Kentucky closed out its first exhibition go-around with a 69-49 win over Little Rock Arkansas last Friday night, offering a glimpse of the team’s potential while exposing areas that still need improvement. Kentucky is slated to face No. 19 Texas Tech in its second exhibition contest on Friday, Oct. 23; here are three things I want to see head coach Mark Pope’s squad improve on.

Turnovers:

Against Little Rock, Kentucky surrendered 19 total turnovers, which will be a problem if that creeps into the regular season. It was the team’s first time playing together against a real opponent, so as a fan, you have to give them some grace. The guards coughed up a good bulk of those turnovers; Zoom Diallo had three, Alex Wilkins had four, and Mason Williams had one.

As a whole, the Wildcats combined for 12 assists, which isn’t very fun to look at when comparing it to the amount of turnovers they gave up, which leads to my next point.

Team-Oriented Basketball:

I want to see Kentucky swing the rock around more. We saw great flashes of individual basketball; Milan Momcilovic went 4-for-7 from three, Wilkins and Williams reached double digits and Justin McBride and Braydon Hawthorne each had seven points off the bench. As a whole, the team shot 43.9% from the field and 42.9% from deep. But, as I mentioned above, the Wildcats only manufactured 12 assists.

In exhibition play, I want to see more points scored courtesy of other teammates, especially the guards. I obviously want to see the number of turnovers limited, but if Kentucky can make a strong stride by totaling more assists, I’ll have a little more grace with turnovers.

Alex Wilkins:

If Kentucky wants to get to the places it wants to go, Wilkins will need to be the player they envisioned he would be, which is a flashy bucket-getter who can constantly contribute double digits on the scoresheet. Against Little Rock, Wilkins struggled to get his shots to fall; again, it was just the first exhibition game, but as we approach the regular season, it would be comforting to see more efficient shooting from him.

Last Friday, Wilkins scored 11 points, shooting 4-for-12 from the field and just 2-for-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. If Wilkins can go into the season piggybacking off good shooting in Kentucky’s exhibition games, his confidence will be elevated, and he will just take off from there.

Kentucky’s contest with the No. 19-ranked Red Raiders is set for 7 p.m. ET inside Rupp Arena. That contest can be viewed on SEC Network+.

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