Kentucky tinkering with new lineups during "intense" practices

@KentuckyMBB

How is Kentucky coping with back-to-back losses? By going harder than ever in practice. Both Kevin Knox and Wenyen Gabriel said practices this week were “intense,” packed with conditioning and five-on-five scrimmaging using new lineup combinations.

“We came off of a tough loss to Tennessee, but yesterday we had a really good practice,” Knox told reporters. “Really got after it. A lot of conditioning. Played a lot of five-on-five just to get some more playing time together. We just tried out different lineups yesterday too as well. Like I said, I think it was a really good practice. I think we feel pretty good going into tomorrow.”

Even with less than a month left in the regular season, John Calipari said he’s still experimenting with lineups to see what can pull the Cats out of their rut.

“I hate to do that with like six and seven games to go, but we’re still – it seems like every team in the country is struggling, and the veteran teams are the ones who are doing well. We’re all probably trying to do the same thing. How are we going to get this, the dots – cross the t’s, dot the i’s, connect everything. The kids are trying. It’s just, it’s not easy.”

Wenyen Gabriel said the Cats have also been focusing on what to do late in games, one of their biggest areas of weakness in recent weeks.

“Practice has been really intense lately,” Wenyen said. “We did a lot of competitive things. We’ve been going at it during late-game situations and going at it during five-on-five during practice. We’ve been doing a lot of conditioning and we’re getting on a lot of shots up, too.”

Let’s hope it translates to the court. What do you think Kentucky’s best lineup is right now?

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