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Cats Illustrated Basketball Stock Report

Following Kentucky's victory against LSU in Baton Rouge, the Cats Illustrated Basketball Stock Report is updated to reflect the latest trends for John Calipari's team.

USA TODAY Sports
USA TODAY Sports
Basketball Stock Report
📈 Immanuel Quickley. Is he Kentucky's best player? He appears to be Kentucky's best finisher. What Quickley did against LSU shouldn't surprise us, but he did show a little more shake on some isolation plays than he has in the past. He continues to take his game to another level and appears bound for all-conference honors.

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Road warriors. The Wildcats are now 5-2 in SEC road games and 6-2 in all road games since the start of conference play, factoring in UK's win against Texas Tech in Lubbock. We've already pointed out the shooting discrepancy between home and road games. It's starting to look like UK actually plays better in general on the road with the main reason the 'Cats are undefeated at home being they have played a weaker slate in Lexington as opposed to away from it and opponents probably play better against UK on their home courts as well. This group really feeds off the energy of these hostile environments.

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Handling a press. Granted, Ashton Hagans had exited the game with a thigh contusion and that took one key ball-handler and press-breaker off the court. But for the second time in three games, the other instance being against Vanderbilt in Nashville, Kentucky nearly let an opponent surge all the way back because of turnovers against a press.

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Nate Sestina. The Bucknell transfer needed a game like this. Sestina's 11 points were the most he had scored since he poured in 17 against Ohio State on December 21st. His eight rebounds amounted to his best work on the glass since a 12-rebound game against Utah Valley on November 18th. His three triples, the most makes from outside since that OSU game. Without Sestina, Kentucky may not have won this game.

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Offensive execution. Kentucky has not had a vintage Calipari offense this season, ranking only 31st in adjusted offensive efficiency according to KenPom. But Tuesday night brought some of the best ball movement and shooting we've seen from the 'Cats this season. UK was an absurd 17/23 from the field including 7/8 from three-point range in the second half.

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Defensive rebounding. We knew that Kentucky was vulnerable against a team that can crash the offensive glass. In the first half, UK contested everything around the rim and the Cats' 11 blocks show they weren't lacking in toughness. But by the end of the game LSU had 23 offensive boards and 26 second chance points.

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