don’t excel nearly as much from the corner. Kentucky is shooting just 27.1 percent midway through the shot clock from corner 3s, which doesn’t make a ton of sense other than Reed Sheppard, Antonio Reeves, and company simply prefer to launch from closer to the top of the key.

Overall, half of Kentucky’s overall field goal attempts (49.7 percent) come with 10 to 20 seconds left on the shot clock. While it is understandably more than early or late shot clock attempts, Kentucky is actually in the bottom half compared to teams across the nation.

Again, Kentucky prefers the early ones.

Shots late in the shot clock

The stats tell us the same thing our eyes do in that this Kentucky squad is not a grind-it-out type of team. The ‘Cats avoid running the shot clock down whenever possible, and for good reason. A mere 14 percent of Kentucky’s overall field goal attempts come with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock, which ranks as one of the fewest in all of college basketball.

The Wildcats are a good shooting team in general, so their percentage is still overall strong late in the clock, but compared to their shooting early to middle of the possession, Kentucky is less efficient in nearly every spot on the floor.

The biggest drop-off, somewhat surprisingly, is around the rim. When forced into a late attempt, they are shooting just 48.7 percent close near the basket, while they are over 65% any other time. The same goes for 3-pointers where they see a big dip in efficiency late in the clock compared to early on.

The moral of this analytics story is that Kentucky, just like Ricky Bobby, is at their best when they go fast. And in a two-team race on the basketball court during any given game, if you ain’t first, you’re last.