The beauty of what Mark Pope has built so quickly at Kentucky is in the unselfishness of his team. The Wildcats don’t seem to care who will be the leading scorer on a nightly basis, but he has confidence that nearly everyone in his rotation will take big shots.
In an offensive track meet at No. 14 Mississippi State, both teams combined to attempt 72 threes, but this time Jackson Robinson played as the star for the No. 6 Wildcats, 95-90. He helped Pope’s team get back on its feet. From Tuesday’s loss to Georgia. More impressive than Robinson’s shooting was his career-high 27 points on seven threes. In the second half, when Mississippi State’s defense focused on not allowing him to take any more shots, it was Robinson’s willingness to let others score.
Robinson spaced 15 minutes between field goal attempts and recognized the gravity he was exerting on the Bulldogs’ D, leading to Kentucky’s biggest score in a key development. He set up this 3 for Lamont Butler and realized his guy was nailed to him but he could be a screener to release Butler.
After Mississippi State responded to Butler’s 3 with a six-point onslaught to take the lead, Kentucky backup forward Ansley Almoner sparked a run with three consecutive 3-pointers to regain the lead. And who lit the match? Robinson.
Notice how he points to the open space that the Almoner fills. Once again, we know the defense isn’t going to leave him and we’re making sure Almoner defenders are in the paint.
On the next possession, Kentucky had three shooters on the right side of the floor in transition, with only two defenders guarding them. Robinson may have been hoping the ball would go to the corner, but instead he sent it to the baseline with the assumption that the bottom defender would go with him and leave Almoner wide open. Cut wisely. It didn’t go as planned — Mississippi State’s Sean Jones (No. 5) didn’t realize he had made the cut — but the move opened up a shot for Almoner.
On the next possession, there was enough space for Robinson to get out of the ball screen and force a shot, which wouldn’t have been a bad one. Instead, he took a great chance, drawing two to the ball and setting up Otega Oweh for a jumper.
And when the ball finally got to Robinson with just over a minute left, 15:02 after the shot attempt, Robinson stepped up and took a big shot on a play that wasn’t meant for him.
On this play, you can see that Almoner returned the favor to his buddy by making an extra pass to set up Robinson, rather than forcing a shot himself.
Pope returned to the same action on the next possession, taking a three-point lead in the final moments. He knew that if he put his hot shooter on the right side of the floor, the other three players could essentially play 3-on-3. Butler buried the dagger in the paint to seal the victory.
Kentucky is currently 4-1 in games decided by six points or less. Andrew Carr was usually the team’s best closer in close games. In this game, Kerr sat on the bench until the end, with hot-blooded Almoner taking his place.
And if you look at the play above again, you can see Kerr standing in the bottom right corner celebrating every play.
Pope may not have the most talented team in the country, but they may have one of the most cohesive groups. That’s why the Cats are so hard to guard once the shots start falling. They are willing to make sacrifices for whoever is hot.
And those hot hands can change in an instant.
(Photo: Wesley Hale/Imagn Images)
