Kentucky's faux-court pressure has been a key to comeback wins

Kentucky has played 11 games this season against teams in power conferences (plus Gonzaga). They have trailed by at least 10 points in nine of them. That means 82 percent of the time, when the Wildcats take on a remotely decent team, they dig themselves into a deep hole. What makes this trend even more perplexing is that this group has a knack for coming back in these scenarios. They have won five out of those nine games where they trailed by double digits, including three in a row.

At this point, everyone and their granny is scratching their heads, trying to figure out the recipe for getting this team to come out strong at the tip and not have to rely on miraculous comebacks and Laetner shot recreations for wins.

Clearly, Pope’s version of the Comeback ‘Cats has demonstrated the capacity to play at a high level, so how does he scribble out the world Comeback in the nickname and go back to being just the ‘Cats, a team that wins without the first-half deficits? Do they need to eat some Sassy Cakes? Those seem to be working over on the football side of things, as Will Stein is off to a hot start in the transfer portal.

I’ve speculated on pregame rituals, starting lineups, and more, but allow me my most recent recommendation to curb slow starts: The full-court press.

When Kentucky presses, the offense gets better

Mark Pope does not implement the type of full-court press that his mentor, Rick Pitino, did when he was roaming the sidelines of Rupp Arena in the 1990s. That super-aggressive, in-your-face style fell out of basketball vogue 20 years ago. In modern times, Pope utilizes a faux-court press.

In one version, players guard their man the entire length of the floor, but back off a bit once the opposing team inbounds the ball. The second is more of a 1-2-2 zone that morphs back into man-to-man once the ball crosses half-court. It doesn’t really matter which flavor they run, but they should run it all game long.

The goal of this faux press is not to generate turnovers, although it sometimes does. The purpose is to get the opposition’s offense out of rhythm; however, it also seems to provide a secondary benefit: to inject much-needed energy into Kentucky’s offense.

Against Tennessee, Kentucky didn’t implement the press until 6:49 remaining in the first half when they were already down 14 points. Did it work? Well, not immediately. Otega Oweh picked up a foul 90 feet from the basket, and the Vols quickly expanded their lead to 17 before Jasper Johnson snapped the Wildcats 7-minute-plus field goal drought with a baseline jumper off of a broken play.

But after that, Collin Chandler hit a 3, Johnson knocked down another jumper, and the ‘Cats found themselves down only 10. On Tennessee’s next possession, the faux-court pressure forced a turnover, and the ‘Cats had a chance to cut the deficit to single digits.

In the second half, Kentucky wasted no time applying the press. After their first made basket, the ‘Cats ran the 1-2-2 full-court zone and never looked back.

In total, Kentucky outscored Tennessee by 16 points after they started pressing, and it is hard to think that it was a coincidence.

A similar pattern played out against LSU

Against LSU, aside from one possession when Kentucky first picked up full court when they were already trailing by 13 ten minutes into the game, the ‘Cats didn’t implement full court pressure until the second half.

To be fair, Kentucky can only implement the press after they make a basket, a phenomenon often in short supply early in games. Against LSU, Kentucky had only made one field goal with 8:30 remaining in the half. They can’t run a defense dependent on scoring if you never score in the first place.

In the second half, though, Kentucky knocked down a couple of quick buckets, and it allowed them to implement the press immediately, something they kept up for the duration of their comeback victory. If you take out the one possession Kentucky applied the press in the first half, the ‘Cats outscored the Tigers by 17 points once they began picking up full-court.

Sure, this very well may fall into the “Correlation does not equal causation” category. Just because Kentucky applies full-court pressure during their comeback efforts does not mean they would outscore their opponents at the same rate in a tie game. It could just be part of a larger embodiment of playing with desperation.

Regardless, the ‘Cats have to figure out a way to play with this same level of desperation from the tip. And perhaps not waiting until they are down double digits to start running the press may be a way to artificially implement some desperation early. As much fun as these second-half comebacks have been to watch, Big Blue Nation’s collective blood pressure could really use a few games where the ‘Cats mixed it up and started with a lead instead of a huge deficit.