Mark Pope’s vision for Kentucky basketball hasn’t taken shape—and the stats show it
It’s not a secret that Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope wants to shoot threes. He talks about it all the time, and it’s a focus in his game plan. However, the stats show that the Wildcats are still not even close to realizing his vision as a three-point-heavy team. They are basically in the middle of the road regarding how many threes they shoot and make.
It’s hard to see Kentucky in this graphic; maybe that’s the problem. The “UK” logo is buried behind the Ole Miss Logo right towards the middle of the axis. The vertical access is a 3-point percentage, and the horizontal access is a 3-point attempt rate; Kentucky is basically the middle of the road in both categories. This is not what Pope wants to see, which is why we continue to hear him complain about how infrequently his team shoots the three.
When you look at the stats for Kentucky in terms of just where they rank, Kentucky is 42nd in attempts per game and 32nd in three points made in a game. They also are 94th in percentage.
One of his points of working this out is getting Carr to do more shooting rather than pump-faking. He also is working to get Brandon Garrison going on the three-point shot, which is a key in his 5-out offense. He said this in his recent press conference about Garrison, “He’s going to become a great shooter. He’s got the DNA and the makeup, the things you look for in a guy that’s going to become a terrific shooter. He’s got ’em. It’s just a matter of time and reps.”
Things will explode if Pope can get this part of the offense clicking. If they are #10 in the nation with only two losses and shooting mediocrly from behind the arch, imagine if his vision does start to work out. However, it also has the potential to fail miserably if it doesn’t work. It’s a double-edged sword.
