Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope walks onto the court Thursday, March 27, 2025, during practice ahead of the Sweet 16 March Madness tournament game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Should fans be concerned about the shooting on this Kentucky basketball team?

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Nov 3, 2025 1:48 PM ET

Every Kentucky fan knows that for Mark Pope to be successful as a coach, he needs his team to shoot the ball well from beyond the three-point line. So far in Kentucky's two exhibition games, the Wildcats are shooting 16-59 from three, which comes out to 27%.

In the offseason, fans had some concerns about this team shooting the ball from deep, but then Big Blue Nation saw the stats from how the team has been shooting the ball in practice, and everyone felt a little bit better. The players whose numbers were impressive were Kam Williams, Trent Noah, and Andrija Jelavic. All three of these players have struggled from deep to this point.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

In these two exhibition games, Jelavic, Williams, and Noah are a combined 5-22 from three for a percentage of 23. That is not going to get the job done. Obviously, the Wildcats were able to take down Purdue, while only shooting 31% from three, but it was a lot uglier against Georgetown.

Kentucky played the Purdue game without Jaland Lowe and the Georgetown game without Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen. These two guards are very important for the success of the Kentucky Wildcats' offense, and Pope needs them back on the floor.

Kentucky's offensive showing against Georgetown was the worst of the Pope era, so he needs these two back on the floor, and the hope is that they will be ready to go on Tuesday for the season opener against Nicholls.

It is fair for Kentucky fans to be a bit concerned about the shooting on this team, but fans need to wait for the return of Aberdeen and Lowe before pressing the panic button. These two players are going to help create open shots for their teammates, which is going to be important.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

If Kentucky isn't going to be good at shooting the ball, it definitely lowers the ceiling of this team, knowing Pope wants to shoot 30+ from deep per game. Fans should have a lot of confidence that this is going to get figured out as Jelavic, Williams, Noah, and even Collin Chandler start to shoot the ball well.

Lowe is also a player who should have a much better year shooting basketball in Lexington once he is healthy.

It is fair for fans to start being a little scared about the shooters on this team, but trust that with time, this team is going to become great from beyond the arc.

This article first appeared on Kentucky Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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