Kentucky committing to defense and rebounding
For the first time in what seems like ages Kentucky held an opponent under 50-percent shooting in the second half.
The Volunteers shot just 39-percent from the floor after halftime and 34.6-percent for the game. They saw a much better defensive team wearing blue and white than they did several weeks ago in Knoxville.
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When Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80 on January 24th, they shot 46.9-percent from the floor and 53.3-percent in the second half.
The difference in the Vols' offensive numbers in their two meetings with Kentucky is striking.
If Tuesday night's game were Kentucky's first improved defensive effort it might be discarded as an outlier, or at the very least a "wait and see" caution would seem to be required.
But the Cats' 83-58 win against Tennessee, and their improved defense in the game, followed the Cats' 68-59 win on the road against Alabama. In that game the Tide did shoot better than 50-percent in the second half. They did score nearly 40 points in that second half against Kentucky. But for the game, Kentucky took a modest step forward, contesting more shots near the rim - especially in the first half - and making a few stops down the stretch.
If Kentucky's defense against Alabama was a small step forward, the Cats' effort on that end of the court against Tennessee seemed more like a giant leap.
"I thought our defense was as good as it's been since the beginning of the year," Calipari said. "I thought we crowded the lane a little bit, I thought we helped, we rotated."
Tennessee finished the game with just seven assists. They turned it over 13 times. Six of those turnovers were Kentucky steals, and the Cats swatted six shots.
Defense has been a major emphasis for Kentucky recently, especially since Calipari's "reboot" effort was put into effect.
Rebounding has also been an area of emphasis, and an area where the Cats have been up and down during the 2016-17 season. During SEC play the Cats haven't always been dominant on the glass, but they outrebounded the Vols by seven on Tuesday. That was good enough for Calipari.
Bam Adebayo earned Calipari's praise for his work on the boards.
"I was really happy about the rebounds," Calipari said. "Bam got 12. That's who he should be though. It's who he should be. He should get, 12, 15 a game. Most of them on the defensive end."
Calipari said he understands that Adebayo won't always grab a lot of offensive boards (although he had five against Tennessee), because opponents are honing in on him to prevent those.
It wasn't just Adebayo that hit the boards more than usual. Malik Monk finished with a season-high eight boards, coming off a stretch of more than 100 minutes when he was all but absent on the glass.
For Calipari, Monk's dramatic rebounding improvement was the product of a simple recipe.
"He went after it, he was committed to it," he said.
If Kentucky commits to defense and rebounding like they did against Tennessee, the forecast for the rest of their season could be very different than what it seemed to be only a week ago.
