Kentucky basketball: What's with the slow starts?
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky's slow starts have increasingly become a problem in recent games. The Wildcats have won seven straight, so it hasn't been an issue that is costing Kentucky wins, but it could down the road.
"I think that as you get into the NCAA tournament and you get down double digits there’s a sense of, ‘Oh my gosh, this might be it.’" Kentucky assistant Joel Justus said on Thursday.
The Wildcats trailed Vanderbilt by 19 in the first half on Tuesday night before coming back to win 73-67. Against Florida on Saturday, the Wildcats trailed 8-0 to start the game and as much as 12 in the first half. Kentucky has put together excellent second half performances the past two games to win, but digging itself in a hole early has been concerning for the staff.
"We’ve talked about it as a group," Justus said. "Brought that to the players, and said ‘Hey, what do you think?’ I think whenever you’re coaching, as a staff, we ask them. They’re the ones that are doing it so you say, ‘Hey why? Why? What is it? Do we need to do something better? Is it something we need to practice? Is it something that we need to fundamentally change at the games? Is it a warm up?’ I think that’s the thing we’re trying to figure out and address verses play ostrich and put your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening."
Sophomore center Isaac Humphries said he expected the slow starts to be a key talking point at Thursday's practice. Humphries said the team needs to reach a point where they start the game how they finish it.
"We kind of finish desperately and we’re playing with desperation," Humphries said. "We want to get to a point where we start like that too.”
Point guard De'Aaron Fox -- who said his knee is close to 100 percent -- said the team just starts slow at times. He agreed with Humphries that the team needed to play "desperate" for 40 minutes.
"I feel like if we play desperate from the start we don’t have to worry about 10-, 12-, 15-point leads that we have to cut into and then try to get up ourselves,” Fox said. "Sometimes we just don’t have energy at the beginning of the game and then we kind of kick it in a little bit too late. I think if we can start the game like then it’ll be much easier and better for us.”
Justus said the slow starts are still being treated as a learning experience. After all, a loss in the regular season doesn't have the same results it will once tournament play begins. He cautioned that getting down by double-digits in the NCAA tournament against better opponents that know how to close out games could doom the Wildcats.
Still, Justus is glad Kentucky is the team closing out games recently thanks to clutch plays down the stretch.
"I like the fast finishes better than the slow starts."