Kentucky started off exhibition play tonight with a 69-49 win vs. Little Rock. All off-season Mark Pope stressed that “length will be our strength” and that truly showed tonight.

Little Rock’s head coach, Travis Ford, mentioned multiple times in his post game presser that Kentucky’s defense was elite, their length and physicality made it hard offensively, specifically from three-point range where they shot 2-20 overall.

“They’re big inside. They’re big on the wings. That’s hard to simulate in practice…Took us a little while to get used to that size and physicality. They were a very physical team as well, very physical,” said Travis Ford.

Kentucky forced 15 turnovers, had 9 steals, 8 blocks and 32 deflections. All stats the reflect a massive advantage in length and physicality.

If you don’t believe the words out of our mouths, take a look below at the official height and wing spans of Kentucky this year.

Frank Kepnang: 7’0″ (7’5″)

Ousmane N’Diaye: 7’0″ (7’2″)

Braydon Hawthorne: 6’8″ (7’2″)

Malachi Moreno: 6’11” (7’1″)

Reece Potter: 7’1″ (6’7″)

Milan Momcilovic: 6’8″ (6’9″)

Justin McBride: 6’8″ (6’8″)

Kam Williams: 6’7″ (6’10”)

Zoom Diallo: 6’6″ (6’7″)

Alex Wilkins: 6’6″ (6’6″)

Trent Noah: 6’6″ (6’6″)

Mason Williams: 6’3″ (6’7″)

Jerone Morton: 6’4″ (6’5″)

Zyon Hawthorne: 6’1″ (6’5″)

Mark Pope introduced something new to us tonight, something they like to call their defensive impact metric (“DIM”), which is a combination of deflections,blocks,steals, and charges. Braydon Hawthorne who was a +11 and led the team in that category in his debut.

Cats Coverage asked about the team’s length and defensive impact on tonight’s game and Pope told us, “We barely touched the surface”, while also stating that “It’s a great sign for us,” when asking about the numbers they put up defensively.

The opponent wasn’t the highest caliber, but one game down and we have seen the possibilities that this team will have with their length on the defensive side of the ball. The sky could be the limit, and a big matchup next Friday, October 23rd vs. Texas Tech will put this team to the test and really show us what they are made of.

If you enjoyed this story, follow us on social media for more Kentucky coverage, breaking news, and analysis delivered as it all unfolds. Over 180,000+ already do! We’re on Facebook, X/Twitter, TikTok, and more. Go Cats!