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Cats Illustrated Basketball Stock Report

Following Kentucky's 65-59 win against Florida, the Cats Illustrated Basketball Stock Report is once again updated to reflect the team's latest trends.

USA TODAY Sports
USA TODAY Sports
CI Basketball Stock Report
📈 Free throw shooting. Kentucky only got to the line for 10 free throw attempts, one of the Cats' lowest totals in a very long time, but UK converted every single opportunity. Considering this was a two-point game inside the last minute, every point counted. This has very reliably been one of the best things Kentucky does as a team, whereas several John Calipari teams have struggled with this.

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Offensive rebounding. Kentucky only had six offensive boards in a game where it had 28 missed shots. That's not a good number. For the season Kentucky is 76th in the country, rebounding 29.4-percent of its misses.

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Late game poise. On the one hand, Kentucky finds ways to close games out. On the other hand, they continue to make it harder than it should probably be. Even if UK is winning under these circumstances, each time an opponent cuts into a margin, thanks to UK turnovers more than anything else lately, UK is living on the edge. In the tournament that could become a factor.

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Team defense. On Twitter, @HoopsInsights mentioned that Kentucky has now held opponents under their average effective field goal percentage for 16 consecutive games. That's a pretty remarkable number. It's not unusual for a Kentucky team to cause problems for opponents, but for a team that strangely only ranks 41st in KenPom in adjusted defense, that's impressive. Before the game Kentucky ranked 51st in adjusted defense, so that's a big improvement from one game. Kentucky forced 18 turnovers, one of the best numbers of the season.

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SEC lead and seed possibilities. Kentucky now holds a two-game lead in the SEC standings at 12-2. Auburn and LSU are now 10-4. Florida drops to 9-5 and is all but eliminated from the conference title race barring something bizarre. UK gets Auburn at home. Even if the Tigers win in Rupp, and they'll be underdogs, they would still need some help. Kentucky easily controls its own destiny. Before this weekend UK was already starting to show up as a potential three seed. This win certainly won't hurt.

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Immanuel Quickley. He continues to take his game to another level. Quickley has played two of his best games of the season the last two times out. He has not always shot great overall from the field but he has always padded his scoring total by getting to the line and converting there. But 8/17 from the floor makes him a completely different threat. Quickley is shooting the ball with a lot of confidence and appears to be stepping comfortably into a starring role.

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