Mark Pope explains second-half explosions -- and how close Kentucky is to breaking through in the first

Slow starts are nothing new for these Kentucky Wildcats — and neither are electric finishes, this past week being the greatest example of both of those extremes. Fans were ready to rip their heart out down 12 vs. Mississippi State, 18 at LSU and 17 at Tennessee, but celebrated all the same at the finish line with three straight wins.

Before we could even get down to Knoxville for the latest miracle comeback, questions about putting together complete 40-minute performances were coming in hot.

What’s the deal with the early deficits?

“I don’t even know,” Andrija Jelavic said before taking on the Volunteers. “Even Coach Pope, he’s adjusting the lineup so we can not have a slow start — but I don’t really have an answer to that, I’m not going to lie. We were in and — I don’t know, maybe? I don’t really have an answer to that. I have to — I don’t know (why), but we need to fix that, definitely. That’s our, like, number one problem that we’re always trailing by 10 at halftime and then we are turning around the game.

“That shows character and it’s inspirational, but against real opponents, you need 40 minutes of good games to win. That’s what we need to do.”

So much for that against the Vols.

After scoring 31 in the first half, they dropped 49 in the second to earn the win. Before that, it was 22 first-half points in Baton Rouge, then 53 after the break. It’s just what this team does — sustainable or not the rest of the season.

How close are the Wildcats to balancing those halves with equal scoring efforts to not just squeak by opponents, but steamroll them? Mark Pope doesn’t quite know.

It is, however, something they’re obsessing over behind the scenes.

“I don’t know. I’m not sure,” Pope said. “It’s certainly something that’s on our mind and on our guys’ minds.”

The second-year coach has always been big on the data-collecting portions of games, processing things in real time and making excellent adjustments for later breakthroughs. So he at least appreciates that, even at this team’s worst, there is almost always a fight back.

He doesn’t want to take away from what this team does best by drastically shaking things up.

“There is a part of the way that we function where we naturally flow through the course of the game and get better and better and better,” Pope continued. “Our guys are really good at understanding that — you do all your prep work and then you get to the game. One of the strengths we have is interpreting what’s happening in the game, and then kind of finding answers to it.”

Settling into a pace over the course of a game contributes to those responses, too. Once they’re comfortable and can get out and run a little bit, good things tend to happen.

“I think our energy and our pace — generally, the game kind of lends itself to breaking through to more pace. The best thing we do offensively is transition offense. We’ve been so potent,” he added. “Our numbers are ridiculous in transition. So sometimes you’re just fighting, fighting to break through, to get there. We’d like to find some answers in the first half that make us better.”

Maybe the clunkiness is a product of players leaving and returning so frequently early in the season, game reps simply needing to pick up together? Kentucky sticking with the same starting lineup during this stretch hasn’t led to red-hot starts, but we’re seeing what happens the longer Wildcats are out on the floor with those late breakthroughs?

Could that familiarity turn one half of excellence into two as we get deeper into the SEC schedule?

“I think maybe we’re at a place where we’ll find a little bit of lineup continuity. That didn’t show great progress in the first half the last two games, but maybe over time, that’s going to help us,” Pope said. “We’ll see how that goes. I expect we’ll be able to make some progress.”

Something tangible you could see moving forward is a shake-up to the pregame routine, changing that up in hopes of a quicker burst from the opening tip.

They’re leaving no stone unturned searching for answers on how to avoid double-digit deficits — while also appreciating the way this team is starting to break opponents late. Finding a happy medium is key.

“We’re thinking about everything else, too,” Pope said during his weekly radio show on Monday. “Part of the strength of this team is our depth, so that’s going to wear on as the game goes on. Part of the strength of our team is our pace, and that’s going to find cracks in defenses the longer the game goes on.

“We would love to have better results in the first half — we think it’ll help us long term — but some of the strength of this team actually leads to disrupting a team as the game goes on, so we’re talking over both of those scenarios. I think we’ll get better and better and better. All those things are on the table.

“We’ve actually talked to the team about changing just the way we do our 40 minutes before tip. We’re considering all those things and I think we’ll get better and better.”