Kentucky leaves Nashville with yet another loss in the annual conference tournament, going 1-5 in the last six years.
A struggle that's taken place all year long, Kentucky can't protect their basket and the Aggies pretty much named their score in this one. Allowing 97 points at this part of the year seems like worst case for a team but unfortunately it's a trend that's happened since the very beginning. Scoring a high volume of point is special and no team in the country can do it in the fashion that Kentucky can, but if you give up just as much, if not more, then what's the point? This is their biggest flaw and it will ultimately determine how far they go in the NCAA Tournament and based on us still seeing it in March, I'm not sure I still have confidence it's going to improve from where it's at.
In a losing effort by the Wildcats, Rob Dillingham finished with 27 points followed behind with 14 from Reed Sheppard and 13 from Antonio Reeves. The team as a whole shot 51.7% from the field which was still higher than the Aggies, but their turnovers, rebounding, and second chance points given is what cost them the match. They also let Wade Taylor IV go for thirty-plus again, which we know he had to be the focus of the game plan and scouting report. That just shows a clear example of our defensive game plan being ran through and exposed.
Another ugly stat is that Texas A&M has only scored 90-plus in two games this season, both being against Kentucky at 97 both times. I root for Kentucky just as much as the next guy, but this is almost laughable at how easy it is for teams to score points on the Wildcats. It's just not the recipe for a promising postseason run.
Here is the box score from Kentucky's 1 SEC Tournament game in 2024.
Kentucky only led for 0:41 seconds in their matchup with Texas A&M, another feat we've seen all year where the Wildcats get down early and have to fight the rest of the game to get back. Maybe having your two top-five projected draft picks coming in to "save the day" each game wouldn't have to save the day if they would just play from the beginning. But, what do I know.
Overall, Kentucky and all the fans that packed that arena will head back to town today disappointed and searching for more. I hope they find some of it during the next tournament.