The Kentucky Wildcats were throttled on the road in Nashville on Tuesday night. The No. 18 Vanderbilt Commodores won by a final score of 80-55. In a game where the Wildcats trailed by 20 points at halftime, this has become a concerning trend during the Mark Pope era.
According to the UK Statistician, Corey Price, in the Pope era, the Wildcats have trailed by at least 15 points at halftime in 22.5% of their games against Power 4 teams, plus Gonzaga. That is 9 out of 40 games, to be exact.
The slow starts have been a worrisome factor over the past two seasons as Pope has taken over at the helm. The Wildcats find themselves out of some big games early, which is not ideal.
Pope was asked about the slow starts roughly a week ago and told the media he has considered switching up the team’s routine 40 minutes prior to tip-off. Still unsure whether anything has changed, but it didn’t seem like the case inside Memorial Gymnasium.
The Wildcats 5-game win streak has come to an end, but they’ll have another quad-one opportunity against John Calipari and the Razorbacks in Fayetteville on Saturday. The Wildcats can certainly not afford a slow start in a chaotic Bud Walton Arena.
