How Kentucky stacks up ahead of SEC play

The Kentucky Wildcats began their second season with Mark Pope at the helm as the Associated Press No. 9 team. 

Led by the returning Otega Oweh (14.2 PPG) and key transfers Mouhamed Dioubate (12.3 PPG) and Denzel Aberdeen (11.6 PPG), the Wildcats enter SEC play with four consecutive wins as they finally start to get some key players healthy.

Pittsburgh transfer Jaland Lowe has missed seven games with a shoulder injury, but Pope stressed that he "is looking terrific" and "we're just being cautious with him" during his radio show Monday night, per A Sea Of Blue's Chris Beasmore. Center Jayden Quaintance, a projected top-10 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, according to ESPN's Jeremy Woo, has only appeared in the last two games after recovering from a torn right ACL he suffered in February while he was at Arizona State.

As this team gets healthier and has all of its players on the floor, it will be interesting to see if the performance improves. Early on this season, one of Kentucky's issues has been defense, something that proved costly in a 96-88 loss to then-No. 12 Louisville on Nov. 11. 

Those struggles remained in an 83-66 loss to a 17th-ranked Michigan State team in the Champions Classic as Kentucky once again faced a double-digit first-half deficit and had no answers defensively. The Wildcats blew a late six-point lead and went more than 10 minutes without making a field goal in a 67-64 loss to No. 16 North Carolina and got completely steamrolled by No. 11 Gonzaga, 94-59, another sign of Kentucky's $22M roster not living up to its price tag.

A big second-half rally helped the Wildcats break out of their slump in a 72-60 win over Indiana. Even more impressive, Kentucky clamped down on No. 22 St. John's in a 78-66 win on Dec. 20. It held the Red Storm to 33 percent shooting (17-of-51) and won the rebounding advantage, 39-28, a sign of Kentucky finally playing up to its potential ahead of conference play.

Kentucky carrying momentum into SEC play

The Wildcats are ranked 49th in offense (84.9 PPG), but their defense has improved lately, currently tied for the 45th-most points allowed (67.8 PPG). That has been key to those power conference wins over the Hoosiers and Red Storm, and why Kentucky was able to outscore them by 19 points each in the second half.

Even in those two wins, though, Kentucky shot a combined 7-of-31 from long range. That has been an issue all season, and why Kentucky is tied for 176th in three-point percentage (33.7 percent). The recent stretch is encouraging, but with No. 14 Alabama's fourth-ranked offense (94.5 PPG) awaiting on Saturday, we should have a better idea where the Wildcats stand defensively and from behind the arc in a game that is sure to have some fireworks on both ends of the floor.

A common theme in those early season losses was Kentucky's lack of chemistry. A couple of wins over teams that are currently unranked is not going to entirely fix everything, but considering this team went from preseason AP No. 9 to unranked altogether, there are certainly some positives to take into SEC play as Kentucky looks to overcome its slow start.