Simply put, the Kentucky Wildcats need to get out of their own way during the final four games of their regular season. At 17-10 overall and 8-6 in SEC play, Mark Pope's team is playing too close to the fire than any UK team ever should. While ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Wildcats as a No. 6 seed in his latest Bracketology update, have you seen how brutal of an end of the season it is for Kentucky?
Kentucky has four more league games left to be played. The only Quad 2 game the Wildcats have remaining is at South Carolina on Tuesday night. That almost feels like a must-win. After that, it will be three Quad 1 games in a row vs. Vanderbilt on Saturday, at Texas A&M next week, and home vs. rival Florida to end the regular season on March 7. Kentucky will be lucky to win two of these four games.
With UK riding a three-game losing streak, the Wildcats really need this one in Columbia. Fortunately for them, there is a pathway toward having success vs. the Gamecocks. Can the Wildcats dominate the offensive glass? Kentucky is better than average in terms of offensive rebounding at 12.2 per game. Conversely, South Carolina is among the worst teams in the sport at only nine per contest.
Where this game could be won or lost will be in the paint. Can Kentucky muscle itself to a victory?
Kentucky must box out South Carolina to stop the bleeding in SEC play
What we have seen in recent weeks is teams who are willing to get their hands dirty down low have a knack for pulling out tight games. Rebounding is an effort-based mindset, something that Pope must emphasize vs. a non-tournament team in South Carolina. While it may not be in the cards for UK to get to 20 wins during the regular season, the Wildcats need to get to 18 to like their tournament odds.
While a strong non-conference and competitive edge in league play is serving Kentucky here, the last thing Big Blue Nation will want to see is a collapse for the ages down the stretch. Pope was hired away from BYU to replace the polarizing John Calipari for a reason. He was thought to be a breath of fresh air for a program in dire need of it. To be quite frank, this job is appearing to be a little too big for him...
Right now, as long as Kentucky holds up its end of the bargain along the offensive glass, that should be enough to stop the bleeding for UK in league play. Winning any of their final three SEC games would be huge. The absolute last thing Kentucky needs is to be heading into the SEC tournament on potentially a seven-game slide. If the Wildcats were to fall to South Carolina, it could sadly be in play.
At this time, Kentucky needs to take it one game at a time and take advantage of this real opportunity.