Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. North Florida

After struggling an 88-72 loss to No. 2 Gonzaga on Sunday, fourth-ranked Kentucky is getting again to fundamentals, in response to guard Antonio Reeves.

“Our method is (watching) movie, get again to the sport, see what I did flawed. See what I can do higher personally and for the workforce,” Reeves mentioned. “And undoubtedly get within the gymnasium. I missed pictures that recreation, so I’m going to rise up no less than 500 or 1,000 (pictures), get again in a rhythm.”

The Cats hope to enhance, beginning with a Wednesday afternoon date towards North Florida (4 p.m. ET, SEC Community Plus).

Kentucky struggled out of the gate on Sunday evening, falling behind by double digits within the first half. The Cats couldn’t discover their capturing contact within the first 20 minutes, making simply 25 p.c of their pictures and none, in 10 tries, from past the arc. How did the Cats handle to get behind so rapidly?

“It was only a tough begin for us,” Reeves mentioned. “Guys simply weren’t making pictures. We’ve received to let that not have an effect on our protection. We undoubtedly picked it up within the second half.”

How did the missed pictures have an effect on the protection?

“Some issues we labored on choosing up the ball in transition,” Reeves mentioned. “We went below a few screens and guys had been large open.”

After falling behind by double digits, not making pictures and making defensive errors towards Gonzaga, the Cats had been nonetheless achingly near overcoming the deficit.

“The primary half, we didn’t play properly in any respect,” mentioned UK guard CJ Fredrick. “Coach (John Calipari), at halftime, was all about combat. Within the second half, we locked in on that and we gave ourselves an opportunity. The alternatives to chop it to 2, lower it to 1. We simply didn’t execute.”

That execution is simply a part of the fundamentals that the Cats hope to return to on Wednesday.