Kentucky got really spread out in that first half, and the Texas-Arlington Mavericks made them pay by using their quickness and taking advantage of Kentucky's slow rotation to perimeter shooters to challenge the Wilcats.
James Young had a big half early, but started taking shots that were not exactly in the offense. Those resulted in some empty possessions that allowed UTA to get back in the game.
Here are your first half stats:
Complete UK-UTA halftime box score: pic.twitter.com/8asJcYhIFn
— Kentucky Athletics (@UKAthleticsNews) November 20, 2013
What we need to see in the second half is some adjustments to defend better. This was absolutely not a good defensive half, and a lot of it was due to players just being totally out of position all too often. It was a reversion to the kind of defense we saw against Michigan St. in the first half.
No, I don't expect perfection, and we darn sure haven't seen it so far. Perhaps the second half will be better.